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February 20, 2004 – ABIT is pleased to announce total Prescott support on every ABIT 865PE and 875P-based ATX motherboard. The beginning of February saw Intel launch a new line of CPUs – the Prescott 2.8GHz to 3.4GHz. Taking performance to a higher level, many immediately were asking if their recently purchased Intel 865PE and 875P motherboards were Prescott ready. For ABIT users, the answer is a definite “YES!” For users who choose another motherboard brand, you may be very disappointed.

The premier enthusiast website, http://www.hardocp.com investigated this issue and has written a report on Prescott support. He begins by asking the question of 2004: "Am I going to be able to run a Prescott CPU on my current i875P or i865PE mainboard?" And the answer, “Some of you will and some of you won't.” According to HardOCP, on Prescott-ready motherboards, “It is our thought, after talking with engineers that have widely tested their own boards and their competitions' boards, that i875P and i865PE boards from Tier 1 retail manufacturers like ABIT, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI are going to be overall safe choices for Prescott upgrades.” That leads to the next question of which motherboards are in danger of not being Prescott-ready? HardOCP states, “Tier 2 retail mainboard builders and lower. Here we are talking about the likes of AOpen, Albatron, Chaintech, DFI, EPoX, Iwill, Shuttle, Soltek, and Soyo, as well as a few that we have not mentioned. From what we have been told, when stress testing many of these boards stability problems do turn up.” Why are Tier 1 makers like ABIT Prescott-ready, while Tier 2 makers are not? HardOCP answers that again, saying, “When it comes to competing and making money, many of the Tier 2 and lower mainboard companies have been saving that rumored $1 to $5 that would have made their mainboards Prescott worthy. It will be interesting to see how many of these companies come forth and proclaim that their mainboards meet Prescott CPU power needs.”

ABIT prepared for Prescott during the design phase of all ABIT 865PE and 875P-based motherboards more than a year ago. Scott Thirlwell, Marketing Director of ABIT Computer proclaimed, “As a design partner of Intel, ABIT was able to design in support for future CPUs into our IS7 Series, IC7 Series and AI7 motherboards. Our motherboards follow the VRM 10.0 and FMB 1.5 Guidelines. With ABIT's 4-phase power onboard and a strengthened PWM design, ABIT users of the IS7 Series, IC7 Series and AI7 are able to use current Northwood core Pentium 4s as well as Prescott CPUs.”

To conclude, if you are in the market for an 865PE-based or 875P-based ATX motherboard, ABIT motherboards will ensure you are able to upgrade to the power of Prescott. To update to the latest ABIT BIOS, go to the ABIT website and use ABIT’s own FlashMenu for 1 click BIOS updating

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