First Look: Abit AW9D-MAX

MP3 Encoding:

We used LAME MT for our audio encoding test - it's the multithreaded version of the popular LAME MP3 encoder. We ran tests with both Intel's and Microsoft's compilers - naturally, the Intel compiler resulted in some performance increases on Intel's processors. We converted all 18 tracks from Moby's popular Play album to a 192kbps variable bit-rate MP3.

The AW9D-MAX is slightly faster in MP3 encoding too.

Gaming Platform Performance:

The AW9D-MAX was faster in all of the gaming tests run, albeit by a couple of frames per second tops. On the whole, you're not going to see much difference between this board and any other decent-performing 975X based motherboard when you start cranking resolutions up to settings where you're graphics limited.