The Unofficial Abit AN8 Ultra thread

[Tambora]

The AN8 Ultra is an overclockers board what with all of the high voltage options and all. I believe Abit sells more of the Ultra version and so you see more complaints. Support forums are for folks who are having problems so those are the most common posts. Those of us who are not having any problems aren't online complaining so you do not know we are here.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: cr0ssfire
Abit's forums seem to be stagnant with AN8 ultra complaints

People rarely post to praise a product. Thats the point in HW forums, to post problems and get fixed. Just because a product is mentioned on a forum doesnt mean its bad.

 

[cr0ssfire]

I know, people don't usually post on the forums to praise the product. It just seems like a disproportionate number of the complaints are for the AN8 Ultra.

I'm worried about the Q-OTES northbridge cooler getting too hot if I decide to overclock it...although I have to wonder if that would be a problem since I've got a P180. It's also a bit of a disappointment that the nifty Guru panel they bundle with the Fatal1ty boards isn't available for purchase on its own.

 

[BoomAM]

How often would you use the uGuru panel? Its a little pointless really. Apart from isolated times when you want to check temp/voltages, 99% of the other time you wont be needing it anyway.
The Q-OTES is fine, mine runs very cool at the moment. Just booted and its at 25*c. On load, it never goes above 30*c.

 

[cr0ssfire]

Yeah, you're probably right...I mean, really, since you can just check out the temps in Windows I guess there really isn't much use in having a panel like that aside from the "blingitty-bling".

I ended up looking at the majority of the problems reported on this board and they seem to be coming from people just not checking the compatibility of their products, something that certainly won't be a problem for me. I think it's got enough features to be a very good choice. It's got the Q-OTES to keep the northbridge cool without splitting your eardrums - and it ought to work really well in a P180 with a big Zalman cooler on the processor. It's got a good layout that shouldn't have any components bumping into the board parts, a port 80 diagnostic for help in troubleshooting, 100% japanese caps, and uGuru. And hey, I can always get the external uGuru panel, should I ever want it.

Yeah, I think this could be quite a nice step up from value-based Socket A boards.

 

[BoomAM]

Its a good board. I have one and its been great for me. I recommended it to a mate who just upgraded to a Athlon64, and his is working fine as well.
Cant really fault it.

 

[ITPaladin]

What is this AN8V board? Difference from the regular and ultra?

 

[ITPaladin]

bump

 

[GML3G0]

bump.

How hot does the chipset get under load?

I'm looking to get this board.

[ H ]ardOCP's review wasn't exactly promising.

 

[ITPaladin]

bump for unanswered questions

 

[taterworks]

HarOCP probably tested the board flat on a workbench with no airflow for the Q-OTES. Also, the chipset has a thermal pad that should be replaced by some Arctic Silver or equivalent. I too am looking at getting this board. I am a silent computing enthusiast and I wanted the ability to get my CPU and case fan below 5V at idle but looks like that can't happen with this board. OTES header can get below 6V, though. I am interested in this board still, but quite disappointed with the way ABIT went totally half-hearted on the fan speed control settings.

 

[Tambora]

HardOCP tested with watercooling. No fans blowing on the mosfets.

 

[chocoruacal]

Okay, thread back from the dead...

Chose an AN8-Ultra and everything went smoothly. Recognized my Opteron no sweat (board shipped with BIOS 15) and didn't require any BIOS tinkering to get up and running. To the couple of posters asking about temps...I don't know about the earlier production, but the board I have runs cool. I have the stock HSF, single 120mm PSU fan, and a single 120mm (7volted) exhaust case fan. Air is sucked in over the OTES radiator by case pressure and no part of the system is too hot to touch (my highly scientific heat testing.)

The only problem I had was that my SI-97 heatsink doesn't fit, and it's supposed to! So if anyone is using the AN8-Ultra and would like to chime in with [whatever heatsink] they are succefully using, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BoomAM]

Im running my AN8 Ultra with a SI-120 here. Equiped with a silent Akasa 120mm fan.

I rarely see any of the temps in my system go above 30*c. The hotted component according to SpeedFan is the MosFets.

 

[Tambora]

chocoruacal, the SI-97 is for socket 462 (Athlon XP) not socket 939 (Athlon 64). It came out in 2002. Try an XP-90, XP-90C or SI-120 which are all good.

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted by: Tambora
chocoruacal, the SI-97 is for socket 462 (Athlon XP) not socket 939 (Athlon 64). It came out in 2002. Try an XP-90, XP-90C or SI-120 which are all good.

My bad...I have the 97A version which is supposed to fit A64 as well. Unfortunately, Thermalright isn't as helpful in responding to support questions as they are to sales questions, so I'm stiiiiill waiting to hear back from them. I might try the Zalman 9500 if Thermalright doesn't respond.

 

[pctwo]

Qs:

1) Is anyone running this with an Opteron dual core (165, 170, etc)?

2) do you need a floppy to update the bios? I don't have one, believe it or not. Just an external USB floppy.

thx

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted by: pctwo
Qs:

1) Is anyone running this with an Opteron dual core (165, 170, etc)?

2) do you need a floppy to update the bios? I don't have one, believe it or not. Just an external USB floppy.

thx

If you check hardforums there are guys running 165s. One can update the BIOS in Windows, via Abit's Flashmenu utility. Works fine. Die floppies, die.

 

[TG2]

pctwo, you can update the BIOS in Windows or from a bootable CD or floppy (like BartPE or a Win98 bootdisk)

Im using this mobo with watercooling as well
Opty 148 @ 7x300, 4x256@DDR333, HTT@3X

 

[woopypooky]

Hai everybody, i guess the motherboard in discussion here is Abit A8N NF4 Ultra right? and not A8N fatality NF4 ultra or K8N NF4Ultra right?

i would like to buy this 1 and i cant review much with google bcos all the abit mobo names are the same and mixed up.(confuse)

Anyway, i would want to ask how many IDE and SATA and SATA2 hdd can be supported by this? From the review, i read only 1 IDE and 4 SATA, is that true? I got 2 IDE to use and can use SATA 2 -300mps with this mobo?

I also guess this mobo is heatpipe cooling same like K8N and not like A8N fatality which uses fan, right?

Please enlight me on these. thanks

 

[woopypooky]

I also want to ask can this mobo run dual channel ram?

 

[TG2]

The mobo in discussion here is the Abit AN8, NOT the Asus A8N

-different board and different company

 

[Hauk]

About to burn in a system I just built, and man it looks sweet!

* Abit AN8 Ultra
* AMD 64 3700 San Diego core, Thermaltake Silent 939 cooler w/heatpipe
* 2 512MB PC4000 Crucial Ballistix
* EVGA 7800GT OC w/NV Silencer 5
* WD Raptor 70gig
* Antec tower w/window

Plan to OC to 2.5 or so on processor, and 505Mhz on graphics.

Sweet looking mobo with the heatpipe! I felt compelled to pimp this one out, and took time to route everything cleanly. Even bought braided round cables and lights! If this thing had a hole...

Nice mobo so far :thumbsup:

 

[trOl]

if you're handy with a dremel you can use a CD to draw out your 120mm hole guide it's almost exactly the right size.

 

[videopho]

I'm going to build a gaming rig for a friend. Would this mobo ABIT AN8 SLI work or fit well with this XION II case.