E3 2006: The ABIT Fatal1ty Professional AN9 32X @ Legitreviews

[werty316]

Looking good except for that crappy Fatal1ty branding; He must be rich enough to quite this branding crap. Who actually likes this guy?


ABIT Fatal1ty Professional AN9 32X Motherboard Features:

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NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset
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two PCI-e 16x slots
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two GigE ethernet ports
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7.1 channel HD audio
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two IEEE 1394 firewire ports
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four DD2 dimm sockets
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six SATA-II ports for dual RAID-5
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one UDMA-133 IDE port


http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/1792/abitfatal1tyan93wh.jpg

Source (http://anonym.to/?http://www.legitreviews.com/article/343/1/)

[Kougar]

Good grief, what's your problem with Fatal1ty? Did you buy some hardware with his name that was sub-par or something? Considering the guy makes a nice living by just playing video games, I'd like him. Or at least like to play against him. ;)

Another thing though, is that Abit started the entire Fatal1ty brand theme in a last ditch attempt to save their brand form going under, which actually failed. Soundblaster and other groups hopped onto the Fatal1ty bandwagon behind Abit, although the only reason Abit is around right now is because USI bought them out and folded them into their own PC manufacturing operations.

While the board certainly looks good... that was a very bad call with the sole PCI slot placement. With three PCI 1x slots they should have at least switched places out with the lowest PCIe 1x slot.

Also the first bank of memory is right ontop of the CPU retention socket. Not only will that limit your choices in memory, but it will also put a good crimp on that new AM2 socket cooler most people will have to buy... But hey, it does look good :p

[werty316]

I was surprise ABIT brought the Fatal1ty brand back since it didn't help them much hence the restructuring of the company. Also notice taht ABIT haven't released any Fatal1ty branded boardsrecently because they have learned but I guess they need something big for the release this AM2 board. I don't hate the Jon Wendel as a person but branding of the products; the main reason why I hate Fatal1ty brand boards is it ups the costs of the boards and they performs the same as a non branded board.

This board is pretty much the AN8 32X but AM2 socket. I like the layout except for the last PCI-E slot at the bottom. I guess they didn't have room to put aother PCI slot. I think the room around the socket and memory slots is sufficient. I think it just looks like there isn't alot of room because of the retention bracket.

[Kougar]

I was surprise ABIT brought the Fatal1ty brand back since it didn't help them much hence the restructuring of the company. Also notice taht ABIT haven't released any Fatal1ty branded boardsrecently because they have learned but I guess they need something big for the release this AM2 board. I don't hate the Jon Wendel as a person but branding of the products; the main reason why I hate Fatal1ty brand boards is it ups the costs of the boards and they performs the same as a non branded board.

This board is pretty much the AN8 32X but AM2 socket. I like the layout except for the last PCI-E slot at the bottom. I guess they didn't have room to put aother PCI slot. I think the room around the socket and memory slots is sufficient. I think it just looks like there isn't alot of room because of the retention bracket.

So, if you don't like Fatal1ty for those reasons, then you wouldn't like Asus's Premium brand, or MSI's Platinum brand either... Every manufacturer has a "pay more for the best thing out there" brand for their products. It appears Abit simply decided to go with the already known "Fatal1ty" instead of the "Max3" branding they once used for the absolute top-end.

I said nothing about adding a new PCI slot... simply switching the PCI and last PCIe slots with each other would have solved that problem. Many top-end SLI x16 or Crossfire boards are already paying attention to details like this.

[werty316]

Not necessarily. Its the fact that companies slap the name of a gamer on their products to get more $ by saying "this board is kickass because it has the Fatal1ty name on it, go buy it now!" Asus's Premium/Deluxe and MSI's Platinum is completely different.

[mousiness]

someone is having their time of the month... :rolleyes: lol jk :cool:

[Kougar]

Not necessarily. Its the fact that companies slap the name of a gamer on their products to get more $ by saying "this board is kickass because it has the Fatal1ty name on it, go buy it now!" Asus's Premium/Deluxe and MSI's Platinum is completely different.

Alrighty, well how is it different? I just want to see why you think so.

Creative Labs ships a Fatal1ty sound card that has a specially designed front control/port panel for a 5.25 bay. Fatal1ty is just another "Premium" brand, designed to be easily recognized for it's status as a more expensive and more feature rich object, in my opinion.

After looking at the AN8 32x, I'd have to say the Fatal1ty Professional AN9 32X is quite a bit different in design and looks than it's predecessor. It also has a very different circuit board layout.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-127-232-04.JPG

Edit: Okay, I was wrong... that last slot isn't PCI x1, it's for a proprietary riser card slot, probably for the missing SPDIF ports that the fans replaced, and other sound ports... So I guess the current slot configuration they choose was actually the best one to go with. That board is really packing it tight.

[mousiness]

what kougar said is very very very true, i just think youre mad today werty :rolleyes:

[Kougar]

what kougar said is very very very true, i just think youre mad today werty :rolleyes:

He's not mad...

We just tend to go at each other alot. Nothing new to see here (Unless you count the Fatal1ty AN9 Pro), move along... :p

[werty316]

As "Kyle" from "South Park" said in an ep: "I don't have sand in my vagina". The design is similar; if you take a first glance you see both use the same heatpipe cooling solution, the CPU socket and RAM slots are in the same area. Other than the colour and PCI/PCI-E slots the "general" layout is the same.

Heres a good example of the branding can be misleading:
$50 - ZALMAN Fatal1ty FS-V7 80mm VGA Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118222

$30 - ZALMAN VF700-CU 2 Ball VGA COOLER - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118117

I don't think there is anything different in the Fatal1ty version other than a faster fan.

[Kougar]

Yeah, and that red color... gotta pay $20 for a more reddish copper and a red LED fan. I'm not disagreeing that you pay more for the name, and get less.

However back to the motherboard... The A8N lacks any kind of OTES fan, while the A9N comes with two. A8N had sound and SPIDF ports, A9N comes with a discreate sound riser card with HD audio. A9N also seems to have a massively larger number of capacitors, when the DDR2 memory uses less voltage. The A9N also has more SATA ports, but one less PATA port.

To further highlight the differences, all three power plugs on the mainboards are in different locations, along with the diagnostic LEDs & PATA ports as well as the fan headers and the battery. The A8N is completely passively cooled, and the A9N has the (much needed) fans.

Looking solely at the Asus A8N (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?SubCategory=22&CompareItemList=N82E16813131517%2CN82E16813131540% 2CN82E16813131524), I see less of a difference between the vanilla and Premium models, although the third Deluxe trades off a few extra things. Basically a 47% price increase gets you more SATA cables, gb ethernet, and a extra RAID 5 option. And a different color box.

[werty316]

Read my post again I am talking about the "general" layout not specific things like OTES, sound and SPIDF, different caps used, SATA ports, etc.

[Kougar]

Ah, okay. Just a difference in meanings then, 'cause to me that stuff would fall within the "general layout". The entire PCIe x16, PCI, and PCI x1 slot configuration is different too, for that matter. There isn't much left to fit under "general layout" except for the memory slots, AM2 socket, or the chipsets which are in the same place. Most motherboards tend to be built that same way though...