End-users, who are committed to AMD microprocessors, have been waiting impatiently for ABIT to release its MAX3 mainboard for the new AMD Athlon 64 CPUs for some time. The company showcased the device at Computex Taipei 2003, but said its specifications are to be decided and told practically nothing except that the product will be intended for Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 processors since they prove to be better overclockers. Yesterday a web-site published some interesting details about ABIT KV8-MAX3 a lot of enthusiasts would appreciate.

Here are the specs of the mainboard:

• Supports Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 processors;
• VIA K8T800 and VT8237 core-logic;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 3GB of PC2100, PC2700 or 2GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM;
• 5 PCI and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel integrated ATA-33/66/100/133 controller;
• 4 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support;
• 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet adapter from 3Com;
• 6 USB 2.0 ports;
• 2 FireWire (IEEE1394) ports;
• Integrated AC`97 6-channel audio solution with S/PDIF connector;
• OTES cooling;
• Loads of additional functions and technologies from ABIT;
• uGuru system monitoring chip;
• Probably, loads of overclocking and tuning functions;
• ATX Form-factor.

To support the new AMD64 technology mainboard makers do not hesitate to bundle their mainboards with a lot of features keeping in mind that systems based on 64-bit AMD processors are supposed to be expensive and integrated capabilities will not account for a significant percent of the total cost of the system. As a result, we see that a number of mainboard makers equip their product with both 7.1 audio, Gigabit Ethernet, while ABIT provides some other additional functionality. These features are not really needed by the majority of end users, but they play an important role in marketing of such mainboards.

No information about pricing and availability, but you can see the picture of the ABIT KV8-MAX 3 over here.