First Look: Abit AW9D-MAX

Overclocking & Thoughts:

Due to the incredibly small amount of time (read: less than five hours) we had with this pre-production sample, we didn't have much time to spend overclocking the board. Normally, we would set aside at least six-to-twelve hours to establish a board's overclocking sweetspot. However, we did have a quick play using an Intel stock cooler to see how far we could get the board to go with a minimal amount of effort. We started with the 8x multiplier on our Core 2 Extreme X6800, and got the board running at 359MHz FSB. We were able to replicate this with the 10x multiplier too.

While this may seem a little disappointing at a first glance, there are already reports of the board doing over 450MHz FSB with a Core 2 Extreme X6800 and 460MHz FSB with a Core 2 Duo E6400. We were told by Abit that there are some kinks in the BIOS that makes the board a little fussy at times when overclocking. We are hoping that these are fixed before the board reaches retail, because 450-460MHz+ FSB on an unmodded 975X motherboard is pretty impressive.

Traditionally, Intel's P965 chipset overclocks a little better than the older 975X chipset, and the Asus P5B Deluxe shows Intel's mainstream chipset off incredibly well. As an overclocker's 975X motherboard, the Abit AW9D-MAX has shown us a lot of potential and we can't help but feel there is a bunch more to unlock when the BIOS is a little bit more mature and mass production boards are available.

Abit has taken the time to give enough attention to the details - the layout is superb and the little details really make this board for me. There are some changes required in the BIOS before it makes its way on to the shelves though. We want to see more memory timings made available. Afterall, this is supposed to be an overclocker's board, and not giving enthusiasts the option to tweak memory timings to their hearts content could limit this board's potential in the long run. It would be good to see if Abit can get downward multiplier adjustments on Core 2 Duo processors to work aswell - it'd help to satisfy those looking for incredibly high front side bus speeds.

I'm excited at the prospect of Abit re-uniting itself with the overclocking crowd. It's been a long time since Abit was a household name among overclockers, and the AW9D-MAX is a board that could go a long way to help re-establish the Abit brand at the top. The AW9D-MAX has all of the bases to establish itself as one of the best 975X motherboards out there and it just needs a little time to iron out the issues that we've come across during our short time with the board. Once the issues are ironed out, I can see this board setting some records...

We will revisit the AW9D-MAX for a full review when the product is in mass production and available for purchase.