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HI Michael! Nice review, but you left out mention (other than in the spec list) of the one feature that sets Abit apart from *all* other enthusiast board makers save Asus: support for ECC memory. Me, I like multiple PCIe slots and dual GigE and SATAII and high-def audio as much as the next guy, but my idea of "enthusiastic" computing is multi-hour (or day) HPC modelings & simulations, and ECC is a requirement. Overclockability is of interest only as a general indicator of engineering quality, and stability at stock speeds. Competition is good, but Abit isn't going to continue to make the not inconsiderable effort needed to support ECC if they don't get any feedback that their efforts are noticed, appreciated, and used.
To that end, last March I found myself in the market for a home for a new Opty 170. I *wanted* cool, quiet, reliable, 2xPCIe x16, high-def audio, GigE, SATAII, and firewire -- but I *required* ECC. In the S939 market ECC meant Tyan, Abit, and Asus. Cool & Quiet meant ATi RD480 or RD580. Reasonable cost meant RD480. Best audio (ALC882) meant Abit AT8, so that's what I went with and no regrets: 4GB Crucial ECC with (afaict) all the requisite bios support settings. Fedora Core 5&6 no problems, though I've had it from an Nvidia support engineer that the RD480 requires kernel 2.6.14 or later. Just to boot. Whatever.
My experience thusfar is that Abit does ECC right (or is that correct?), a fact that we should help become known outside the confines of their labs and Asus.
Thanks!
To that end, last March I found myself in the market for a home for a new Opty 170. I *wanted* cool, quiet, reliable, 2xPCIe x16, high-def audio, GigE, SATAII, and firewire -- but I *required* ECC. In the S939 market ECC meant Tyan, Abit, and Asus. Cool & Quiet meant ATi RD480 or RD580. Reasonable cost meant RD480. Best audio (ALC882) meant Abit AT8, so that's what I went with and no regrets: 4GB Crucial ECC with (afaict) all the requisite bios support settings. Fedora Core 5&6 no problems, though I've had it from an Nvidia support engineer that the RD480 requires kernel 2.6.14 or later. Just to boot. Whatever.
My experience thusfar is that Abit does ECC right (or is that correct?), a fact that we should help become known outside the confines of their labs and Asus.
Thanks!
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