Abit AB9 Quad GT - What do you think?

[EtheAv8r]

I am thinking of maybe putting my ASUS Commando motherboard in a PC for my daughter and replacing it in my machine with an Abit AB9 Quad GT. I would get a E6600 for the Commando, for my daughter.

My Commando is running 10*300 and was stable until I posted last night about how it was rock solid, and it promptly BSOD'ed on me whilst running Orthos and surfing the web and monitoring temps. Serves me right for tempting 'commentators curse' I guess.

I was interested in the abit AB9 Quad GT at Christmas (as well as the Commando) and both appeared equally capable and desirable back then, and the Commando got released first. Custom PC, (who have had the ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi as their Elite LGA775 Core-2-Duo motherboard for absolutely ages), but in their review of the AB9 Quad GT this month they say – “Although it lacks the on-board WiFi-AP, it’s cheaper. Ultimately, there’s little between the Quad GT and ASUS’ reigning champ, since both are A+ boards”.

Their review of the Commando was also highly positive, calling it ‘the most refined P5B yet, sporting the best components, it promises to be the last word in prestige, overclockability and stability”. Both Commando and Quad GT got the same performance, and overall ratings in their testing.

I know there are those out there that will yell “get the P5B Deluxe WiFi…” but the Commando has been my first ASUS board, and I have been appalled by the poor website support – trying to access and download updates, even tiny BIOS files, from the ASUS website has been a nightmare, and some of the bigger updates have been impossible – or taken hours!

I am well put-off ASUS because of the build quality issues experienced by others – not just with their Commando boards, but more put off by such appalling Technical support and lack of interest in responding to emails requesting help. I don’t feel inclined to buy more ASUS kit.

What experiences of the Quad GT are there out there?

[Agent]

I built my system on it last night and are just finishing it off.

Provided you install the latest BIOS (thats not on the Abit site ) from the start, it was a totaly hassle free experience for me. Its worked perfectly, and the build quality feels good (although id reapply the thermal paste on the southbridge - see my thread in the Abit forum).

I wont overclock it much at the moment, because its only got a standard NorthQ HSF on it. Water goes in soon, which is where the fun will start

[BUFF]

B08 appeared today & according to Gary Key at Anandtech it's another improvement (just needs Richh to tweak a few things).
There's a Wifi bundled version available in the UK if that is a consideration & imo you won't find a better user community forum than the abit-USA forum.
& Sean is on here if you need official support.

Oh, & I like my board

[Gerrard]

I like my Quad GT as well. Currently running 333MHz FSB rock steadily with an E4300. The only issue was with SATA RAID and SATA DVD drive (ie BIOS orientated), but I decided to get rid of the RAID in the end and keep an external backup and no longer have any issues with it. Also has flashing blue LEDs as well if you're into that sort of thing!

[EtheAv8r]

That is a positive start - and it is a positive advantage having abit.care@hexus, as well as a web site that though not exactly fast, is not as diabolical as the ASUS offering.

No horror stories..... yet.

[Agent]

If you go and have a read over on the XS forums, they have been having solid results from it too.

Had a chance to play with it a bit more now. The BIOS is very forgiving when trying to overclock too much.
The uGuru has really been improved too. The interface is much better (BIOS).

Gerrard - The RAID issue has been fixed providing you flash with the latest BIOS that I was on about above

[EtheAv8r]

I found a review over at neoseeker that told of SATA Raid problems, SATA optical drive issues ... and blowing away Corsair RAM due to overvolting (so the Commando is not alone...?)... but also of responsive support from Abit and BIOS updates to fix and resolve.

[Agent]

IIRC, the neoseeker board was pre-release?
Im running SATA RAID as I type this - so belive me, it works

[Blitzen]

I toyed with the Quad GT and the AW9D-MAX.


The Aw9D-MAX won hands down and no problems with it, bios or otherwise.

[DratUK]

First and foremost is what you lacked on the Asus and that is support. I have the AW9D Max as Blitzen and P5B Deluxe and now toying with buying a QuadGT.
Of the 2 I have atm I can only commend Abit for the amount of community support. Buff et al are always around to help, the Abit USA forum is a bloody marvel if you run into trouble.

I dont think you would regret getting this motherboard.

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by Blitzen

The Aw9D-MAX won hands down

Not for overclocking mate, the quad GT has some nice tricks

[Agent]

Originally Posted by Clunk

Not for overclocking mate, the quad GT has some nice tricks

It sure has

Ok I lied. I Did overclock it.
A little.

Into BIOS - Change strap to RAM (running OCZ gold 6400 stuff) - add a little voltage to the MCH because of the extra FSB - put the FSB to 380.....not far off a 1gighz overclock
Im in windows, but ill leave it running Orthos tomrrow when I go out shopping, so stability does need to be checked.

I'll play more tomrrow, but im well impressed so far. Zero hassle.

[BUFF]

Originally Posted by EtheAv8r

I found a review over at neoseeker that told of SATA Raid problems, SATA optical drive issues ... and blowing away Corsair RAM due to overvolting (so the Commando is not alone...?)... but also of responsive support from Abit and BIOS updates to fix and resolve.

the neoseeker review is very poor - even the link to their own forum discussion is wrong!
As for the RAM overvolting that was due to an error with uGuru (& I only know of 1 actual case of RAM death - Gary Key at anandtech & that was pre release of the mobo). A new, fixed version was very promptly released .
The difference is that with the Commando it seems to be far more ingrained into the BIOS/hardware.

[nvening]

CustomPC rated it highly

[EtheAv8r]

Originally Posted by nvening

CustomPC rated it highly

As they also did the Commando.... as in my original post.

[0iD]

Where do you get the latest BIOS for it?