Abit AB9

Board Layout:

The layout of the Abit AB9 motherboard had reminded us somewhat of the previously reviewed KN9 Ultra motherboard (with the exception that this is an Intel LGA-775 motherboard). Located in the upper right hand corner of the motherboard are four DDR2-800 slots. The maximum memory capacity supported by the P965 Chipset is 8GB of non-ECC DDR2-800/667/533 memory. Near the memory slots is the 4-pin ATX12V power connector along with a 24-pin motherboard power connector. Below the four DDR2 DIMM slots is the Intel ICH8 Southbridge.

The ICH8 is cooled by a passive heatsink on the AB9 and is not connected to the Silent OTES cooling system. The aluminum heatsink is attached to the motherboard using pushpins in opposing corners of the motherboard. Also in this area of the motherboard are the CMOS jumper, LED display, front panel switches, four Serial ATA 2.0 ports, three USB 2.0 headers, and two IEEE-1394a Firewire headers. Also in this area of the motherboard is the Texas Instruments Firewire controller and the Abit uGuru ASIC.