SPCR

Check it:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22790

Excellent!

SPCR review of this mobo would be nice.

/matte

That complex passive design of the Abit appears to be based on the assumption that a very low height is needed so as not to restrict adapter cards. On my Asus A8N-E with 6600GT and VF700 there is plenty of clearance to go straight up by whatever amount is needed to acheive passive cooling of the chipset.

mattek wrote:Check it:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22790

Excellent!

SPCR review of this mobo would be nice.

/matte

That is pretty sweet; I hope it performs well! Might signal my return to ABIT boards (used them loyally for a long time before switch away due to QC issues, which I hope have been solved)...

-Ed

I don't like how it creates an oppening at the back of the case which looks like it would cause the air to circle around instead of steadily going front to back.

I think it would benefit a lot from moding that would close that opening. Simply sealing it between the fins and the inside of the case would probably hurt the northbridge cooling a lot, so I think the heatpipe would need to be bent so that the fins would be outside the case.

The first thing I thought when I saw that picture was: You need a positive pressure setup, else it acts as an intake.
Edit: shifted some sssss arround.

Now if only they would extend that concept to include the CPU...

Silent OTES : http://www2.abit.com.tw/page/en/news/ne ... en_0504251

I just noticed something in those pics. The lack of COM and LPT ports on the mobo! To me thats a step in the right direction. Remove all the dated ports that hardly anyone uses and use the saved space to put new and innovative features in.

To see a built-in heatpipe system for the processor would be interesting indeed.

/mattek

Come on Abit, I know you can "hit the pipe" on a ATI XPress 200 Northbridge/ULi Southbridge microATX mobo! Love that heat pipe! Wonder if I can get one to put on my mobo? Naaah, the Zalman monster works great. How long will it take for Thermaltake to steal the idea?

Now, if only they would release better software...

With the location of the NF4 chipset... it would be a bit harder to implement such a setup... but I would definetely like to see it happen.

I would love to get one of those Eng Samples to test on the nforce4 chip. looks like Abit is thinking HTPC crowd and Silent users are going to increase.

great for us.

sell it seperately too.

mattek wrote:Excellent!

Unfortunately, when I look at the picture, it doesn't just say that "ABIT is acknowledging the silent PC market". It also says "this chipset runs so damn hot, it needs a heatpipe to cool it!".

Some of us hate recent P4 CPUs because they're difficult to cool silently, while others hate them for being so inefficient in the first place. Being in the latter group, I'm hoping this ABIT board doesn't kickstart a similar trend for motherboard chipsets, with the introduction of more elaborate cooling for increasingly power-hungry chipsets rather than a reduction or stabilisation of power consumption. It's true that chipsets have gone from requiring no cooling to needing a small heatsink or heatsink/fan, but it's been a pretty slow progression, and with some signs of reversal, at least prior to the nForce 4. The danger is the precedent this sets--next thing you know Gigabyte will have introduced a heatpipe board, AOpen will have come out with theirs, and the bar will then have be raised, encouraging manufacturers to set aside efficency because the problem is being supressed with more advanced cooling.

I'd think we should give credit where credit is due guys.

Exhibit A: Abit Silent OTES



Exhibit B: Thermaltake Schooner



Why does the Thermaltake solution get the automatic thumbs down ("that's stupid, there's not enough airflow!"), while Abit gets the "that's pretty sweet?" They seem like the same solution to me. I come to SPCR because it's the most unbiased, most intelligent, hardware forum I've seen, so why the dual standard on the same idea? I'm no Thermaltake fan either, but let's try to treat every product equally shall we?

I don't know about this solution, but the Abit board seems to have the angle of the fins off by 90 degrees. I'm assuming most people have tower setups, and in such a setup, the fins would be horizontal. This totally kills the idea of a convection current happening, as the hot air can't rise because it's trapped between the fins. It actually looks like the Thermaltake fin alignment is a smarter solution here.

Coolin wrote:I'd think we should give credit where credit is due guys.

If you're right, that's some very badly done ripping of. If the schooner is the basis for it, that makes it that much worse that Abit didn't have the gonads to put the fins at least partially outside the case.

Coolin wrote: Why does the Thermaltake solution get the automatic thumbs down

Because it's too heavy, which is at least partially because of thermaltake's consistant ignorance of backpressure.

mathias wrote: If the schooner is the basis for it, that makes it that much worse that Abit didn't have the gonads to put the fins at least partially outside the case.

I have to disagree with that. I think it's pretty stupid to have heatpipes hanging out of the case... Something hits the fins and BAM, cracked heatpipes, video card pulled halfway out, gpu crushed, etc etc....

Maybe with a video card, but if it's built into the design of a motherboard it can be firmly attached to the backplate. Also, a protective cage could be made for it, like with fanless PSU's with external heatsinks.

mathias wrote:Maybe with a video card, but if it's built into the design of a motherboard it can be firmly attached to the backplate. Also, a protective cage could be made for it, like with fanless PSU's with external heatsinks.

True, but an additional problem is that it wound render it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to mount the board to some of the tighter cases on the market. This is a risk ABIT probably isn't willing to take.

They could make the heatsink detachable, similar to how GPU heatpipe coolers are, so you could attach either a protruding heatsink that doesn't create an opening, or a non protruding heatsink that screws up the airflow(for everyone who would be unable to resist the urge to lunge at a protruding heatsink ).

mathias wrote:They could make the heatsink detachable, similar to how GPU heatpipe coolers are, so you could attach either a protruding heatsink that doesn't create an opening, or a non protruding heatsink that screws up the airflow(for everyone who would be unable to resist the urge to lunge at a protruding heatsink ).

You mean include two different heatsinks? Unfortunately I doubt ABIT wants to spend on that and/or add something like that to the cost of a (likely already expensive) product.

An adjustable one might be an interesting idea; I wonder how they could design that without losing efficiency, though...

Besides, I'm sure it works just fine with the fins inside the case. I mean, just how much heat does a NB generate, anyway?

Mar. wrote:Besides, I'm sure it works just fine with the fins inside the case. I mean, just how much heat does a NB generate, anyway?

Heh, ask that question to an NForce4 owner and see what they have to say!

Oh-kay, Abit just officially released the 2.0 version of their A8N mobo´s with the new OTES system that utilizes a heatpipe on the NB

Press release Click on the link in the middle of page, opens up in a popup.

Product page.

manalainen wrote:Oh-kay, Abit just officially released the 2.0 version of their A8N mobo´s with the new OTES system that utilizes a heatpipe on the NB

Press release Click on the link in the middle of page, opens up in a popup.

Product page.

Any idea what time it'll be hitting store shelves?
I want that MB

This motherboard looks good. Even if the silent OTES sucks the northbridge is at least far enough away from the vidcard that you can put a decent heatsink on it.

I WANT TO BUY THIS BOARD NOW!!! lol

Viperoni wrote:I WANT TO BUY THIS BOARD NOW!!! lol

No problem.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=22387

Thanks; just put my order in.

EDIT: Bleh, what the heck...just ordered a Venice 3000+ to go with it.

EDIT2: Damn I'm out of control today; ordered a fanless dual-DVI PCI-Ex 6600 card from XFX, too.

-Ed

The AN8 Ultra really has my interest. I'm just wondering if that heatpipe + radiator combo will work. That's quite a long way for the heat to go before it can get dissipated. Putting on a better thermal solution means you lose the adacent PCI-E 1x slot, but you still have one left.

Hmmmmmm.

EDIT: Bleh, what the heck...just ordered a Venice 3000+ to go with it.

EDIT2: Damn I'm out of control today; ordered a fanless dual-DVI PCI-Ex 6600 card from XFX, too.

Nice "fix" for a hardcore hardware junkie