In our tests, performance is mixed. In some of our tests, ABIT AV8 is better in 3D benchmarks but in some benchmarks that is not the case. Overall, we can feel the speed using FX-53 processor on this board.

Features-wise, I could say this board is not as feature packed as compared to KV8-Max3. It is a board made for overclockers. It does not come with a Promise or Highpoint SATA RAID 5 chipset. It only has 2 SATA and 2 IDE channels. That is probably what users need. The NB heatsink is also a passive one.

Overclocking wise, the ABIT AV8 comes with the things that you would want from an overclocking company. ABIT AV8 is equipped with lots of overclocking options. Not only you have the Vcore, Vdimm, VAgp, Vchipset, multiplier, FSB, you also get Vnb and Vsb, Vhtt. These are something that are missing from other boards so far. The BIOS offers PCI/AGP fix option. We tested the board overclocking it to 8 x 275 setting the RAM to operate in ASync DDR266 mode and fixing the PCI/AGP to 33/66. We moved up to 8 x 300, it POSTED but it failed to get into Windows. We tried again by reducing HTT to 4x (800MHz), it is able to get in but we noticed that the video is a bit staggering. All done air-cooled. We will continue to push for higher FSB and will update here.  You can also overclock using OC Guru.

Overall, the ABIT AV8 is a board hard-core overclockers would want to get their hands on. If you own a Socket 939 processor and want to squeeze the last drop of performance off the CPU, this board is a good choice for you to start with.

Suggested Retail : Pricing Info

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Pros

• uGuru
• USB 2.0 
• Gigabit ethernet
• 1394
• Many overclocking options
• PCI/AGP lock

Cons

• Only 8237 SATA RAID, no Additional RAID SATA ports

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.

Highly Recommended