Test: ABIT AW8D

Konklusion

Abit har med AW8D lavet et aldeles fornuftigt bundkort med god ydelse og gode overclocking egenskaber, og endnu en gang viser uGuru BIOS'en de andre hvordan det skal gøres når man vil henvende sig til entusiaster. Der er en Core 2 Duo kompatibel model af kortet på vej, og med den opdatering kan AW8D kun siges at være blandt redaktionens favoritter.

Innovation / Teknologi - Det tæller at tand op at man har lavet en hestpipe køleløsning til at få transporteret varmen fra boardet ud til kabinetsiden, og det separate lydkort viser at man også her går andre veje end konkurrenterne, og vælger den bedste løsning uden at gå på kompromis. 4 point.

Bundle / Tilbehør - Ikke så voldsom bundle som vi så på MAX modellen, men stadig en god bunke grej. Hvis man savner et uGuru display kan de fås for 125kr i løs vægt. 4 point.

Design / Layout - Overordnet set et pænt udseende board, og selv om jeg godt ville have set vga powerstikket placeret anderledes så lader det ikke til at påvirke kortets ydeevne. Den lydløse heatpipe konstruktion bliver ret varm, så man skal sørge for at der er luftflow omkring den store Q-Otes køleprofil ved IO-panelet. Er du til store blæsekølere skal du også være OBS på at Q-Otes køleren kan blokere for monteringen. Denne køleløsning gør også at man står uden COM og LPT porte, så hvis du stadig bruger den slags skal du lige være opmærksom. Alt i alt et 3-tal.

Software / BIOS - Fremragende simpelthen. En BIOS der i den grad kan tweakes i bund fortjener et 5-tal. Eneste negative detalje er at det måske kan virke uoverskueligt for nybegyndere, men det er heller ikke dem dette kort henvender sig til.

Ydelse - Ydelsen kan der ikke sættes mange fingre på. Kortet lægger sig lidt over gennemsnittet i grundydelse, og sammen med de gode overclocking egenskaber det udviser giver jeg kortet et 4-tal.

Pris - Prisen på 1400kr er faktisk lav når vi snakker 975X baserede boards. De fleste andre i denne klasse ligger mindst 300kr højere, Så her er et godt motherboard til en god pris. 4 point.

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UK Summary

With AW8D ABIT have made a really good mainboard with excellent overclocking abilities, and once again the uGuru BIOS sets the standard for enthusiasts. A Core 2 Duo compatible model of AW8D is on its way, and given that this mainboard is among our favorites.

Innovation / Technology - The heatpipe cooling solution that transport heat away from the mainboard and out through the IO-panel, and the separate soundcard sets ABIT apart from their competitors, and shows that ABIT are not affraid to go their own way and choose the best solutions over the cheapest. 4 Points.

Bundle / Accessories -Not as large a bundle as we saw with the AW8-MAX board, but still a nice number of extras. if needed uGuru displays are sold separately for a mere 17_. 4 points

Design / Layout - Overall a very nice design, although I would have liked the vga powerplug placed somewhere else it does not affect the performance of the mainboard. The no-noise Q-Otes cooling solution does get warm and you need to make sure there is plenty of air circulating around the large Q-Otes heatsink. If you like big heatsinks on the CPU, you also need to make sure it will fit on to the board as the Q-Otes heatsink might cause problems. The heatpipe solution also does away with COM and LPT ports. 3 points.

Software / BIOS - The BIOS is absolutely fab. You can really get to the bottom of things, and the only bad thing I can think of, is that it might be confusing to a beginner, but then again this BIOS was not meant for beginners. 5 points.

Performance - The performance of AW8D is very good. The basic performance measurements places the card in the top 5 over similar cards we have tested, and combined with excellent overclocking abilities I think ABIT deserves 4 points.

Price - The price of 190_ is actually in the low end when it comes to 975X boards. Most bords in its class are usually 40_ more. Good quality board at a good price gets ABIT AW8D 4 points