Abit AB9 - Intel 965 Based

[jlbenedict]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127004

Oh my... Now, I know for a while now Abit has had their head not quite screwed on tight, by placing the floppy connector at the bottom left of the motherboard.

Now, they've really done themselves one over... They have placed the IDE connector right in the middle of the PCI & PCIe slots..

Can you say, "WTF!"

 

[Heidfirst]

IDE is dead which is why Intel saw fit not to include a controller in the southbridge.
If you don't use IDE devices it's not a problem, same with floppy - Abit is just at the forefront again (as they were with the Max series & legacy connectors).
Samsung do a nice cheap SATA DVD-R/RW so don't say that there aren't cheap SATA opticals available.

If you don't like the board don't buy it.

 

[Auric]

I don't get the contention that "Abit is just at the forefront again..." since most manufacturers are likewise including IDE connectors but not placing them so poorly. Floppy may be dead as far as "reformat" happy nubs are concerned but they are still invaluable (unfortunately). In any case, Abit must be expecting it to be used since they include four floppy disks lol! Oh well, at least they are not using failure-prone soldered loops for attaching the NB this time around (as they did with the 865's). Anyway, they aren't the company they once were.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst
IDE is dead which is why Intel saw fit not to include a controller in the southbridge.
If you don't use IDE devices it's not a problem, same with floppy - Abit is just at the forefront again (as they were with the Max series & legacy connectors).
Samsung do a nice cheap SATA DVD-R/RW so don't say that there aren't cheap SATA opticals available.

If you don't like the board don't buy it.

WTF?

If Intel didn't include a controller, then how the fvck are there floppy and IDE capability?

 

[CalvinHobbes]

They used a 3rd party IDE controller. Intel seems like it jumped the gun getting rid of IDE controllers. I really wonder why the optical drives haven't made a mass exodus to SATA. There must be a technical reason.

 

[jlbenedict]

Well, I'm not sure if the 965 is that much different from the 975 based boards, but
Intel's 975 board and its built-in ICH7 controller has the integrated support for one IDE channel, supporting 2 IDE devices.

There is not 3rd party IDE controller. There is another 3rd party controller for the additional SATA ports that are on the board.

http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/30701302.pdf

**Edit**

Excuse my ignorance.. apparently the 965 uses a different I/O controller than the 975. I was unaware that a less superior board uses a newer I/O controller (ICH8).
:beer:

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst
IDE is dead which is why Intel saw fit not to include a controller in the southbridge.
If you don't use IDE devices it's not a problem, same with floppy - Abit is just at the forefront again (as they were with the Max series & legacy connectors).
Samsung do a nice cheap SATA DVD-R/RW so don't say that there aren't cheap SATA opticals available.

If they're going to do such an obviously bad job of it, why even bother to include the functionality? Sure, it's one more check-box to mark, but it reeks of a lack of proper forethought.

If you don't like the board don't buy it.

A lot of people don't like this kind of thing, and a lot of people don't have the sense to really look at a board's layout before they buy it. If somebody is saved from making a purchase they would regret, then that's something.

 

[TAGImperialMarch]

I knew the layout, and I didn't care, after reports of damn good overclocks, with a D 805 up for 4.7 GHz or so..... that's some damn good power regulation.