Abit KN8 SLi

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DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
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I must admit Abit boards have not let me down yet, so as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it, so I must admit with that thought in mind I'm skeptical to look to other board makers.

Can anyone tell me if they have any experience or know what the thoughts are circulating on this board.

THANKS

 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
I can't find any reviews out there on this one, seems to be a fairly new motherboard that hasn't had reviews, but no one around here is using one or knows anyone?

I'd really love to hear how this board is doing because I am looking at ordering one possibly next week if I can find any information on this and how well it's doing. I'm running my second Abit board now, this will make the third, Abit has never let me down yet, I consider them to be one of the finer boards out there so I'm really considering this one for a SLi setup.

THANKS
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
greywolf32 cool, yes PLEASE do, I was looking to order it from NewEgg as well. Hey I hope you're as hardcore as I like to think I am, hehe.What I mean is will you pull the heatsinks off and put some ArticSilver5 under them? I think it's a great idea since all the companies out there only slap on some of that white cheapie thermal grease.

If you do that let me know too, how that went, as in ease of getting them off and on.

THANKS
 
M

motoxpress

Senior member
May 25, 2001
861
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I also ordered one. I just couldn't pass up the price with a passively cooled NB and SLI.

Will report back.

-mx
 
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NokiaDude

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2002
3,966
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All I can say is that I used to be a HUGE Abit fan. But ever since I upgraded to an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, I realized that Abit has some weird board designs.
 
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greywolf32

Member
Dec 25, 2004
35
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OK! Well I got it today and it's sharp looking!
At first glance it looked just fine!

Well.....after getting into it I ran into some speedbumps....nothing HUGE, but enough to make you go "FRIKKIN GRRRR" a few times!

1) There is a MB mounting hole that's partially covered by the IDE1 connector on the board. You CAN fit one of the older plastic stand-offs into it, but I chose to leave it open for now. That's just me.

2) The Floppy IDE connector is in the WORST place I have EVER, EVER seen on a MB!! What the HECK were they thinking??? The ONLY reason that I can think of them putting it at the bottom of the board is that most basic users don't use Floppy drives anymore. But I DO! :(

3) The USB connectors on the MB are next to the SATAII connectors....not a problem, but really inconvenient since there's PLENTY of room on the right side of the board.

4) The Front Panel (Pwr, HDD LED, etc..) connectors are ALSO on the FRIKKIN BOTTOM of the board! WHO IS THE SMACKTARD that designed this thing?? Ray Charles??? SHEESH!! :( I had to exend the power connector 4". That's just how my case is set up, but why should I have to do that? I had a ECS KV2 extreme in the same case and everything fit perfect!! "GRRRRR"

5) This one is MY mistake......make sure the SHADOW PCI-E card is in the second PCI-E slot if you aren't running SLI or you won't get ANY video.

6) The Northbridge Heatsink comes off relatively easy. There was decent thermal paste from Radio Shack on it, and it was replaced by some Arctic Silver immediately. BE CAREFUL of the heat riser tube though. It's NOT flexible much, so don't pull far off the chipset!

7) It booted clean the second time....(after Mr. Brainchild forgot the Shadow PCI-E card). :)

It picked up ALL my drives on the get-go! YAY!! (I put the shotgun away after that)

I'll work it over tomorrow and tax it to the breaking point and see if it crashes.
I'm also going to disable the on-board firewall since it's basically a good feature on paper, but horrible implementation in reality.

I hope this helps!
 
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greywolf32

Member
Dec 25, 2004
35
0
0
Before I forget....

The main complaint is that the location of the USB, panel connectors, and Floppy connectors are ALL on the bottom of the board!!!! I have everything connected for now, once I've run the heck out of it and got any bugs worked out, I'm going to extend the wires so it's nice and clean. These are minor details, and if you have an enclosed case, then it won't be any trouble for you. I have a side-window case and I like to see inside every so often, and I don't like spaghetti looking back at me. ;) Everything else is JUST FINE with this board!!!!

Maybe I'm just picky, but that's just how I am.
 
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greywolf32

Member
Dec 25, 2004
35
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DOH! I forgot one other thing....it's weird if you don't read the manual first! The ATX 20 pin power plug works fine in the 24-pin socket on the MB. JUST DON'T USE THE BOTTOM 4!! The clip for the ATX connector WON'T line up. Just be forewarned about this! The manual shows you how and why this is. It must be an ABIT thing. :-


Ok, I'm DONE for now! LOL
 
M

motoxpress

Senior member
May 25, 2001
861
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Do you have any red leds by the cmos / fp connection area? All of my leds are green except for that one.

I really like the mb although I could use another 1 or two pci slots

mx
 
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greywolf32

Member
Dec 25, 2004
35
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0
Yes, I do have the 1 Red LED...all the rest are green. I just scored a 5978 3DMark05 so I'm more than happy with this MB! :)
 
Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
LOL@ Ray Charles..good review.

Anyway this boards seems a no-brainer if you can get past board layout.

$110 for Sli? Jap caps? Abit "bullit proof" quality? Passive cooled chipset design? Wow!

Where's Wes on this one?

 
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greywolf32

Member
Dec 25, 2004
35
0
0
Once you get past the board's design...err...."quirks"...lol...it is REALLY stable! And VERY adjustment-friendly for us! I just hope that SOMEONE at Abit realizes what could be an EXCELLENT board for us would just take a small bit of re-designing at their R&D.

Well, I'm up and running with no problems so all-in-all it was money well spent. :)
 
D

Dweekie

Member
Nov 8, 2004
111
0
0
Got one recently, running a venice 3000 at 300htt (2.7ghz @ 1.5v). I havent tested the max htt yet on this board since I'm really happy with it right now (only the second day of running it). Awesome board, especially with the passive cooler. With a sychthe ninja with a nexus silent fan, Im getting a max cpu temperature of 30C and system temperature of 28C. It's got all the major features you need and no quirks other than the above mentioned layout. All my voltages are great (12v, 5v, 3.3v) and are all slightly above their rated values. Plus, I'm only running on an old antec 350 20pin powersupply and running a 7800GT graphics card and 3 hard drives and a dvdrw drive. There's no need for super high wattage and super clean powersupplies like some of the other boards; this abit board is just awesome. Plus, it's silent and is only 110 bucks at the egg. I had no problems using the firewall with the latest nvidia drivers from the website, but other have mentioned issues with it. I really dont know why there is a lack of reviews on this board, but it's really an awesome board and i'd really recommend it. The only thing im wondering is if my powersupply can handle another 7800gt. how important is it for a ps to be sli ready? I feel like my 350 maybe pull it off, whereas all the certified ones are 500watts or higher. Oh, and yes it has all the standard oc settings and more; hence, I have a highly overclocked rig with barely any effort (abit softmenu is the best organized of all mobo brands in my opinion).
 
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VooDooAddict

Golden Member
Jun 4, 2004
1,057
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Originally posted by: Dweekie
Plus, I'm only running on an old antec 350 20pin powersupply and running a 7800GT graphics card and 3 hard drives and a dvdrw drive. There's no need for super high wattage and super clean powersupplies like some of the other boards; this abit board is just awesome.
Click to expand...

Nice.

I've set my cousin up with a Cooler Master 550W. Knowing that some day he might upgrade to SLI. I also wasn't going to put anything but an active PFC powersupply in his system. We do a fair number of LAN parties and depending on the venue the power can be shakey.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817171006

Can hardly wait to put this stuff together sunday.
 
DasFox

DasFox

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
4,668
46
91
Thanks greywolf32 and guys, well I want to get the PCPower&Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Express / SLI. I'm a bit nervous using anything else, since I want to put 2 7800 GT cards in it.

greywolf32 I thought you can pull off the entire cooling, the SLI part and the northbridge, so as to put some Artic Silver on both ends, that's what I was planning to do.

Yes this board layout sure seems goofy and was really the only thing making me shake my head. Not to mention the 4 pin ATX next to the floppy on the bottom as well.

THANKS
 
C

Cocobo

Junior Member
Dec 13, 2005
1
0
0
I just got my kn8-sli and I cant get it to work. It will not boot with a geforce 6600le PCIe card but it do boot with an old voodoo3 PCI card. I have upgraded my bios, maked sure the shadowcard is installed and tried to connect power to the powersocket at the bottom of the card. It does not give away any beeping sound when it fail to boot so I have no help from that. Any ideas?
 
R

Realguns

Member
Oct 3, 2002
63
0
0
I got a new AN8-V for the wife and I believe its the power supply.

I tried her 420W Turbolink and it would not do anthing but light the red light near the numbers. I the replaced with a 350W Antec True Blue. Posted and worked fine!

OH and I have the Kn8-Sli coming tomorrow and I got the Enermax SLI power supply just to be sure.
 
S

SkuLLyRT

Senior member
Sep 28, 2002
219
0
0
I'd love to hear some more followups from you guys that've been running this board. My little brother is looking for an "el cheapo" ( < $150, passively cooled) board that's SLI capable with some decent overclocking ability, and we're on the fence when it comes to ordering this board, or the AN8.

If you guys have any additional thoughts on this board, we're all ears. :)
 
V

VooDooAddict

Golden Member
Jun 4, 2004
1,057
0
0
Installed the Abit KN8 SLI for a cousin this past weekend. No problems at all:

3500+ E4 (2.2/512k)
Zalman 9500 CPU Cooler
Abit KN8 SLI
2 x 256Meg Mushkin PC2700 Cas2 [Yeah PC2700 ... he was upgrading from a failed 2500+. Works fine though.]
EVGA 7800GT (the version clocked at 445)
Coolermaster Realpower 550 w/ Active PFC

In some RAIDMAX case he got on sale a while ago... He's got 9 80mm case fans in the dang thing. After his last system burned up from a failed northbridge and VGA fan he's a little paranoid about the heat.

Didn't have time to try any overclocking. Will probably wait till he upgrades to 2 x 1gig of PC400+.
 
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