Abit AB9 Quad GT - What do you think?

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?

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 :rolleyes:) 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 :)

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 :)

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!

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.

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 :)

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.

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

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


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

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.

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Originally Posted by Blitzen

The Aw9D-MAX won hands down

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

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Originally Posted by Clunk

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

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It sure has :mrgreen:

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 :mrgreen:
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.

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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.

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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.

CustomPC rated it highly

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Originally Posted by nvening

CustomPC rated it highly

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

Where do you get the latest BIOS for it?

there's a beta BIOS thread on abit-USA forum

Sorry, didnt see that. TBH, unless you want the WIFI then i would get the abit as i just prefer their boards generally and the support forum here is also a plus.

However as you already have a top board why not just get a slightly more basic board for your daughter unless she is planning on overclocking it??

The money saved could be spend on something more useful maybe? Possibly a new keyboard etc (have no idea what you have atm)

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Originally Posted by BUFF

there's a beta BIOS thread on abit-USA forum

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Cheers Buff :thumbsup:

Its stable. Im off to the HEXUS meet this weekend, so cant play with it much more, but im so impressed by it. Ive not come across one issue yet.

Even when pushing it too far, it always seems to recover. The Overclocking on the fly in the BIOS is also very nice :D

Hi EtheAv8r,
your right about the commando stability is bobbins
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~chsm...rthos_94hr.JPG
:mrgreen: :lol:

I'm not convinced that there is much difference between them, but i absolutely agree with your view of asus v abit in terms of support & quality.

I have pondered selling commando & going Abit but think i'll settle for w/cooling then seeing what bearlake brings.

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Originally Posted by Supershanks

then seeing what bearlake brings.

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More expense, mental anguish and DDR3 :D

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More expense, mental anguish and DDR3

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Naw will go with the ddr2 versions clock a few more hours up on my ram, give ddr3 £ a chance to come down in £ 1st.

but

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More expense, mental anguish

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Oh yes:mrgreen: :lol:

Isnt it why we do it though? :D

Ill let you know, just about to fit a 680i...glutton for punishement :lol:

My Commando is currently running at 10*330 but it is running HOT. Works fine in windows and ordinary stuff, but reboots on Orthos or 3DMark......

Need better cooling......

Hi Chris... nice to see you back!

Meh quad gt all they way running at 8x425 @ 1.32 (E6400) without so much as a squeak for the past month hasnt missed a beat or anything and would get the board again if I have to it just works. :mrgreen:

I'm running a QuadGT, and so far this mobo has had the least problems (stability wise) of any board I've used. Thats a fact!

But, the release BIOS was broken, severely. It took me the best part of a day sitting in front of the machine trying to get it to: a) create a RAID array b) after creation, install windows onto it-the release BIOS has a "disorder" where it would think optical drives are to lowly to be booted from if an array is present on the ICH controller.

Thankfully these problems were solved in short order. With the B06 bios.

I did have an ASUS P5N32 WiFi-AP, as my first Intel board (since my old P2 days) I thought all of them would be 'flaky' at best. Ill never buy another ASUS product as long as I live. The board was like a banana, screw the top down and the bottom would be half inch away from the mounts! And far too flexible with it as well. Seriously, that bad. Not only that, it died in short order, flashing the BIOS and windows decides to BSOD on me.

Believe me, no great loss. And I've got to thank CCL for replacing it without a single quibble. :)

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Originally Posted by nvening

Sorry, didnt see that.

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No problem... we all do that...

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Originally Posted by nvening

TBH, unless you want the WIFI then i would get the abit as i just prefer their boards generally and the support forum here is also a plus.

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No I do not want wifi..... on a machine like this if I could not use cable I would use a 200Mbs HomePlug

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Originally Posted by nvening

However as you already have a top board why not just get a slightly more basic board for your daughter unless she is planning on overclocking it??

The money saved could be spend on something more useful maybe? Possibly a new keyboard etc (have no idea what you have atm)

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To be honest I do not want to spend all my time phaffing about tweaking my computer. I want a fast, stable, reliable system that I can simply use day-in day-out. I am quite happy to spend a few weeks getting it there, but thats it. I want to OC to get more performance, not as an ongoing hobby - I have enough of those without constant computer tweaking.

Also if the QUAD GT can do it better, and it is £100, a cheap MB will be £55 - £60, so £40 is not worth bothering about... I might as well get myself something better and pass on the Commando to my daughter with a mild OC ... it is rock stable at stock..... and I have to buy her another MB anyway....

£40 is worth more to some people than others ;)

Now where did i put that rolex? XD

But yeh, if moneys not an issue then get two great boards!!!!

well money is not an issue at that level, £40 is a tank of petrol for a small car - I have 3 teenage daughters, now THAT is expensive.....

I don't have a Rolex.... but I do have a Breitling ...

OK I have just ordered an abit AB9 Quad GT....

My Commando is now running 10*330, it is pretty hot and I need to do something about that... but having upped the DDR2 Voltage to 2.15 (2.2 is Corsairs max) - it even may be more stable... but hitting 65c in Orthos,,, and 49c idle.

Hi EtheAv8r

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OK I have just ordered an abit AB9 Quad GT....

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Hope u got the today only £:mrgreen:

think it's just your cooler that's holding u back, will almost certainly be the same on the quad. I've been halting at 63C as well but the Zalman CNPS9500-AT got me to 385. Seems the new Thermalright ultra will give a bit more.

As i said i plan to go water cooling , maybe this board should be the marine tather than the coomando.

Anyway hope you enjoy your new abit:lol: :mrgreen:
luck:)

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Originally Posted by Supershanks

Hi EtheAv8r
Hope u got the today only £:mrgreen:

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Indeed I did - I saw it on Today Only and thought "it is clearly meant to be...." Also ordered a 4300 to put in the Commando for my daughter.

Funny thing, since I ordered the abit, the Commando has been good-as-gold at 3.3.....

I have not ordered a cooler for the abit yet........

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yet........

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:mrgreen: :lol: Have a feeling it will be coming.:mrgreen: I've a redundant Zalman CNPS9500-AT if your interested good for another 55 on fsb not sure with your 6700:mrgreen: :lol:

4300 is a good choice for your daughter, guess you may need to test it???:D

The Commando is now looking rather good now I have ordered the QuadGT....The RAM Voltage tweak has made a huge difference - now set to 2.15 in BIOS.

Have run Orthos for over 2 hours... running hot; as high as between 64 and 69/70c with the case side on, but 59-64 with the case side off.... but stable.....

Have not sussed how to paste screen shot here.....

But running 10*330 and lokks like it will happily go better.... need better cooling!

Hay I am in the same boat too, my commando it going well but I am held back because of the cooling. I know I will get told don't buy cheap water cooling but seriously what temps will I get with this? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=500680

:)

Nice going EtheAv8r :mrgreen: a decent swan song?? :mrgreen:

As your both on arctic cooling there is still some improvements to be had with better air cooling if you want it. this is a useful chart of what's possible Anantech CPU Temp(Delta) As these are delta add the ambient room temp to the value. The test platform is Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 so our's should run cooler. I would think there is the potential to get maybe up to 8C cooler or faster dependiunfg if you want to OC the drop.:D

As i've seen i have gained 5C & am testing now at stability 3.5k , which i've been running all day, without issue. Got 5.5hrs orthos last night b4 failing vcore at 1.5v trying 1.5125v tonight. Memory is only at 1:1 till i have the cpu stability thaen will get that back to 4:5.

Appreciate it is a bit difficult to choose between a new air cooler & water cooling. you can easily spend £45 on a top end cooler & fan, but it's easy & almost immediate(assuming u don't get a faulty 1:D). Water cooling is a major shift
that needs planning but also brings added benefits of lower noise as well(which the wife will appreciate:mrgreen: )

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Originally Posted by Supershanks

a decent swan song??

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I still have nightmares about that :mrgreen:

Ahhh she wont let you down when you get it, Im currently on 8x425 @ 1.35, idling at 30c and load at 40c very happy with it myself.

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is supposed to be SO good and effective (the 64 on AMD is great) according to so many tests and reviews (and Custom PC) I wonder if I have a not-so-good one?

At only £13 I may simply buy another from SCAN, and then if it is better, RMA the original? Otherwise it seems to only other realistic air option for a proper improvement is the TUNIQ Tower 120?

Hi edmund,
yes i think they are a good cooler , great value for money,. But having said that it's perhaps like comparing an a nissan micra with a bmw, both great cars for their markets but there's only going to be 1 winner in raw performance. But the price will be more in terms of £ + most probably noise.

probably the best cooler that can offer good performance & opportunities for quieter options may be the Noctua NH-U12F CPU Cooler & NF-S12-1200 Fan Scan sell it though i think the Tuniq Tower 120 may be cheaper. May be worth while doing an rma for the arctic but postage will probably be 50% of £ of a new 1.

The Zalman CNPS9700-NT is also good + has the advantage of having the 4 pin intel fan header for the mobo.

the scythe products are also good.

luck:D

Thanks Chris

The Noctua NH-U12F did not cool as well as the ACF7 in the current Custom PC Lab test - though I have just taken delivery of 3 of the Noctua 1200 case fans to replace the ones supplied with the Antec P180 - to see if they can shift sufficient air quietly... the supplied Antec ones are quiet at low, not so quiet at mid, and quite noisy at high - but reduce CPU temps by 4-5c in Othos.

Zalman CNPS9700NT was no better that ACF7 in CPC Labs but 4 times the price...... Tuniq Tower was only unit (apart from Titan Amanda TTC-NP04TZ TEC cooler at £65) that was significantly better than the ACF7. At £65 I would have to be considering water.....??

If I get a Tuniq Tower, I would like to replace the stock 120 fan for an Artctic Cooling 120 PWM 4 pin fan.... if I can find anyone who sells them in UK. The ACF 7 92mm PWM 4 pin fan is not so noisy flat out, and silent at low speed.

I had the same issues re sourcing the pwm 120mm fans for use with the ultra 120 nowhere in the uk had any. Only links i got where in us.

Just checked last nights orthos failed just after i got up 8H 26m had coretemp running with a clean log average temps over run = Core0 60.2C Core1 60.0C Avge 60.1C which is pretty good at 1.5125v(bios) vcore 389x9 will try an extra notch up tonight

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Originally Posted by Supershanks

I had the same issues re sourcing the pwm 120mm fans for use with the ultra 120 nowhere in the uk had any. Only links i got where in us.

Just checked last nights orthos failed just after i got up 8H 26m had coretemp running with a clean log average temps over run = Core0 60.2C Core1 60.0C Avge 60.1C which is pretty good at 1.5125v(bios) vcore 389x9 will try an extra notch up tonight

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Originally Posted by EtheAv8r

Thanks Chris

The Noctua NH-U12F did not cool as well as the ACF7 in the current Custom PC Lab test - though I have just taken delivery of 3 of the Noctua 1200 case fans to replace the ones supplied with the Antec P180 - to see if they can shift sufficient air quietly... the supplied Antec ones are quiet at low, not so quiet at mid, and quite noisy at high - but reduce CPU temps by 4-5c in Othos.

Zalman CNPS9700NT was no better that ACF7 in CPC Labs but 4 times the price...... Tuniq Tower was only unit (apart from Titan Amanda TTC-NP04TZ TEC cooler at £65) that was significantly better than the ACF7. At £65 I would have to be considering water.....??

If I get a Tuniq Tower, I would like to replace the stock 120 fan for an Artctic Cooling 120 PWM 4 pin fan.... if I can find anyone who sells them in UK. The ACF 7 92mm PWM 4 pin fan is not so noisy flat out, and silent at low speed.

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Artic Cooling are available from Yoyotech Aria and Vadim
The ones at Yoyotech and Aria are the 38.5 mm the Vadim is 25mm.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25144

http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_in...oducts_id=2174

http://www.vadim.co.uk/Arctic-Cooling+Fan+AF12025

The 25mm according to Vadim does not have the PWM sensor 3 pin connector. However when I checked the Arctic cooling website it states it does?
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/fans2.php?idx=108

Thanks drat but we're talking about fans with connecters to fit 4pin intel compatable Mobo plug

The few 120 fans are made by Artic Freezing & include Arctic Fan 12 PWM

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Originally Posted by DratUK

Artic Cooling are available from Yoyotech Aria and Vadim
The ones at Yoyotech and Aria are the 38.5 mm the Vadim is 25mm.
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25144

http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_in...oducts_id=2174

http://www.vadim.co.uk/Arctic-Cooling+Fan+AF12025

The 25mm according to Vadim does not have the PWM sensor 3 pin connector. However when I checked the Arctic cooling website it states it does?
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/fans2.php?idx=108

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Thanks DratUK but the ones available in UK are the plain AF12025 without PWM http://www.arctic-cooling.com/fans2.php?idx=81 I am after the AF12025 PWM which is the link you kindly posted.

Arctic cooing use the same part no and add PWM to the end of the one I want...

My only gripe with this board is that between uGuru and coretemp there is a 10c difference which is quite bothersome tbh but apart from that fine.

Are you running the BIOS that shipped with the mobo? I updated to B02 and the temps upped by circa 10^C. Try a newer BIOS if available.

Well it shows up in flash guru as -10 if that helps and I'm beta bios unless abit have officailly relesed a newer version although I cant find it on the us an uk sites unless I'm missing it.

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Originally Posted by EtheAv8r

Thanks DratUK but the ones available in UK are the plain AF12025 without PWM http://www.arctic-cooling.com/fans2.php?idx=81 I am after the AF12025 PWM which is the link you kindly posted.

Arctic cooing use the same part no and add PWM to the end of the one I want...

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I stand corrected:embarrassed:

Shame really as they look the biz.

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Originally Posted by daza

Well it shows up in flash guru as -10 if that helps and I'm beta bios unless abit have officailly relesed a newer version although I cant find it on the us an uk sites unless I'm missing it.

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I'm currently using the B08 bios & have no issues.

RE: flashing the BOIS on the QUAD GT I am confused.
I am building a pc based on this board. I have been told i need to flash BIOS before installing Vista Ultimate 64. I have been given DrDos Floppy with B08 bios on it, but it doesn't have awdflash.exe on. I was told it was not necessary, but what i read it should be included on disk or can i flash without? And how?

I'm pretty sure you do. I think you need the following files (in addition to the bootables ones): -

awdflash.exe
abitfae.bat
(bios file) eg. M621E_11.B06

I then just followed the instructions on ABIT's support page. It seemed quite straight forward as I remember.

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Originally Posted by GuntherBierhoff

RE: flashing the BOIS on the QUAD GT I am confused.
I am building a pc based on this board. I have been told i need to flash BIOS before installing Vista Ultimate 64. I have been given DrDos Floppy with B08 bios on it, but it doesn't have awdflash.exe on. I was told it was not necessary, but what i read it should be included on disk or can i flash without? And how?

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Yes it is needed

A:\>awdflash ******* /py /sn /cd /cp /cc /cks /R
replacing ***** with the name of the bin file.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread...&threadid=2488

OK I cannot now add this to the floppy, can i install vista first? Or can i do it with a pen drive insted of a floppy?

Can you believe this damned cantagrious Commando? Now that a QuadGT is picked and on its way to me fron SCAN, it is running quite happily at 10*340 and saying go on higher... I can do it whad-da-ya need to order a QuadGT for????yarboo sucks!

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Can you believe this damned cantagrious Commando

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hehe:mrgreen: :lol: sounds like your daughter's getting a decent mobo:mrgreen: .

BUT............
which one:mrgreen: :lol:

Well I said I wouldnt, but I couldnt help it :embarrassed:
Water still isnt in (probably going to leave it now untill uni hand-in's are sorted), so for air, im pretty happy :D

http://www.adrian-gurney.com/gallery...serialNumber=1

I need to play a bit to see what the lowest voltages that it will play at, but so far, it seems happy :)

Not bad for less than 15 mins worth of BIOS playing :D

So to answer the thread title one more time - I think it rocks :D