All the little things
It's the little things that really separate high-end boards from the rest of the field, and Abit has certainly paid plenty of attention to detail with the Fatal1ty-AA8XE.

While hardly a "little" thing, at least in size, the most obvious extra on the AA8XE is the massive OTES cooler. A pair of temperature-controlled fans exhaust warm air from around the board's CPU socket and power circuitry, which should help with stability when overclocking. The board's MOSFETs also feature tall heat sinks that should aid in cooling. Fortunately, the pastel blue color of the MOSFET coolers is well-hidden under the black OTES shroud.

OTES is old hat for Abit, but the Fatal1ty-AA8XE's RAMFlow cooler is all-new. The dual-fan memory cooler clips onto the DIMM slot retention taps with a pair of beefy spring-loaded arms, but the retention mechanism is cumbersome at best. Spring tension is strong enough to securely hold the cooler in place, but if your hand slips during installation, there's enough tension to launch the cooler violently into the air and potentially across the room. A screw-on RAMFlow cooler would require tools to install and remove, but I'd certainly feel a lot more comfortable installing it.

In theory, RAMFlow is a great idea, but its implementation is a little rough around the edges. Perhaps the most annoying thing about the cooler is that it must be plugged into a fan header located at the bottom corner of the board, about as far away from the DIMM slots as possible. The RAMFlow has just enough cable to make it happen, but having to criss-cross the PCI Express and PCI slots just to get power to the cooler is a little sloppy. The board should really have a RAMFlow fan header right next to the DIMM slots.

In another nod to overclocking, Abit equips the Fatal1ty-AA8XE what it calls "OC Strips." These strips of copper are supposed to help draw heat away from the underside of the board, particularly around the CPU socket, and improve stability when overclocking.

Like most high-end boards, the Fatal1ty-AA8XE comes with a decent cable bundle. Rounded floppy and IDE cables are included with the board, but I'm not crazy about the clear plastic that covers the IDE cable. If you're going to bundle rounded cables with a high-end board like the Fatal1ty-AA8XE, they might as well match the board's color scheme. You'll need a case window to notice either way, but it's the little things that kill.

Although the rounded IDE cables don't match, the red Serial ATA cables nicely complement the board's color scheme. Best of all, the cables use locking end plugs that securely hold them in place.

Abit also throws an optical S/PDIF cable into the Fatal1ty-AA8XE's bundle. It's a nice little touch, especially for anyone who's planning on using the board's integrated audio with a digital receiver or speakers.

Flashy lights are all the rage these days, and Abit obliges the trend with a set of red LEDs mounted under and around the AA8XE. The glowing effect looks cool in the dark, but you'll need a case window to really see it at all.