Abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X

Verdict: Fatal1ty succeeds again, but it isn't a decisive victory

Abit has made several Fatal1ty motherboards, all of which have proved to be excellent overclockers, if a little on the pricey side. Its latest effort is the Fatal1ty AN9 32X, which is based on the high-end nForce 590 SLI chipset.

The nForce 590 SLI is Nvidia's flagship chipset, and provides two full-bandwidth 16x PCI-E slots for SLI graphics. The two 16x PCI-E slots are widely spaced, which will make it easier to keep each graphics card cool. Even though the Fatal1ty AN9 32X is a full-sized ATX motherboard, it has a total of just five expansion slots, instead of the more usual seven. The last three slots comprise two 1x PCI-E slots and a single PCI slot. This is the same configuration as seen in the Abit AW9D-MAX, and it means that if you have a dual-slot graphics card installed in the lower 16x PCI-E slot, you won't be able to install any PCI cards, such as a Creative X-Fi or PhysX card.

Six RAID-capable S-ATA II ports are provided, along with Intel HD Audio and ten USB 2 ports. The sound chip and outputs are mounted on a separate daughterboard, as the motherboard back panel is taken up by two noisy 40mm fans that help to cool the heatsink mounted on the VRMs.

The Fatal1ty AN9 32X is fast, even for an nForce 590 SLI motherboard, and boasts a feature-packed BIOS. For example, the maximum vcore is a heady 2.075V, while the RAM can receive up to 2.3V and the Northbridge 1.5V. The Fatal1ty AN9 32X achieved the second highest overclock of any Socket AM2 motherboard, running happily with the FSB of our test Athlon 64 X2 CPU raised from 200MHz to 266MHz. However, with the CPU multiplier dropped from 11 to 5, the Fatal1ty AN9 32X would run with a maximum FSB of 315MHz.

The Fatal1ty AN9 32X is a superb overclocker, but its single PCI slot is real oversight, as it means that you can't have SLI graphics and a decent sound card or PhysX card. The Asus Crosshair doesn't make this mistake and, as it's also a superlative overclocker, it takes the prize for the best Socket AM2 board.