Abit board runs SLI faster than the competition

ABIT is well known for producing very good overclocking and tweakable motherboards.

We had a chance to test one of the last Nforce 4 SLI 32 X boards on the market. It is still socket 939 and we believe that this socket and boards for it will remain very attractive for a while.

The board comes will well known Guru application that will allow you to overclock from Windows, nice and easy. The board comes with Hypertransport clocked to 202MHz making it a little bit faster. The application includes three profiles: Normal, Turbo and Quiet and each will overclock the FSB to 210, 216 and 205 respectively. It also tunes the fans. It makes a overclocking a piece of cake and you can make your own profile where you can set it all manually, including the voltages.

The board sports a heat pipe that cools the Southbridge and the necessary voltage parts close to the CPU. It does the job well and it is soundless, just the way we like it.

The board has two power connectors, one 24-pin for the board and an additional Molex connector next to the last PCI slot. There is also one four PIN power connector just beside the CPU socket that will power up the CPU. It has two PCIe 16X slots both capable of working on 16X and two PCIe 1 X for expansion cards. If you use two dual-slot cooling cards you will lose both PCIe 1X connectors.

The board comes with two PCI slots just enough for Ageia card and Sound blaster if you don't like the integrated one.

The board has total of six SATA ports and two of them are placed next to the CPU socket, rather strange place for it. Sill they will do the job. The board comes with two IDE ports, rather rare these days and of course there is a floppy drive cable on the side of the board as well. You can plug four DDR one memory slots and we didn't have any problems with DDR 400 or faster memory.

A diagnostic LED is also placed next to CPU socket, really unusual place but it will show you the errors if there are any. The rear panel has PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse, 5.1 analogue audio connectors, Digital IN and OUT, Firewire, 1 Gbit LAN, and four integrated USB 2.0 ports. The box includes six SATA cables, SLI Bridge, SLI retention mechanism that will keep the cards apart, back panel, IDE cables, and some extra USBs on a card slot.

We compared it to two Nvidia 7600 GT cards, one short on price, the other long on perfromance. We ran the boards with single card and in SLI mode and compared Abit offering with the rather successful Asus A8N32 Deluxe.

Benchmarketing
We used :
Athlon FX 57 2800 MHz 90 nanometre San Diego core
Asus A8N32 Deluxe Nforce 4 SLI X16 motherboard
Albatron Geforce 7600 GT 560 / 1400 MHz
Gainward Geforce 7600 GT 575 MHz core and 1500 MHz
2x1024 MB Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO memory
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB SATA NCQ hard drive
Akasa AK913 EVO 33 Athlon 64 cooler
Silverstone Strider ST60F, 600W ATX 2.0 SATA
Driver 84_21_forceware_winxp2k_whq

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	104.9	91.2	72.9	49.1
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	103.8	91.4	73.9	49.5
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	106.4	105.4	100.0	82.9
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	103.8	103.1	99.3	82.7
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	72.0	48.4	35.5	18.5
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	72.6	48.3	35.5	18.8
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	100.2	82.1	64.5	33.9
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	97.4	82.1	64.1	33.9
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	87.35	86.67	76.19	49.93
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	86.20	85.75	75.47	50.21
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	86.56	85.52	85.36	82.49
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	83.81	83.06	82.71	81.40
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	81.12	55.32	39.26	22.81
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	81.05	55.93	39.54	23.02
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	86.16	83.35	71.27	42.27
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	84.41	81.85	71.39	42.39
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	143.0	126.7	102.0	70.3
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	142.1	127.8	103.2	70.9
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	146.8	143.7	138.1	122.2
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	142.0	139.3	135.2	120.9
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
ABIT A8N 32X	116.4	83.1	63.3	32.1
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	116.0	83.8	63.4	32.2
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	138.6	127.5	112.7	62.7
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	134.2	124.0	111.1	62.7
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Nature
ABIT A8N 32X	13395	96.9	83.5	83.3
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	13409	96.9	83.8	83.1
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	22597	183.0	153.1	148.0
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	22535	183.5	153.2	147.7
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
ABIT A8N 32X	1338	157.9	22.3	30.8
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	1261	149.2	20.9	30.8
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	1269	147.8	21.5	64.8
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	1203	140.1	20.4	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
ABIT A8N 32X	2392.7	6395.9	37.8	285.5
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	2392.4	6397.2	37.8	284.4
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	4742.0	12738.9	69.7	496.7
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	4741.5	12747.7	69.7	496.5
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game2	Game3	Nature
ABIT A8N 32X	5997	26.2	18.2	28.9
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	5995	26.0	18.3	29.0
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	10950	45.6	34.1	54.1
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	10861	44.6	34.0	54.0
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	CPU Score ?	CPU Test 1 ?	CPU Test 2
ABIT A8N 32X	6115	2.9	5.8	30.8
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	5933	2.9	5.5	30.8
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	6149	2.9	5.8	64.8
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	5827	2.8	5.5	30.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Pixel Shader 2.0
ABIT A8N 32X	2823.5	6639.6	184.1	51.5/37.7
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	2829.4	6650.2	185.1	51.5/37.8
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	5612.0	12823.1	359.0	102.5/74.3
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	5612.0	13137.4	359.8	102.5/74.4
?	?	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?
ABIT A8N 32X	3086	?	?
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	3079	?	?
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	5107	?	?
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	5102	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
ABIT A8N 32X	1322	10.805	11.236
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	1320	10.767	11.239
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	2541	20.606	21.750
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	2542	20.537	21.832
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2
ABIT A8N 32X	1195	10.526	13.377
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	1194	10.489	13.382
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	2260	19.528	25.668
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	2277	19.642	25.891
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2
ABIT A8N 32X	1111	0.350	0.565
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	1105	0.347	0.562
ABIT A8N 32X SLI	1107	0.348	0.563
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe SLI	1105	0.348	0.561
?	?	?	?	?
PC Mark 2005	CPU	Memory	HDD	Total
ABIT A8N 32X ?	4087	???	5550	4423
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	4072	4306	5534	4446
?	?	?	?	?
PC Mark 2004	CPU	Memory	HDD	Total
ABIT A8N 32X	5318	???	5114	5431
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	5285	5224	5123	5318
?	?	?	?	?
Sandra 2005	CPU	Memory	Multimedia
ABIT A8N 32X	10203/8608	5960/6007	26496/28753
ASUS A8N 32X SLI Deluxe	10194/8608	4931/4931	26473/28727

As you mighth imagine, the Abit board performed roughly the same as Asus one. It can be a little bit faster or slower but they are very similar. At 10x7 in Doom 3, Asus loses by a frame while it can run up to frame faster at higher resolutions. In SLI, the Abit A8N 32 can be up to almost three frames faster. You can read all about Asus A8N32 here.

When you turn the FSAA on Asus is slightly faster on first and last resolution while the middle two are tight or Abit wins my 0.2. Yet again Abit is faster in lower resolution and SLI and its tight but slightly faster even in higher resolutions.

Abit can run slightly faster in Far Cry while the SLI it can get up to three frames faster. Three frames is not that insignificant as we are only talking about the board change. Asus is slightly faster with FSAA and Aniso on but it's less than half of a frame while Abit again takes the lead in SLI and runs two frames faster but the difference vanishes on the higher resolutions.

Quake 4 runs a little bit faster on Asus A8N32 except on 10x7. In SLI Abit board runs up to four frames and this is the biggest difference that we seen so far and even at 20x15 it is two frames faster. The scores are tight once you turn the FSAA and Aniso on but in SLI it can run four frames faster while at 20x15 the scores are matched as it is more on graphic card to do then it is on the motherboard.

Asus' board is slightly faster in 3Dmark03 but, as expected, Abit's Nforce 4 SLI board wins in SLI. For some reason Abit, with single card wins by some margin in CPU tests - it drives the CPU faster.

Abit also wins in 3Dmark05 with SLI while the non-SLI scores are almost identical. Yet again, Abit dominates the CPU score. The scores are almost identical in 3Dmark06 and Abit can run PCmark05 CPU test a little bit faster.

The only issue we had with Abit board was that the memory test was crushing with the selected memory.

We had the same memory issue with PCmark04 but here again the CPU runs a little bit faster on Abit. Even Sandra runs faster and we figured that the memory was significantly faster on Abit's board, almost 1000 MB/s faster and that likely created such a performance difference.

In Short
If you want to run SLI and want to use two by sixteen PCIe slots at full speed Abit might be the choice for you. The Asus board is packed up with lot of gadgets and it will run and overclock well but Abit can give it a run for the money.

Asus still wins on a single card usage but the performance difference is not that drastic, you can live without those three to four frames or you can simply overclock your CPU to gain even more.

Abit did a great job and we are sure it will continue its great tradition with its Nforce 5xx series. Asus already has the board out and Abit should have one next week.

AM2 is the future for the enthusiasts but Socket 939 and those great boards are here to stay for a while. ?

Reviewed and tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic