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- Date:
- Tuesday , November 11, 2003
- Author:
- Keith Dugger
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Albatron K8X800 Pro II
Albatron’s K8X800 Pro II fuels the Athlon64 fire. We throw one on the test bench to see how the Albatron’s performance heats up the K8 arena.
Introduction
Albatron was founded under the CHUN nameplate in 1984 as a high-resolution television manufacturer. Fast forward to 2002 and CHUN changes its name to Albatron and sandwiched in between 1984 and 2003 are numerous industry firsts making Albatron an industry force with which to be reckoned. We look forward to using the K8X800 Pro II as this is the first Albatron motherboard to come across our test benches.
The K8X800 Pro II ranks among the other Albatron firsts and places them neck and neck with the other motherboard providers supporting the Athlon64. As the model name might imply, the K8X800 Pro II draws juice from the VIA K8T800 chipset.
This Albatron includes support for such things as DDR400 (Single Channel); 3Com Gigabit LAN; Serial ATA RAID 0, 1, and JBOD; AGP 8X; and 8-channel audio via the VIA Envy ALC650. All of this and an impressive 3 year warranty to back up any promises.
Main Specifications Overview:
CPU | AMD 754-pin Athlon64 |
Chipset | VIA K8T800/8237 |
CPU Bus | 200 MHz |
BIOS | Award BIOS |
Memory | DDR200/266/333/400 |
Expansion Slots | 1 x AGP, 6 x PCI |
Storage | 2 x ATA 100/133, 2 x SATA supporting RAID (0,1,JBOD) |
USB | 8 USB 2.0/1.1 Ports (6 ports by optional cable) |
Audio | 8 channel Audio (VIA Envy 24PT) |
NIC | 3Com 1 Gb/s LAN |
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
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Board Layout
Clad in silver lettering atop a metallic green surface, the K8X800 Pro II box sports a clean, professional look. The off-centered tarantula is marked off with a large ‘X’.
Sharing space in the confines of the tarantula laden box with the motherboard are the expected accessories plus a surprise. Included is: 2 80-wire ATA 133 cables, 1 standard floppy cable, 1 SATA drive cable, 1 SATA power adapter, 1 (4 port) USB Bracket, 1 (2 port) IEEE 1394 Bracket, 1 Game Port/Serial Port Bracket, 1 Audio Bracket (S/PDIF [digital and analog] in/out ports, ear-phone jack, and MIC jack), and the Back Panel I/O Shield. Additionally, Albatron provided a manual, a driver CD, and the WinCinema Pro installation CD. Albatron also included a case sticker that details jumper locations and port connections. The surprise? A very nice (not pictured) fold out poster with step-by-step DIY installation guidelines. This is a welcome addition for those rookies or vets that might need it.
Ah, the metallic green of the box was not an indication of the contents as the motherboard is sporting a blue hue. The blue does not reflect negatively on the design of the K8X800 Pro II and, overall, the layout of the board is on the mark. However, the dreaded DIMM encroachment in the AGP slot’s buffer zone surfaces here with a vengeance. Short graphics accelerators will block at least one of the DIMM slots and longer cards will likely block all three by a dramatic margin. One will definitely need to install the RAM prior to any AGP card and enjoy the hassle of removing the AGP card to modify physical DIMM placement. This design flaw has consistently remained on top of my list of peeves and should not make it past the QA departments these days.
Other issues are practically non-existent except for one: The floppy connector is at the far left (relative to the picture) of the board by PCI slot six. Keep in mind that this will put this connector at the bottom of the case, well out of reach of most floppy cables in a mid-sized or larger case. This may only be a minor issue as more and more users are bypassing the use of floppy drives at all; however, for those that still hang on to floppy technology, this will certainly be a potential problem unless you have a longer cable. We know many do like this posistioning as it allows you to run the floppy cable under the board, out of the way.
Albatron utilized capacitors from Sanyo (Worldwide), United Chemi-Con (marked KZG, USA and Japan), and others marked GSC from unknown manufacturers on the K8X800 Pro II.
Albatron’s design engineers did a fantastic job of component placement around the CPU socket area with absolutely no space problems. There are no capacitors in the way of OEM or aftermarket HSF installation.
The VIA solution for the Athlon64 includes a separate North and South Bridge. Here you see the North Bridge (VIA K8T800) protected by a passive copper HS secured by cross-corner push pins. These pins can be removed with some force without requiring access to the back of the motherboard, but to ensure safe and perfect removal, one should remove the board anyway. The copper HS performs adequately, but should be actively cooled or replaced for overclocking sessions in our opinion.
The only other things of interest in this clutter-free area is the 3-pin system monitored CPU fan connector (labeled CPUFAN) at the lower right of the CPU and the ATX 12V header at the upper right corner of the socket area.
Just below the CPU socket area is the standard placement of the DIMM slots. The K8X800 Pro II offers 3 slots and supports DDR technologies from 200 to 400 up to a total of 3GB of Single Channel RAM.
Below the DIMM slots are the 2 IDE connectors and the ATX power connector. Above the IDE connectors is a jumper (labeled JP4) whose function is to enable or disable the CPU Over Temperature Protection. This jumper is not documented and is disabled by default. Finally, rounding out the left of the IDE ports is the CMOS battery.
The VIA VT8237 drives the South Bridge and comes adorned with the VIA silver sticker. Just below this chip are the 2 SATA connectors laid out in a backwards ‘L’. The Voice Genie/BIOS Mirror function switch (blue dipswitch block labeled SW1) is to the left of the SATA connectors. Directly above SW1 is the Voice Genie chip it controls. The Voice Genie is that gentle voice speaking through your computer speaker when something is amiss with your configuration.
Further left is the second system monitor 3-pin fan connector (CHASFAN) and just below and to the left of this connector is the 3-pin Power LED Header (PWRLED). Framing the left side of the motherboard (from bottom up) are the following: Front Panel Indicator Header (SW/LED); Speaker Header (SPEAKER); Clear CMOS jumper (red labeled JP1); Case Open Warning Header (CASE OPEN); Front USB Header (USB1/2/3); and the 2 IEEE 1394 Connectors (1394CN1/2). In the middle of the picture are the BIOS and BIOS Mirror chips. Just below the PCI slots are the IEEE 1304 controller and PCI Audio controller chips.
Continuing up the left side of the K8X800 Pro II is the Infrared Header (IrDA) followed by the floppy connector. The Front Panel Audio Header (FRONT AUDIO) is just above that with the COM2 port ending the left side.
Albatron includes 6 PCI slots and 1 AGP slot on this board. The AGP slot includes the preferred slide locking mechanism to ensure heavy weight AGP cards do not come lose.
The Game Port Header (CN3) starts off the component placement across the top of the motherboard followed by the Winbond I/O chip (W83697HF). To its right (between PCI slots 2 and 3) is the S/PDIF Digital Input/Output connector. Just above the AGP slot is 3Com LAN controller and the CD-IN Header (CD-IN). The final system monitored fan (AUXFAN) is to the right of the AGP slot nestled in the corner by the North Bridge.
The K8X800 Pro II includes the following components on the Back Panel I/O: 1 each PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 1 parallel and 1 serial port; 1 LAN port; 2 USB ports; and 2 audio towers (surround back speaker-out, surround speaker-out, center[L]/subwoofer[R] speaker-out, mic-in, line-in, and front speaker-out).