ABIT KV8-MAX3
Christopher Emry, December 24th, 2003
Current Pricing: $158.04
..:: ABIT KV8-MAX3 Product Package ::..
The box that the KV8-MAX3 ships in is a nice change from the typical ABIT box with the F1 race car on the front. The KV8-MAX3 can be easily distinguished from other motherboards considering that the shipping box has a large KV8-MAX3 logo stamped all over it along with the AMD Athlon64, OTES and µGuru logos on top. There is also an artist's rendition of what the KV8-MAX3 could look like, but it's too bad the actual board doesn't look that way. More on that later.
One aspect ABIT is well known for in the enthusiast community is their capability to provide the customer with comprehensive and detailed documentation for their motherboards, and you can bet that the KV8-MAX3 follows in this tradition. ABIT tosses in a detailed user manual, a quick installation guide, another guide for their µGuru feature, and a sticker to affix to the interior of the computer case for quick references to the motherboard layout. The sticker will come in handy if you often find yourself poking around your motherboard, or happen to lose manuals as much as I seem to.
The bundled accessories include the usual software and driver discs, an expansion bracket with two IEEE1394 ports and two USB ports attached, four SATA cables, three various Molex splitters for power support of SATA devices, one round UDMA/133 cable, one round floppy cable, and of course the appropriate I/O bracket. Unfortunately, the KV8-MAX3 does not come with the heatsink mounting cage which is required to mount a cooling unit to the AMD Athlon64 processor properly, so make sure you have one in your cart before you race to the checkout counter.
Abit also includes a package called Secure IDE with the KV8-MAX3. As the name of this device implies, it will encrypt data on an UDMA hard drive for increased file protection. While this is a nice addition to the bundle, we would rather see Abit include at least one of their Serillel adapters instead so that we can use a UDMA hard drive and connect it to an integrated SATA connector the KV8-MAX3 provides. Two of them would be even better so that we could use them in a RAID array.
One feature that has not been shown in the images above is that all of these bundled accessories are placed neatly in boxes within the KV8-MAX3's main shipping box. I really wish all manufactures would start to do this as ABIT has. By doing this, the manufacturer can further ensure that there is far less of a chance the accessories will acquire any minor damage, or even worse... significant damage to the motherboard surface, or the various mounted components the after it has traveled around the globe, finally arriving at your doorstep.
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