Specifications

abit KV8-MAX3
Written by Chris Emry
Friday, 04 September 2009 10:39
you start to look elsewhere without hesitation.
However, the undesirable layout is mostly due to the fact that every feature you could possibly
ever want on a motherboard has been squeezed into the KV8-MAX3 real-estate. ABIT’s latest
MAX series motherboard definitely proves it can carry the MAX name with an impressive feature
set, as well as a thorough product accessory bundle. The KV8-MAX3 should last the user a very
long time without having the feeling of being left behind.
ABIT’s exclusive µGuru feature looks very promising, but we think that this technology could be
represented better on a more mature platform. I hate to say it, but the OCGuru section must
have a broader range of options than what is currently offered for it to become even remotely
useful on the KV8-MAX3. The BlackBox section would be better if we didn't have to enter in
errors and information the board cannot detect on it's own as well. Overall, we think that µGuru
can become a huge success, but since this is the only motherboard that we have been able to
test µGuru on, we can only conclude that the current implementation of this feature is work in
progress.
The KV8-MAX3 SoftMenu III BIOS mimics past releases from what we have witnessed before
from ABIT by giving the user enough options so that he or she can feel that they can get the
most from their hardware of choice. But we were quite surprised to find out that pressing the F8
key did nothing to help "overclock on the fly." This issue and others we did not experience
should be fixed with ease in a future BIOS update though, which is something that ABIT always
seems to release on a frequent basis. We do think that it is time ABIT comes out with a
"SoftMenu 4" or they will start to fall within the shadow of DFI's enthusiast BIOS, which
ultimately raised the bar on what to expect in the future from all other manufacturers including
themselves.
Overclocking our hardware on the KV8-MAX3 was nothing but exciting. The motherboard
proved to us that it can bring out the full potential an Athlon64 system can currently offer with a
VIA K8T800 chipset. Although the overclock was only a hairline above what other K8
motherboards have achieved with the same chipset, ABIT continues to show us they are
serious contenders within the realm of the overclocking world. Taking the performance into
account when the system's settings are left at default values, the KV8-MAX3 proved that it is a
tad bit faster than other K8T800 based chipset boards that have entered our labs, but you will
not be able to notice the marginal performance increases with the naked eye alone.
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