Live from Taiwan: ATI RD580 Motherboards
by Wesley Fink on March 1, 2006 8:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Abit AT8-32X
Abit was showing their new RD580 chipset motherboard, called AT8-32X, at their Taiwan headquarters. Abit hopes this product, and future AM2 and Broadwater designs they were demonstrating, will fuel the revitalization of Abit. With USI as their new financial partner and many new designs on the way, Abit plans to return to their roots as an enthusiast motherboard maker.
Click to enlarge.
The Abit AT8-32X will also fully support the latest uGuru overclocking and system management features. Abit did not have a final price for the AT8-32X and the board will soon be released to production. The Abit AT8-32X will not be available for the March 1 launch, but should appear in the market in "several weeks".
Sapphire
While we did not have the opportunity to meet with Sapphire during our Taiwan visit, we did see their RD580 motherboard at CES. The Sapphire version is a virtual copy of the ATI Manta Reference design and is expected to mirror the performance and overclocking capabilities of the Reference board.Sapphire officially launched the Sapphire RD580 on March 1. According to Sapphire marketing the Sapphire RD580 will start shipping March 20th. Their RD480 motherboard is widely available in Europe but took months to reach the US market and is still a limited availability item in the US. We hope their new RD580 board will be more widely available.
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bupkus - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Try the Abit link on page 3. The page 4 link on the drop down list is broke.Gary Key - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
The links have been fixed. Thank you.Beenthere - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
After the long list of mobo problems with the RD480 chipset mobos, which appear to be mobo design issues, not RD480 chipset issues, I wouldn't touch an RD580 chipset mobo with a ten foot pole.AFAIK Asus, Sapphire and other mobo makers have provided no solutions to the long list of problems on their mobos. It's as if the mobo makers have no clue or no interest in their customers? You can go to any mobo maker's website and any hardware review site and find documented problems on these mobos that are inexcusable yet there have been no fixes provided by any of the mobo makers. If a mobo maker can't produce a mobo with a stable Vcore voltage, standard BIOS Vcore voltage options, run standard industry certified PC3200 memory, etc. then they're in the wrong business.
You can be certain if they couldn't fix the problems on the RD480 mobos, they haven't fixed the problems on the RD580 mobos being rushed to market just before the AM2 socket mobos will be released. My guess is if the mobo companies keep dumping crap in to the marketplace, they are gonna kill the market as anyone with a clue isn't gonna buy one defective mobo after another and then have to trash it because it can't even function properly at the default settings of all current AMD mobos. Since PC professionals and hardware review sites have confirmed these problems, it ain't user installation issues, but in reality, mobo design issues. That's why a BIOS upgrade can't fix the problems on the RD480 / RD580 based mobos.
Wesley Fink - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
The RD480 had issues with supplying voltage to the x16 sklots in some Crossfire configurations. It was never really designed for dual slot - which was more an add-on. The RD580 was designed for dual slot from the ground up and is a very robust chipset.matthewfoley - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Agreed.I have an Asus A8R-MVP, and I've seen the huge variance in the vCore - even at stock. Other than that it's a good value board, but I'll avoid ati's chipsets from here on as a result - not because it's a bad chipset, but because I don't feel the board manufacturers have given proper time to the design.
matthewfoley - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
It was up for a day or so then nothing. I'm guessing it will reappear on launch date.matthewfoley - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Now there isn't even a page on this review for the Asus A8R32-MVP. What's the deal? NDA?Gary Key - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
The article has been updated. Sorry about Page 1 missing for a moments.DigitalFreak - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Now if they would get rid of the stupid Master Card requirement for high end Crossfire setups, I'd buy one.DeanO - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
1st page - "The bargain-priced A8R32-MVP" should be "The bargain-priced A8R-MVP"