Board layout
Ladies and gentlemen, the KV8-MAX3:

Abit dresses the KV8-MAX3 up on an orangey-red board that's just crying out for a case window. While many mainboard manufacturers seem to be drawing from the same color palette, Abit's red-orange remains distinct.

In addition to its distinctive coloring, the KV8-MAX3's north bridge fan also stands out. It's not that the north bridge fan is particularly unique, but the fact that the north bridge chip is located between the CPU socket and port cluster. Generally, north bridge chips are wedged between the CPU socket and AGP slot.

The KV8-MAX3's unique north bridge positioning may have something to do with the real estate needed for the board's massive OTES cooling shroud. I'll go into more detail on that OTES shroud a little later in the review.

Unlike just about every other mainboard I've seen over the past couple of years, the KV8-MAX3's two power plugs are positioned right next to each other near the top edge of the board. This power plug placement is ideal because it helps reduce cable clutter around the CPU socket, and allows both power cables to be bound and routed together.

Even without cable clutter, the KV8-MAX3's CPU socket area isn't what I'd call spacious. With an OTES shroud and north bridge heat sink lurking in the background, things are a little cramped, but there's just enough room for AMD's reference Athlon 64 heat sink. Though the board is pictured with a heat sink retention bracket, the KV8-MAX3 doesn't actually come with one. The plastic bracket and metal back plate that make up AMD's new heat sink retention mechanism surely can't be that expensive, so I'm not sure why Abit doesn't include them with the board.

Despite the fact that the KV8-MAX3 has only five PCI slots, the board's DIMM slot retention tabs may interfere with longer AGP graphics cards. Since the KV8-MAX3 doesn't have an AGP Pro slot, it's unlikely that many users will have graphics cards long enough to get in the way. However, lengthy GeForce FX cards with taller memory heat sinks may create clearance problems when trying to swap out memory modules with the graphics card installed.

Fortunately, the KV8-MAX3's three 184-pin DIMM slots allow for memory upgrades without the need to swap DIMMs. Also, unlike dual-channel memory controllers, which require DIMMs to be installed in pairs for optimal performance, the Athlon 64's single-channel memory controller doesn't mind if DIMMs are added one at a time.

Those planning on future memory upgrades should note that while the KV8-MAX3 supports up to 2GB of memory, only two of the board's memory slots can be used if memory is clocked at DDR400 speeds. I'm not particularly a fan of the two-DIMM limit, but what irks me even more is the fact that the board doesn't support more than 2GB of memory. One of the selling points of 64-bit processors is their ability to address more than 4GB of system memory, so it seems a little ridiculous for an Athlon 64 board to top out at 2GB.

To be fair, the KV8-MAX3 isn't the only board setting limits on memory upgrades; I've yet to see a Socket 754 board that supports more than 2GB of memory.

The KV8-MAX3 is loaded with Serial ATA ports for storage. All the Serial ATA hardware is located at the bottom of the board, but since SATA cables are so thin and flexible, manufacturers can pretty much put the ports wherever they want without having to worry about routing or clutter issues.

From indoor to outdoor ports, the KV8-MAX3 easily has the most unique port cluster I've ever seen. As if the massive OTES exhaust fan wasn't enough to throw you off, the KV8-MAX3's port cluster also lacks familiar Serial or Parallel ports. PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports do make the cut for the port the cluster along with an Ethernet jack, Firewire port, and four USB ports. On the audio front, the KV8-MAX3's cluster has a full spread of analog plugs in addition to digital S/PDIF input and output ports.

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that Abit hasn't pursued the "legacy-free" strategy it introduced with its original MAX motherboards. The KV8-MAX3's port cluster doesn't have enough room to accommodate serial and parallel ports, and the OTES exhaust fan would have been a great excuse to ditch the PS/2 ports as well. I have to think that the majority of PC users would get more use out of a couple of extra USB ports instead of legacy PS/2 hardware.