Abit AW9D-MAX: When "Beta" MAX is a good thing
by Gary Key on September 8, 2006 3:10 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Basic Performance
The performance of the board was exemplary in the majority of our tests. We found the board to be a very consistent performer and extremely stable up to its overclocking limit. Unfortunately, we do not know what the true limit of this board will be until we see the production level BIOS. As with recent Abit boards we will see significant BIOS tuning for the performance oriented crowd after stability or incompatibility issues have been resolved.
This board supports up to 2.65V on the memory that will allows for a great amount of overclocking headroom, though we would like to see additional .05V increments over 2.35V. The BIOS we tested only allowed adjustment of four memory timings but we expect to see additional options as the BIOS matures. We expect great things out of this board if Abit is able to release a production level BIOS for this board that keeps its current performance levels, addresses the issues we found in early testing, and is able to improve overclock levels.
Overclocking
We were really surprised by our overclocking results on this board with a beta BIOS. Like other recent boards we had to gradually increase the FSB speeds while adjusting voltages and memory settings in order to reach this level. Our retail E6600 was able to boot into Windows XP at 9x438 but we consistently had benchmark failures until we backed off to 9x431. While it would have been easy to take screenshots at this level with several popular benchmarks, our voltages and memory settings were outside of the range we would consider safe for air cooling over any length of time. We backed our settings down to 9x423 where we achieved a level that was consistent with a machine that would be safe running 24/7. In fact, due to improved memory latencies offering better overall system performance our ideal setting was at 9x416 with 3-4-3-10 memory settings on this board.
We were able to boot into Windows at 448 FSB with our X6800 set at an 8X multiplier, pass all benchmarks at 8x440, and could POST at up to 460FSB. We tried our E6300 and were able to run at a system stable setting of 7x448. Our board, BIOS, and memory combination did not allow us to POST past 460FSB. Overall the board was the equal of or better than the ASUS P5W-DH in overclocking. Since the memory remained at a 1066 strap during overclocking on the Abit board we found the general performance was slightly better than the ASUS past 416FSB.
Test Setup
Test conditions were maintained the same, as much as possible, over the platforms tested. For better comparison standard test results (1280x1024) were run with a single EVGA 7900GTX on all platforms. Our high resolution game tests were run at settings of 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF with the EVGA 7900GTX card. We had planned on presenting 7950GX2 numbers but noticed several anomalies in our test results with the ASUS board. We will update our performance results once we have verified our test results with ASUS. Our X1900XT CrossFire setup ran fine on each board with the 6.8 Catalyst driver set and we will have test results in our full review.
All Core 2 Duo benchmarking used a Corsair PC-6400C3 2GB kit at 3-4-3 timings at 2.2V. In recent months the memory market has moved from a 1GB kit to a 2BG kit being the common memory configuration. Our new DDR2 test standard is 2GB. We tested with a retail E6600 and will follow up in our next 975X article with the E6700 processor utilized in our standard test bed configuration. All results are reported in our charts and color-coded for easier identification of results.
The performance of the board was exemplary in the majority of our tests. We found the board to be a very consistent performer and extremely stable up to its overclocking limit. Unfortunately, we do not know what the true limit of this board will be until we see the production level BIOS. As with recent Abit boards we will see significant BIOS tuning for the performance oriented crowd after stability or incompatibility issues have been resolved.
This board supports up to 2.65V on the memory that will allows for a great amount of overclocking headroom, though we would like to see additional .05V increments over 2.35V. The BIOS we tested only allowed adjustment of four memory timings but we expect to see additional options as the BIOS matures. We expect great things out of this board if Abit is able to release a production level BIOS for this board that keeps its current performance levels, addresses the issues we found in early testing, and is able to improve overclock levels.
Overclocking
| Abit AW9D-MAX Overclocking Testbed |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core, 2.4GHz, 4MB Unified Cache 1066FSB, 9x Multiplier |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.55V (default 1.3V) |
| Cooling: | Scythe Infinity Air Cooling |
| Power Supply: | OCZ GameXStream 700W |
| Memory: | Corsair Twin2X2048-PC2-6400C3 (2x1GB), 2.45V (Micron Memory Chips) |
| Video Cards: | 1 x EVGA 7900GTX |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer |
| Maximum OC: (Standard Ratio) |
423x9 (4-4-4-10, 1:1), CPU 1.575V, MCH - 1.85V 3806MHz (+58%) 416x9 (3-4-3-10, 1:1), CPU 1.575V, MCH - 1.85V 3743MHz (+56%) |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We were really surprised by our overclocking results on this board with a beta BIOS. Like other recent boards we had to gradually increase the FSB speeds while adjusting voltages and memory settings in order to reach this level. Our retail E6600 was able to boot into Windows XP at 9x438 but we consistently had benchmark failures until we backed off to 9x431. While it would have been easy to take screenshots at this level with several popular benchmarks, our voltages and memory settings were outside of the range we would consider safe for air cooling over any length of time. We backed our settings down to 9x423 where we achieved a level that was consistent with a machine that would be safe running 24/7. In fact, due to improved memory latencies offering better overall system performance our ideal setting was at 9x416 with 3-4-3-10 memory settings on this board.
We were able to boot into Windows at 448 FSB with our X6800 set at an 8X multiplier, pass all benchmarks at 8x440, and could POST at up to 460FSB. We tried our E6300 and were able to run at a system stable setting of 7x448. Our board, BIOS, and memory combination did not allow us to POST past 460FSB. Overall the board was the equal of or better than the ASUS P5W-DH in overclocking. Since the memory remained at a 1066 strap during overclocking on the Abit board we found the general performance was slightly better than the ASUS past 416FSB.
Test Setup
| Abit AW9D-MAX Performance Test Configuration |
|
| Processor: | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4GHz, 4MB Unified Cache) |
| RAM: | 2 x 1GB Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C3 Tested at DDR2-800 3-4-3-10 2.2V |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate 320GB 7200RPM SATA2 16MB Buffer |
| System Platform Drivers: | Intel - 8.0.1.1002 |
| Video Cards: | 1 x EVGA 7900GTX |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA 91.47 |
| CPU Cooling: | Scythe Infinity |
| Power Supply: | OCZ GameXstream 700W |
| Motherboards: | ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe (Intel 975X) Bios 1305 Abit AW9D-MAX (Intel 975X) |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
Test conditions were maintained the same, as much as possible, over the platforms tested. For better comparison standard test results (1280x1024) were run with a single EVGA 7900GTX on all platforms. Our high resolution game tests were run at settings of 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF with the EVGA 7900GTX card. We had planned on presenting 7950GX2 numbers but noticed several anomalies in our test results with the ASUS board. We will update our performance results once we have verified our test results with ASUS. Our X1900XT CrossFire setup ran fine on each board with the 6.8 Catalyst driver set and we will have test results in our full review.
All Core 2 Duo benchmarking used a Corsair PC-6400C3 2GB kit at 3-4-3 timings at 2.2V. In recent months the memory market has moved from a 1GB kit to a 2BG kit being the common memory configuration. Our new DDR2 test standard is 2GB. We tested with a retail E6600 and will follow up in our next 975X article with the E6700 processor utilized in our standard test bed configuration. All results are reported in our charts and color-coded for easier identification of results.
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56 Comments
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Jedi2155 - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
Oh heck yea! I thought I was going to have to go with Asus P5B deluxe board mainly due to the color scheme as I'm a bigger fan of Black & Blue than Black & Red. Too bad for all those other people who prefer red tho.wolf550e - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
How much is Scyhte paying you?Madellga - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
Actually his review is very neutral and not a PR stunt.This space is to discuss the review itself and the product there.
If you want to make such comments I suggest paging him, instead of writing here on the open.
Gary Key - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
Actually I paid NewEgg $51.99 for the pleasure of using the Scythe Infinity. :) Scythe does not advertise with us and the picture was published based upon numerous reader requests wanting to know how the larger heatsinks fit on the boards. I still love and use the Tuniq 120 but until they are readily available again my current air cooling favorite is the Infinity. Just in case it comes up, the E6600 was also bought from NewEgg and is not supplied by Intel.
DigitalFreak - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
LOL! First time I've ever heard a motherboard described as "menacing".
mostlyprudent - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
I am very pleased to see Abit producing a strong board again. Two of my older systems are still running with Abit boards (4 years old and 2.5 years old) with no issues. I am still deciding, but the PCI slot issue is a tough pill to swallow.BTW, there is a type-o in the last paragraph on page 3 "Although this 'typcially' worked..."
GoatMonkey - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
I used to be a big Abit fan. I bought 5 Abit motherboard for myself over the years, and built at least 4 other systems for friends with Abit motherboards. Unfortunately, over half of them failed after several months of use. Abit really needs a good warranty and some good testimonial of quality to get me back.yyrkoon - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
ABIT has a decent warranty policy, the only problem is that they exchange 're-certified' boards for your new one.We've had to deal with ABITs RMA a couple of times in the last two years, and while they did replace the boards, the process was slow, and again, they replace it with a re-certified board. However, it turned out it wasnt the motherboard that was bad at all, but a ATI videocard (pre-PCIE, and additional card power), that was drawing too much power from the AGP slot.
ABIT forums, while not owned or paricipated by any ABIT workers (that I know of), is second to none. If you cannot find someone on ABITs forums to help with an issue, then said issue is rare, or hard to trace.
I'm finding that more, and more, that motherboards dont really go bad (short term), but often 'broken' motherboards are configured improperly by the user, that has limited experience with that brand, or a user that really hasnt a clue how to properly setup a motherboard. This doesnt include the rare chance of a dead out of the box motherboard, or the random hard to troubleshoot other than motherboard issues, and I've recently experience the latter here myself (an Asrock board that would lock up within three days, no BSoD, and nothing standard fixed the problem).
The main reason why I like ABIT, is that usually ABIT boards have stability that is second to none, and they perform very well.
granulated - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
I know that the Scyhte Infinity is approx 12cm x 12cm but blimey !It's looks massive !
yyrkoon - Friday, September 8, 2006 - link
Gary, was wondering if yo ucould confirm if ABIT boards with eSATA, and a SIL 3132 controller will in fact work with a SATA port multiplier. From all the researching Ive done for the last year or so would indicate so, but I would like ot make sure before investing loads of cash in an external RAID 5 array, only to have it not work.