Processor
- Supports Socket 775 for Intel® Pentium 4 / Pentium 4 EE / Pentium D / Pentium XE / Celeron D processors
- Supports 1066/800MHz FSB
- Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading / XD-bit / EM64T / EIST Technology

Chipset
- Intel® 955X / Intel® ICH7R Express Chipset

Memory
- Four 240-pin DIMM sockets
- Supports Dual channel DDR2-667/533 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
- Supports maximum memory capacity up to 8GB

PCI-E Gigabit LAN
- On board Dual PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller supports 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet

SATAII 3G RAID
- Intel® Matrix Storage Technology supports RAID 0/1/5/10
- Supports SATA AHCI, providing native command queuing and native hot plug

2nd PCIE SATA 3G
- On board Silicon Image PCIE SATA 3G RAID controller

Audio (Dolby Master Studio support)
- ABIT AudioMAX HD 7.1 channels Intel® High Definition Audio with Dolby Master Studio
- Supports auto jack sensing and optical S/PDIF In/Out

IEEE 1394
- Supports 2 Ports IEEE 1394b at 800 Mb/s transfer rate and 1 port 1394a

ABIT Engineered
- ABIT ìGuru™ 2005 Technology (ABIT OC Guru / ABIT EQ / ABIT Flash Menu / ABIT Black Box)
- ABIT CPU ThermalGuard™ Technology
- ABIT AudioMAX HD 7.1 Technology

Internal I/O Connectors
- 1 x PCI-E X16 slot, 2 x PCI-E X1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
- 1 x AudioMAX slot
- 1 x Floppy port
- 1 x UDMA 100/66/33 connector
- 6 x SATA connectors
- 2 x USB 2.0 headers, 2 x IEEE1394b headers
- 1 x FP-Audio header, 1 x CD-IN

Back Panel I/O
- ABIT SilentOTES™ Technology
- 1 x IEEE1394a
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse
- 4 x USB 2.0
- 2 x RJ-45 Gigabit LAN

Silent-OTES™ Technology
Through this unique ABIT Engineered heat-pipe Silent OTES™ design, heat generated by the chipset can be efficiently and noiselessly conducted to the back panel

ìGuru
Exclusive ABIT Engineered motherboard technology designed for unprecedented power, convenience, and control over your PC

Dual DDR2 800
Overclocking both CPU and memory

Dual SATAII Controllers
Onboard dual SATAII (3Gb/s) provides up to six SATAII ports with RAID functionality for expandability and data security.

Dual PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controllers
Onboard PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller provides blockbusting LAN speed for lightning fast file transfers and internet gaming

OC Strips
Specially designed copper strips efficiently help draw heat away from the PCB. Protect your PC against crashing due to overheating.

Digital Video Editing Platform
Besides embedded high speed transport transmission interfaces such as IEEE1394b and USB 2.0, the ABIT AW8 series motherboards also provide advanced editing capabilities to edit and author your videos. With ABIT's AW8 series motherboards recording and creating eye-catching videos has never been easier.

MOSFET Thermal Solution
With specially designed layout and heatsinks, this exclusive PWM design keeps all MOSFET under 50°C, and assists with rapid heat dissipation away from the CPU.

AudioMAX Technology (7.1-Channel)
AudioMAX reduces the noise interference of high frequency signals, resulting in outstanding 7.1-channel high definition audio quality with optical S/PDIF In/Out support.

Dolby® Master Studio Support
ABIT's AW8 series motherboards deliver an advanced set of audio presentation capabilities with up to 7.1 channels of surround sound for the most compelling natural, and dramatic listening experience possible for all your entertainment needs, as well as the capability to author DVDs with surround sound

IEEE 1394b/a Support
FireWire IEEE 1394b allows data transfer rates of up to 800Mb/sec. External hard drives, digital audio, digital video, and other high speed consumer electronic devices all benefit tremendously from the increased throughput of FireWire 800.

As you can see this board is packed with features from the Dual SATAII Controllers, Dual PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controllers and its  FireWire IEEE 1394b the AW8 version has none of these with only a single lan slot and 4 Sata 2 ports instead of the Max’s 6. also different is the audio the AW8 has 5.1 and the MAX versions 7.1. having said that the features and specs on the AW8 range is pretty impressive. Let’s get on with the review.

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