Documentation

For those who would like to know what is included in the retail box, ABIT includes the usual bundle with publications that consist of a User's Manual, AN8-SLI User's Manual, Motherboard Installation Guide. Also we have a AN8-SLI Motherboard Jumper Settings sticker and last but not least a CD-ROM with motherboard resources such as drivers, utilities and a floppy disk with RAID Drivers.

• AN8 Series User's Manual
• Quick Installation Guide
• µGuru User's Guide
• SLI Motherboard Jumper Setting Sticker
• NV RAID Driver's 1.44" Floppy Disk
• CD-ROM containing µGuru utility, Driver's and applications

The Manuals and guides are full of illustrations, pictures and a wealth of information, giving the user complete understanding of the motherboard and its functionality. The SLI Motherboard Jumper Settings sticker, is a label that you stick to your case panel or a convenient location for quick information and configurations of all the motherboard jumpers, making configuration a snap.

Along with the very informative documentation, we will find some other accessories such as four Serial-ATA (SATA) connector cables, unique black colored Floppy disk & IDE ribbon cables, SLI Switch Key, SLI Bridge, I/O plate featuring a screened ventilation system and last we have an extra I/O ports for FireWire and more USB ports.

The Accessories

• Q-OTES ready I/O plate
• 4x Serial-ATA cables
• 1x 80-pin UDMA5-6 IDE cable
• 1x 30-pin floppy cable
• 1x USB/FireWire expansion slot
• 1x SLI Switch Key
• 1x SLI Bridge Connector

This I/O plate is definitely different. The screen mesh allows the Q-OTES heat pipe motherboard cooling system a place for ventilation. The best thing I like about this feature is it provides the users an absolute quiet system. On top of that, we still give users enough room around the CPU socket so that they can use any non-retail CPU heatsink. The I/O design also allows for 4 USB ports, PS2 Mouse/Keyboard, LAN and FireWire connectivity.

The other cool thing about the AN8 SLI is the very easy to use key called the SLI Switch key, this key is inserted into the SLI lock and will configure the system by simply turning the key over to the Normal Mode or SLI Mode. The SLI Bridge Connector allows you to connect two SLI ready graphics processing units.

These cool looking ribbon cables come in black and offer a very easy to install information system as we can see with the orange colored labels. You will get one floppy and one IDE ribbon cable for use with the ABIT AN8 SLI. I haven't seen black ribbon cables like these in a long time and I must say the do like cool.

Let's not forget the fact ABIT gives you not one, not two, not three, but four Serial-ATA connectors allowing you to connect of to four supporting devices. The Serial-ATA cables are grey and with black connectors and are approximately 14" long.

With an extra expansion slot, this USB/FireWire is easily connected to the AN8 SLI and will add further expandability giving you another two USB slots and a rear FireWire port via the expansion slot of your chassis.

The bracket we see below is ABIT's SLI bracket, this bracket secures the SLI Bridge and video cards. This bracket acts as a support and secures the SLI Bridge from removal. This bracket is installed between the video cards and screwed into the expansion slot of the case (chassis) giving support and security to the SLI configured video cards.

I like the fact that a company considered supporting video cards in this fashion. However this design works on all single slot SLI ready GPU's. This bracket will not be needed or cannot be used when using dual slot cards such as our GeForce 6800 Ultra's.

AudioMax 7.1

The AudioMax 7.1 is a isolated sound card that utilizes the AC97 codec, providing lush 7.1 audio experience for those who have a nice set of 7.1 surround sound speaker systems.

• SPDIF OUT: This connector provides an S/PDIF-Out connection through optical fiber to digital multimedia devices.
• Line-in/IN: This is a multi-functional connector. This connector provides S/PDIF-In connection through optical fiber to digital multimedia devices. It also connects t o the line out from an external audio source.
• Mic-in: Connects to the plug from an external microphone.
• Line-out: Connects to the front left and front right channel in the 7.1-channel or regular 2-channel audio system.
• Cen/Sub: Connects to the center and subwoofer channel in the 7.1 channel audio system.
• R.L./R.R: (Rear Left/Rear Right): Connects to the rear left and rear right channel in the 7.1 channel audio system.
• S.L./S.R. (Surround Left/Surround Right): Connects to the surround left and surround right channel in the 7.1 channel audio system.

Well that wraps up the accessories bundle that is included with the AN8 SLI. Now that we showed you the accessories, let's get on with it and check out the motherboard...