The first batch of ABIT’s mainboards for future AMD Athlon 64 processors with 1000MHz HyperTransport bus have reached several stores in Tokyo, Japan. The mainboards, however, can work with today’s 64-bit processors too, as they are equipped with Socket 754 that is used with today’s chips.

The main idea of ABIT KV8 Pro is additional performance brought by 1000MHz HyperTransport bus, but not the support for new processors in new packaging or PCI Express bus. The chipset that powers ABIT KV8 Pro – VIA K8T800 Pro – does not bring PCI Express capabilities or any other architectural advantages apart from higher frequency of the HyperTransport bus that connects central processing unit to computer’s I/O.

AMD has not announced Athlon 64 processors in 754-pin packaging with 1000MHz HyperTransport bus yet. Announcement of AMD64 chips in 939-pin packaging is slated for the 25th of May, 2004.

Specifications for ABIT KV8 Pro are as follows:

• Supports Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 processors;
• VIA K8T800 Pro and VT8237 core-logic;
• 2 DIMM slots for up to 2GB of PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200 DDR SDRAM;
• 5 PCI and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel integrated ATA-33/66/100/133 controller;
• 2 Serial ATA-150 ports with RAID support;
• 10/100/1000Mb/s Ethernet adapter from VIA;
• 8 USB 2.0 ports;
• 2 FireWire (IEEE1394) ports;
• Integrated AC`97 6-channel audio solution with S/PDIF connector;
• Loads of additional functions and technologies from ABIT, such as FanEQ, ThermalGuard and SoftMenu;
• Overclocking and tuning functions;
• Onboard diagnostic LEDs;
• ATX Form-factor.

An article over Akiba PC Hotline, a web-site that tracks down the Japanese retail market, claims that ABIT KV8 Pro is pretty cost-effective solution despite of its competitive advantages and the fact that this is the first mainboard based on the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset ever: the device costs from approximately $115 to $120.