Abit KV8-MAX3 is for real!!!

Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy KnobPflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
edited September 2003 in Hardware
Abit finally has it listed on their site right here. It looks like it will be about 2 weeks till it will be available retail. I think this will be the board to put some real bite into the 64 platform.

I just love the mosfet cooling, heck it almost got me to buy a P4. ;)
kv8-max3-lg.jpg

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Atleast it isn't the nForce3. Strange VIA should be the chipset leader for the Athlon 64 this time around...The benefit of running your HT link at 800MHz instead of 600 like the dopey nf3 chipset. Too bad this is a socket 754 board, let's hope there's als a 940.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    ...that I always have to find SOMETHING to complain about ;D

    In this case, I see a couple things I don't like:
    Power connector placement (tho it's better than the NF7's)
    Via chipset

    Oh that and it'd be nice to see a single, solitary serial port (or at least a header and slot plate).

    Other than that, it looks great, and if they have a s940/939 one out by next year, I might have to buy it...
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    I like the position of that power connector. It allows people who like neatly wired interiors, and those of us who like to show as little wiring as possible, keep the ATX connector largely out of sight. Additionally, despite it being a VIA chipset, it's the highest-performing chipset for the A64 platform...So who it's made by is completely, entirely irrelevant.

    Moreover, it's part of the MAX line, it's not SUPPOSED to have a serial port. The serial port is a legacy port, and as such, is removed from the MAX series (100% legacy-free design).
  • seversphereseversphere
    edited September 2003
    are there heatsinks on the mosfets under that plastic? If not them do you know if that cooling mod is easily removable to add your own heatsinks?
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    only 3 ram banks...what the hell?!?!?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    It's socket 754. It doesn't have dual channel (Not that it matters with the IMC).
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    Thrax, how would you route the power cables with the power connector where it is? assuming you have one of those chenming mid-towers, since they're so common, you don't have a whole lot of space between the bottom of the PS and the top left corner of the board... As I recall, it's no more than 2" (more like 1" I think)... and that 20-wire bundle isn't exactly real flexible... I've always found it easier to route the cable to where it is on the A7N8X- on the right of the DIMMs.

    And you're right, the Via chipset is the fastest there is, but it's still, you know... Via. And I'm still angry about my Audigy2. ;D;D;D

    I know the Max is supposed to be totally legacy-free, but they had to bring back PS-2 ports too... A header and a separate port would be fine with me... I can spare a slot cover... Besides, I'll bet it probably has an IR header (most boards do). How many people use THAT? I'd rather have a serial port...
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    It's quite easy. The crossbar connecting the back of the case to the front, the bars upon which the PSU rests, are nothing more that curved pieces of metal. The bars have channels in them almost the entire length.

    The channel is perfectly sized to press an ATX 12v cable (Loomed and all) right into them. You first pull it away from the PSU and then press it into the channel and slide it back. Then you plug the ATX 12v connector in, and press any remaining slack into the channel and zip-tie it in with black ties. You see next to nothing of the cable, it's entirely concealed, and it'll never move.

    //EDIT: It's not VIA's fault you purchased an Audigy against the advice of almost everyone subscribing to that thread on Icrontic so long ago.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited September 2003
    Thrax, that's true... I suppose you could route it like that (In fact, that's what I do with my SX1240, but I'm too lazy to deal with zip ties because I'd be cutting them off once or twice a month, so it's never stayed put in my case)

    Oh, and yeah... the audigy's my fault... I just like blaming Via :D I don't really mind them... (that much ;D)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Thrax said
    Atleast it isn't the nForce3. Strange VIA should be the chipset leader for the Athlon 64 this time around...The benefit of running your HT link at 800MHz instead of 600 like the dopey nf3 chipset. Too bad this is a socket 754 board, let's hope there's als a 940.

    Geeky1 said
    ...that I always have to find SOMETHING to complain about ;D

    In this case, I see a couple things I don't like:
    Power connector placement (tho it's better than the NF7's)
    Via chipset

    Oh that and it'd be nice to see a single, solitary serial port (or at least a header and slot plate).

    Other than that, it looks great, and if they have a s940/939 one out by next year, I might have to buy it...

    I think as per other discissions that we will have socket 754 as the "Enthusiast Socket" for 2 real good reasons. And I think that both of these are most likely why Abit (remember the "Enthusiasts" company) is going with this choice of sockets.

    1. The socket 754 chips do not require the use of Reg ECC dimms. And this works in our favor in 2 ways. First, it is much cheaper and will allow us to keep using memory we are used to using in the quatities we desire. Second, due to the nature of Reg ECC it is not as overclockable and thus would remove most hopes of a system built with it as being "an Enthsiast System".

    2. Next we have the simple economics of it all; cost, cost and once again cost. I rember back to the days of "Bart's Hammer Thread" and all the speculation of what these things would cost when they arrived. We now have two differently distict teirs of chips with respective priceing. As of todays pricing at Newegg the two different chips in the OEM packaging are $433 for the 3200 and $765 for the FX51. That is a difference of $332!!! I don't see myself dishing out the required amout for a FX51 chip let alone the cost of a whole system by the time you figure in a board and as much ECC memory as I would like in a system like that. Then take into consideration the fact that it would be a real biotch to O/C mainly due to the memory required. Do you think you would do it? Next, look at the realative cost of a 754 pin system and the reality of that along with the overclocability. I have seen several A64 3200+'s overcloced to 2.5 and higher already with some real nice benches to go along with it.

    Sure the priceing isn't as low as we want even the 3200's to be right now but they are brand new! Hardly any of us on this forum are the all out pioneers of the enthusiast crowd as much as we would like to think we are (NOT). Some of you can think back to the old days of the old old IC when there were quite a few real pioneers in our midst and say those guys did pay(ve) the way for the rest of us. A lot of us now are not willing to do some of the mods required to get top speed from our current rigs in fear that we will fry something and we will be out the money it cost to get here (me included).

    Sometime during the first quarter of the next year the prices will drop as production increases and the bugs will be fixed but I think the 2 teired system we now see will be with us as AMD is going from just being an entusiasts company to a company for all including big buisness. Look at the Intel line. Not everyone has their top of the line, nor do they want to. This is our new world with AMD and I think we need to get used to it. It is a buisness world out there and we are just a bunch of hobbyists playing with our toys. Heck, we don't even make a spot on a chart if they were to include us amonst all the usergroups. We will get our piece of cake but it won't be the one we have our eye on as it's not for us!

    As Paul Harvey would say "Good Day"
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    939 will be the enthusiast socket. Non-reg/ecc memory support, dual channel, possible DDRII support out of box, motherboards requiring less layers in the PCB (Cheaper!), better yields on chips (Cheaper!), less complex CPU packaging (Cheaper!).
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Thrax said
    939 will be the enthusiast socket. Non-reg/ecc memory support, dual channel, possible DDRII support out of box, motherboards requiring less layers in the PCB (Cheaper!), better yields on chips (Cheaper!), less complex CPU packaging (Cheaper!).
    "939 will be" but not yet here. It is only one of 2 options and will be the dual channel vession. I have seen some speculation that this may or may not be available untill BTX comes to be. So for the people that want t play now 754 is where to do it for 64. Maybe you need to make this the top priority in your meet with the engineer. And I really do like the idea of prepping your class on the whole thing and give them handouts in advance so they can participate and learn. ;)
Sign In or Register to comment.