ABIT unveiled mainboard based on yet unannounced chipset with support for 1000MHz HyperTransport bus for future AMD64 microprocessors. Release timeframe for the new platform is believed to be April or May, while availability dates of microprocessors from AMD with 1000MHz HyperTransport bus are to be unveiled.

The new ATX mainboard from ABIT is engineered primarily for enthusiasts and overclockers who want to be on the bleeding edge of technology with AMD’s Athlon 64 processors in 754-pin packaging. VIA K8T800 Pro chipset does not bring PCI Express capabilities or any other architectural advantages apart from higher frequency of the HyperTransport bus that connects central processing unit to computer’s I/O. The main idea of ABIT KV8 Pro is additional performance brought by 1000MHz HyperTransport bus.

In an attempt to boost processor’s bus throughput and better synchronize it with PCI Express, a new industrial standard for interconnections between PC components, AMD boosted the speed of the HT bus used in its processors for Socket 754, Socket 939 and possibly Socket 940 platforms to 1000MHz speed bin. The push in HT speed is not going to affect compatibility of the new CPUs and already existing mainboards. According to information from AMD, all chips that sport 1000MHz (or 1.0GHz) HyperTransport bus will work on mainboards available now that feature only 800MHz HT.

AMD has not announced Athlon 64 processors in 754-pin packaging with 1000MHz HyperTransport bus yet. Announcement of AMD64 chips in 939-pin packaging is slated for the 25^th of May, 2004.

Specifications for ABIT KV8 Pro are as follows:

• Supports Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 processors;
• VIA K8T800 Pro and VT8237 core-logic;
• 2 DIMM slots for up to 2GB of PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 DDR SDRAM;
• 5 PCI and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel integrated ATA-33/66/100/133 controller;
• 2 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support;
• 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet adapter from VIA;
• 8 USB 2.0 ports;
• 2 FireWire (IEEE1394) ports;
• Integrated AC`97 6-channel audio solution with S/PDIF connector;
• Loads of additional functions and technologies from ABIT, such as FanEQ, ThermalGuard and SoftMenu;
• Overclocking and tuning functions;
• Onboard diagnostic LEDs;
• ATX Form-factor.

ABIT does not specify pricing and actual availability dates for the product officially. Later this year ABIT will unveil AV8 mainboard based on K8T800 Pro with Socket 939 for future AMD64 chips.