Abit has chosen the Realtek A880 codec chip to provide digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversions for the AA8's audio. This is the same codec chip Intel uses, and it's capable of processing eight channels of 24-bit, 192KHz audio for output. Input is a little more limited at 24 bits and 96KHz.

The AA8 also features a Realtek chip, the RTL8110S, to provide its Gigabit Ethernet networking. Oddly for a PCI Express motherboard, this chip talks over a 32-bit, 33MHz PCI bus connection. We'll test its throughput versus a PCI Express solution shortly, but you can guess what's likely to happen there.

Speaking of PCI devices, the AA8's Firewire (cough) connectivity comes courtesy of a TI controller chip that rides on the PCI bus. I expect we'll see more PCI Express controllers on motherboards once they become available, but the AA8 is decidedly a first-generation PCI-E board. The really old-school things like serial, parallel and PS/2 ports are handled by the Winbond chip pictured above.

Last but not least, we have Abit's μGuru chip. μGuru handles temperature, fan speed, and voltage monitoring on the AA8, relieving the CPU of that burden. Abit claims the μGuru "is a new microprocessor designed by the ABIT Engineers for use only on ABIT motherboards." Peeling off the shiny μGuru sticker, however, reveals a Winbond embedded controller chip. Ah, well. The thing does its job well enough, regardless.