MIG-31

Abit took a bold step in 2002 with their IT7 and AT7 "MAX" motherboards, that did away with legacy serial, parallel, and PS/2 connectors, but included a "Media XP" adapter to install in a 5.25" drive bay and gave users access to front mounted USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 ports and a wireless remote control. And with the IC7-MAX3, released about a year later, Abit incorporated an exhaust fan that helped cool the board's power array. Today, Abit has a new line of motherboards endorsed by world-class gamer Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel that are both aesthetically pleasing and designed with overclocking and stability in mind. The first "Fatal1ty" branded board to arrive in the HotHardware labs is the Fatal1ty AA8XE. The AA8XE is based upon Intel's i925XE chipset which officially supports front side bus speeds as high at 1066MHz, DDR2 RAM, and incorporates Gigabit Ethernet, Hi-Definition Audio, and RAID functionality, as well as other useful features. This board also has a rather unique cooling apparatus installed on the VRM, and is equipped with heatsinks on both the Northbridge and Southbrige. Abit has a few other surprises on tap with the AA8XE as well...
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Review: Hothardware

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Dyre Straits

I was looking at one of these close up and personal this afternoon at the local MicroCenter.

$249 plus tax (US) off the shelf.

That cooling system, though, looks really 'cool'.....sorry, couldn't avoid the pun.

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