abit AB9-Pro Review (Page 2 of 8)

Page 2 - Features, Packaging, Accessories

Processor
- Support Intel Core 2 Duo Pentium® & Pentium® D processors with 1066/800MHz FSB
- Support Intel® 2006FMB Conroe CPU
Chipset
- Intel® P965 / ICH8R Chipset
Memory
- 4 X 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. memory capacity 8GB
Supports Dual channel DDR2 800/667/533 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
LAN
- On board Dual PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/ 1000M Ethernet
Audio
- On board 7.1 CH HD Audio CODEC
- Supports auto jack sensing and optical S/PDIF Out
Expansion Slots
- 1 x PCI-E X16
- 2 x PCI-E X1
- 2 x PCI
Internal I/O
- 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88 MB
- 1 x Ultra DMA 100/66/33 IDE connector
- 9 x SATA 3Gb/s connector
- 3 x USB header (support 6 ports)
- 1 x FP-Audio, 1 x CD-In
Back Panel I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
- abit Silent OTES™
- 1 x S/P DIF In, 1 x S/P DIF Out,
- 1 x eSATA
- 7.1 CH Audio connector (Front, Line-in, MIC-in, Center/Subwoofer, Surround, Rear Surround)
- 4 x USB 2.0, 2 x RJ-45 LAN connector
Serial ATA
- 6 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by Intel® ICH8R support Intel® Matrix Storage Tech(AHCI & RAID 0/1/5 /10)
- 2 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by JMicron® JMB363 support up to 0,1,0+1,JBOD RAID function
- 1 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by Silicon Image 3132 to 0,1,0+1,JBOD RAID function
- 1 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by Silicon Image 3132
Form Factor
- ATX form factor 305 x 245mm
- PCB Color: Orange
RoHS
- 100% lead-free process and RoHS compliant
abit Engineered
- abit SoftMenu™ Technology
- abit µGuru™ Technology
- abit Silent OTES™ Technology

Packaging is simple, and comes in a box and outlines features of the abit AB9-Pro at the back. Opening the box reveals two white cardboard packages of different height; one containing accessories such as Serial ATA cables while the thinner unit has the manuals. Below it is another cardboard partitioning where your abit AB9-Pro is revealed inside an anti-static bag.

Out of the box, you will receive quite a quantity of accessories. Because the abit AB9-Pro features 9 SATA2 ports (Yes, you read correctly), a total of 9 SATA cables are included. A few internal to external USB connectors are also included; 2 black IDE cables comes with the abit AB9-Pro as well as several manuals and the motherboard backplate.

Interestingly, the total of four floppy disks comes out of the box with the manuals for RAID purposes. I would highly doubt the usefulness or purpose of these disks as majority of newly built computers will not have a floppy drive.

This image is certainly not proprietary to us, but we'll use it anyway as it is the basic diagram describing the P965 chipset. With native 1066MHz FSB support (266MHz times quad pumped for the four lanes), Intel Fast Memory Access technology, and support for DDR2-800 (PC6400) RAM by default, it's interesting how quickly Intel removed controllers for IDE devices which abit left for JMicron's JMB363 instead. However, along with Vista, sources indicate manufacturers are speeding up their production of SATA based optical drive to accommodate this change.

The abit AB9-Pro utilizing the ICH8R chipset natively supports for Intel's Matrix Storage Technology for 6 out of its 9 SATA2 ports provided.


Page Index
1. Introduction
2. Features, Packaging, Accessories
3. Board Layout
4. The uGuru Panel
5. Test System; Benchmarks: PCMark05, 3DMark06
6. Benchmarks: EVEREST Ultimate Edition 3.50.799
7. Benchmarks: Cinebench 9.5, HDTachRW 3.0.1.0
8. Onboard Sound, Overclocking, Conclusion