Abit SA6R - With or Without 815EP Chip?

[Tones2]

The ABIT website indicates that the SA6R motherboard is based on the Intel 815EP Chip. However, everyone who is selling it says it has the 815E chip. I called ABIT and they said they are selling it with the 815EP chip but would not give me a dealer that had this with the 815EP chip. I called a few times and each time the ABIT salesman seemed very confused, so I'm wondering if anyone has any specific information whether this mobo has an 815EP chip and, if so, WHERE can I get it?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows if motherboards based on the 815E chip can disable COMPLETELY any integrated audio and video (releasing any interrupts taken, etc).

Finally, does anyone have any experience with the Highpoint 370 IDE controller that is integrated in this board? Is there any problems with Maxtor Drives?

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APRRECIATED!!!

Tony

 

[Tones2]

Bump.....

 

[Supradude]

as far as i know, SA6R's come only in 815E...

yes, integrated vid and audio can be disabled completely...

i have a 13 gig Maxtor ata66 7200 rpm as a slave on the highpoint370 and it has had no problems.

 

[mastertech01]

Mine has the 815E chip on it..there is a bios flash for both the version without onboard sound and this one so they do make it in two flavors.Perhaps the other one is an OEM product only. The other questions you had were answered by Supradude

 

[LXi]

The onboard video can be completely disabled with ease, in any case, I'd prefer i815E because the performance and limitations are identical, and I like having onboard video as a backup.