14 DAY TRIAL // Each new release in technology quickly becomes a battlefield for profit. That was the case with the mobile ringtones shortly after the cellular era and this is the case with the Phenom-Ready hysteria following the release of the newer Spider platform.
Abit announced the release of the world's first motherboard that natively supports AMD quad-core processors, as well as HyperTransport 3, Dual Channel DDR2 1066 memory, PCI Express 2.0 and CrossFire X. The Abit team has gathered a new set of functions under the "Abit Engineered" trademark.
This set includes features as Abit SoftMenu, that gives access to the BIOS settings using a user-friendly interface. The external CMOS switch is a feature dedicated to the overclockers and allows them to reset the BIOS using a rear-panel switch if the system becomes unstable. Abit Silent OTES absorbs the heat from the northbridge and conducts it in the PWM area where the airflow from the CPU fan rapidly exhausts it from the case.
A solid system relies on power management. The engineers at Abit have implemented the 4-phase PWM for increased power supply and stability. Each phase is composed of one high-side MOS and two low-side MOS. The PWM area has a dedicated heatsink to maintain a cool environment and improve conductivity.
As the Spider platform mainly focuses on hardcore gamers, the Abit AX78 motherboard couldn't do otherwise. Abit AX78 features two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (1 x16, 1 x4 bandwidth) that support the ATI Crossfire X dual graphic cards. Further expansion is supported, as the motherboard provides one additional PCIe x1 and three PCI slots. AX78 supports up to 10 USB ports of which four of them are already available to the user through the rear panel. The integrated high definition soundcard is 7.1 channels compliant and renders a fully cinematic surround sound.