Review: abit AB9 Pro

by Ryszard Sommefeldt on 13 October 2006, 19:22

Tags: Abit AB9 Pro, abit

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abit AB9 Pro

Specification

abit AB9 Pro Specification
Item Specification
Processor Support All Intel LGA775 processors, including Core 2 Duo
Northbridge Intel P965
Southbridge Intel ICH8R
Memory Support 4 DIMMs, DDR2, 533/667/800, 8GiB max
Graphics 1 x PCI Express Graphics 16X
PCI Express 2 x PCIe 1x; P965
PCI Conventional 2 slots, PCI2.2
ATA 1 port, JMicron JMB363 PCIe on ICH8R
SATA 6 ports SATA2 AHCI, ICH8R
2 ports SATA2 AHCI, JMicron JMB363, PCIe on ICH8R
2 ports SATA2 AHCI (1 eSATA), Silicon Image Sil3132, PCIe on P965
RAID 0/1/5/10, ICH8R, Intel Matrix Storage
0/1, Sil3132
0/1/0+1, JMicron JMB363
LAN 2 x 10/100/1000, Realtek RTL8111B, PCIe on ICH8R
Audio HD Audio, 8-channel, Realtek ALC882D, ICH8R
Floppy 1 port, Winbond W83627EHG
FireWire Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A, FireWire 400, 2 ports
USB 10 ports, USB2.0, ICH7R

Discussion

PCI Express expansion slot count aside, the AB9 Pro is actually better specified than the AW9D Max, hard as that might be to believe given the price points. There's more SATA2 ports, more PCIc, the same FireWire 400, GigE and audio ICs (and with TOS-Link input, something the AW9D Max does without) and more usable USB2.0 ports. Add to that one more PCIc slot, the same DDR2-800 memory support, the ability to run every CPU the AW9D Max can and, well, you get the picture.

The specification differences after that lie solely at the feet of the PCIe slot layout. The AB9 Pro provides just one PCIe x16 slot to the AW9D Max's 2, but for many that won't matter one iota. Therefore if the slot count and specification pleases thee, you get the same spiffy AW9D Max spec for a mid-range price.

Early promise, then? We think so. Let's now see if it suffers some of the layout quirks of the board we've been happy to compare it to thus far.