AB9 QuadGT BIOS Update dissappointment
I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed with abit from the support perspective - but am please to find downloads of updates are nice and fast. My last abit board was an NF7-s V2 – which sadly gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago following a spillage during cleaning off old Arctic Silver during a re-fit.
For my new build I decided over Christmas that 680i was not worth the money and that P965 ‘mk II’ boards would represent the best (fastest and most stable) options for a good everyday overclock for my next system. This effectively meant ASUS Commando or Abit AB9 QuadGT.
Both looked excellent quality and performance boards and in the end I bought a Commando simply because it was released first. Lots of people had problems with the Commando, and it appears to have suffered Build Quality issues being made in a new factory in China. Mine is OK but very hot and not entirely stable. This was my first ASUS board, and I am utterly appalled by the performance (rather non performance) of their support web site and have had huge difficulties downloading BIOS updates and other drivers.
The QuadGT was launched and apart form some issues “easily fixed with a BIOS update”, appeared to be very well received, fast and stable, good build quality. When I said on Hexus I was considering replacing my Commando with a QuadGT I was regaled with what a good board it was and how so much better Abit support was.
So I bought an AB9 QuadGT – and very nice it looks – not installed it yet as I am waiting delivery of a Tuniq Tower 120 to keep it as cool as possible.
However I am equally appalled that the only official BIOS for this board is the original launch BIOS – m621e10.zip BIOS ID:10 dated 11 December 2006. It is now 10 April 2007 a full 4 months later and no BIOS update is available. I understand there are ‘beta BIOSs’ available from the abit USA Forum – and they may be very good, but it is a terrible situation you should not have to use BIOS versions very kindly put together by enthusiasts, at least ASUS have released 3 BIOS versions for the Commando!
Being a abit ‘newbie’ – it is also not so easy to find these good/best beta BIOS to use - also flashing the abit BIOS (from what I read in Forums) is not so easy or reliable as with the ASUS EZ Flash 2 or CrashFree BIOS??.
