abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD Motherboard Review :: Special Features

• RADEON 1250 graphics
• HDMI
• AVIVO
• Solid State Capacitors
• 100% Japanese Capacitors
• Silent Cooling

The RADEON Xpress 1250 graphics core is a bit of a misnomer. Generally, every ATI graphics chipset on the X1K series supports Shader Model 3.0 in hardware (X1300, X1550, x1600, x1800, x1900, x1950). With the release of the X1050 graphics ATI has taken to rebred some of their Shader Model 2.0 hardware into the X1K series. They also have done this with the Mobile chipsets naming their X1350, the Mobile x2300 (a numbering system that will generally taken for Shader Model 4 parts.)

3Dmark06 Pixel Shader compatibiliity

The Xpress 1250 graphics core is based upon the X700 series graphics core introduced in 2005. The Xpress 1250 has 4 Pixel Shader Pipelines double that of the Xpress 200 chipset introduced a couple of years ago. The graphics chipset performance should be the best on the market for Intel CPUs as the Intel GMA 3000 does not perform well or even play many of the latest games. The Xpress 1250 does not have the horsepower to play the games at high resolution or settings but can play the games without visual impairment.

High Definition Multimedia Interface is the replacement for the analog VGA and DVI connectors for monitors and High Definition TVs. With the release of Blue-Ray Discs and HD-DVD, content adheres to the High-bandwidth Content Protection Specification (HDCP) which makes it harder to copy the new discs illegally.

The F-190HD board is made with 100% Japanese Capacitors. Japanese Capacitors generally have higher performance, stability and durability over the other capacitors. Solid State capacitors around the CPU area and PWM area reduce heat and provide the highest stable voltage regulation available.

abit decided to use their Silent Cooling system to cool the North and South bridges. There is a heatsink on each of the chips, meaning that there is no noise from chipset coolers. Chipset cooling fans generally are among the loudest component of the computer next to the video card cooler and the CPU cooler. Note that the extensive Silent OTES heatpipe solution is not used.