Date: May 27th, 2004
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: Abit
<---SHOP FOR THE ABIT KV8-MAX3 K8T800 ATHLON64 MOTHERBOARD HERE

PRODUCT COMPOSITION

The KV8-MAX3 box displays the standard MAX3 cover art, however I feel they should match the image to the actual board. The motherboard displayed may not actually be the one within the box... as is the case this time.

Here is everything that you get when you purchase this motherboard.

- ABIT KV8-MAX3 motherboard
- KV8 User's Manual
- A Quick Reference Guide Sticker
- µGuru Quick Guide
- Driver CD
- Secure IDE kit
- Bracket 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 Firewire port
- 4x serial ATA cables
- 2x serial ATA power adapter cables (four connectors)
- I/O shield
- 1x Rounded Floppy drive cable
- 1x Rounded Ultra ATA-133 IDE cable

The Athlon 64 CPU retention bracket is also included. This one is different from typical retention brackets in that you have to stick the metal portion under the motherboard. You then have to secure the plastic portion on top of the motherboard, by screwing through two holes into the metal underneath. More on that later.

The KV8-MAX3 comes with a Secure IDE Kit. Here you can see everything that's in the box.

This little device connects directly to your IDE hard drive. From there, you connect the device to your motherboard via a typical IDE cable. What this means is that the data must travel through this device.

The back bracket connects to the device via a three pin plug. From the outside of the case, a cable can be set up beside the monitor. It has a port at the end.

Here is one of the two included 'keys'. As you can see, it is quite small and compact. It would be very easy to carry around. It also has a hole on the end (hidden by my thumb but viewable in the next photo) for you to attach it to a keychain.

All you have to do is connect it to the cable, and voila, you have access to your HDD. Very handy if you are using this motherboard as a server and want it to be secure. Also excellent if you want to limit your kids access to your computer.

Lastly, the board. It's a full size ATX, with plenty of options. We'll cover each in the next section.