You can pretty much find many of the top model motherboards at your local
computer stores and you can always find them online. Often these top model
series cost a lot more than people really want to pay especially if the upgrade
is for a more professional or home computer system. Features will vary of course
depending on what chipset that comes with the motherboard.
The three main current Intel chipsets are the 945, 965, and 975 respectively.
Each one incorporates different features depending on the chipset. The 975 tends
to have all the bells and whistles which includes some great overclocking. The
965 chipsets have done really well with overclocking but tend to have a few less
bells. Since the 945 is considered the more budget oriented chipset, you tend to
think that it provides less features or is some how limited.
The new
ABIT IL9 Pro
utilizes the Intel 945P chipset but it has a few features and options that are
aimed at giving users an alternative against the other budget motherboards
out there. If you're going out to look for a motherboard for around the $90.00
mark, check out this IL9 Pro first. It's really hard to find an SLI motherboard
for under $100.00 and we'd like to give the users who don't have to have the
most extreme something else to consider.
Specifications and Features:

-
LGA 775
-
Intel® 945P
-
FSB1066
-
Dual DDR2 667
-
PCI-E X16
-
SATA 3G
-
GbE LAN
-
7.1 CH HD Audio
-
RoHS Compliancy

CPU
- LGA775 Socket for Intel® Core™ 2 Duo/ Pentium® D/ Pentium® 4/ Celeron® D
Processors with 1066 MHz FSB
- Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology
Memory
- 4 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support DDR2 667 memory up to 4GB
- Supports Dual Channel DDR2 667 Un-buffered Non-ECC memory
LAN
- On board 10/100/1000M LAN
Audio
- On board HD 7.1 CH Audio CODEC
Expansion Slots
- 1 x PCI-E X16
- 1 x PCI-E X16 (PCI-E X4 bandwith)
- 1 x PCI-E X1
- 3 x PCI
Internal I/O
- 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88 MB
- 1 x Ultra DMA 100/ 66/ 33 IDE connector
- 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connector
- 2 x USB header (support 4 ports)
- 1 x FP-Audio, 1 x CD-In
Back
Panel I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 Mouse
- 1 x Serial Port, 1 x Printer port
- 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN connector
- 7.1 CH Audio connector ( Line-in/ Surround, Line-out, MIC-in, Rear Surround,
Center/ Woofer)
- S/PDIF Out
Form
Factor
- ATX form factor 305 x 244mm
- PCB Color: Blue
RoHS
- 100% lead-free process and RoHS compliant
You can see the options are very
similar to the up scale 965 and 975 chipset based motherboards. There may not be
as many of those options in terms of ports and connectors, but the features are
very similar. And in case you haven't noticed from the start, there are two PCI
Express graphics slots. Two PCIE graphics slots on a sub $100.00 motherboard?
Nice.