Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
The overclocking results pretty much mirror what I saw with K8V. No AGP or primary PCI bus locking, something a few nForce3 Pro boards do now, but a needed feature which is strangely absent from shipping K8T800s with the Albatron no exception. The BIOS initially appeared to lock the bus and ClockGen tells you it actually is. Here's some evidence. Note the increase in the driven clock using the tool, but the PCI and AGP clock unmoved.
The BIOS doesn't lie though, 225MHz was again the top driven clock speed, before the Raptor gave up and corrupted the OS bootloader. No other disk controller on the board either, riding the locked bus, like K8V. Not quite the overclocking extravaganza I was hoping for. ClockGen allows FID adjust on K8X800 Pro II though. 8x takes your fancy?
That's about it really. The generous range of voltages provided by the BIOS are wasted, in light of the unlocked busses. 2.9V Vdimm might help you squeeze 220MHz+ out of a stubborn stick of PC3200, but that's about it I feel. I'm not sure it's something a BIOS can fix either, on this first generation of K8T800 implementations and their respective PCBs at least.
Conclusion
The performance was never really in doubt. Once we'd unearthed the slight stock bus overclocking and the performance difference from the slightly newer Hyperion driver set, we knew what the graphs would look like. That leaves feature set and price.Features wise, I'm still slightly disappointed in the audio setup. All you are left with, despite the impressive Envy24PT base, is a competent but unexciting 8-channel sound solution. While Creative do a nice consumer 8-channel speaker set in the Inspire T7700s, that's about it as far as cheap, complete, speaker kits go. It's a good speaker set though, I enjoyed their performance when they arrived with the Time FX-51 box recently.
IDE RAID or extra SATA ports would have been more desirable I feel. I prefer the K8V feature set, comparing it to K8X800, given that the Envy24 isn't allowed full freedom to show off.
Albatron do a slightly underwhelming bundle for the board, with just the bare essentials without ever getting frisky. A shiny box doesn't make up for the lack of things like rounded IDE cables. Price is nothing to complain about though. It's a $110 board in the States, it wont be too far from £110 when it shows up in quantity here. Recommended if you're looking to save a few quid.
You know that feeling of disappointment you get when you're really excited about something that seems so promising, only to be let down by a couple of niggling little details? That's what the K8X800 Pro II is like. Initially good, ultimately a little frustrating. A good attempt from Albatron, hopefully they'll get the details worked out for any future revision or new K8T800 model. Envy24PT and Eight-TRAC next time please, with a new layout. Cheers.
Score
Pros
Excellent performanceGood voltage ranges when tweaking
Should be cheap for K8T800
8-channel (castrated) audio solution
Decent bundle and features
Cons
Fussy, slightly poor, layoutMessy audio setup that needs to be rethought
Extra SATA or PATA would have been nice, SATA especially
Thanks
Komplett for the digital camera used to take the shots.Albatron for the sample.
