Abit blue box vs red box

[mike.elmes]

just a little cut'n paste from an interview with abit from chainbolt
in Tokyo:

OCAU: I guess you are aware about the rumors that certain newer ABIT boards are performing not as good anymore because they are apparently manufactured by ECS. And some people even speculate that your mobos coming in blue boxes are from ECS and the red-boxed boards are from ABIT or the other way around.
ST: ahh..these rumors! ABIT’s Intel chipset based mainboards come in blue boxes and boards with Athlon chipsets get a red box.

OCAU: Wait a moment! I had in total 4 BD7-II mobos, 3 of them came in a blue box and 1 in a read box.
ST: Oh yes! During the soccer World Cup we shipped worldwide all ABIT boards in a red World-Cup box. But now we are back to the usual Intel = blue box and AMD = red box policy.

Go figure.

[docah]

LOL, that's about all i have to say :)

[GVCryan]

They is another way then box color to see if the board is from ECs. ECS Abit's are made by a company called Yang An Ya. It says where its made underneath the pci slots on the back of the mobo.

Tean tn2 is the company that manufactures (in-house) Abit boards of higher quality. I have touched 2 kd7's. 1 weighed less than a pound and was made by Yang An Ya, and the other was just as heavy as most other boards, and was made by Tean tn2. I bought the tn2, and it has performed fine. The Yang An Ya that I sold to my friend, is having a hard time keeping solid 5v lines, and we both use the same psu.

I think there is a difference, even if the boxes are the same.

[nelamvr6]

What's troubling to me is that the question of inferior quality was not addressed, just the question of box color.

I have had the unfortunate luck to experience one of the newer boards (KD7 Raid) that didn't last the first night.

[Creative]

I have gone thru 2 Blue boxed IT7s and now today a Red box arrived. Yer its got the soccer ball on it....it was common knowledge that Abit did a World Cup promotion with the red boxes cos they sent out blow up soccer balls with them....:)

I have a feeling the red box one, the new one, will be better....im installing now....:D

[Bushboy]

LOL, nice find Mike. A big deal was made about which is better wuality, all because they switched the colors for the world cup...A nit anti-climatic really:D

[Kurupt]

lol, go abit

[mike.elmes]

Is it just in Canada, or true elswhere.....I had to call about 6 shops in Edmonton. Seems a lot of computer shops arent carrying Abit anymore. They say," had too many problems with them"

I ordered my KD7 almost 3 weeks ago. Still not here. Same for the xp2400+. Even the prometeia was ordered (pre) 6 weeks ago. Still no have.....

[Bushboy]

Who did you order the KD7 from? If it isn't there in three weeks, then you have a serious problem. I just got a replacement for an Abit IT7 from googlegear, so I don't think they're having many problems with them.

[JBELL]

if you can tell the difference by the back of the pcb - then supply screenöööös followed with perforance benchmarks....

[TheDude]

Originally posted by mike.elmes
Is it just in Canada, or true elswhere.....I had to call about 6 shops in Edmonton. Seems a lot of computer shops arent carrying Abit anymore. They say," had too many problems with them"

I ordered my KD7 almost 3 weeks ago. Still not here. Same for the xp2400+. Even the prometeia was ordered (pre) 6 weeks ago. Still no have.....

Mike, didn't you post that you had a tracking number on that Prom?:confused:

[Ragnarok]

blah the blue box vs red box bs again :D

Intel = blue box / blue cd / blue manual
AMD = red box / red cd / red manual

the Red Intel box with soccer ball is just a world cup promotion thing, or does non world cup red Intel box exist?

[GVCryan]

I assume your talking to me JBELL:confused:

Unfortunately I am without a digicam, at least temporarily. If you check at Overclockers NZ, they do a crappy review, but they show a shot of a board made by yang an ya. My board in the same location says TEAN tn2. The other board I sold to my friend says Yang an YA.

From what I have seen, there is no performance difference, other than bad rails (many other variables anyway).

I have a LAN party coming up well both be at, so I'll be able to mess with some stuff to see how my proc performs in his.
Stay tuned. I too would like to see this issue resloved once and for all.:)

[mike.elmes]

Originally posted by TheDude
Mike, didn't you post that you had a tracking number on that Prom?:confused:

I sure do........A couple of days ago I got a message from UPS that they had a shippment on it's way...60 lbs.


:banana: :banana:

[Creative]

The reb box does the same as the other previous 2 Blue boxes, same volts exactly

I reklon its thisd POS PSU I have here....430watt Antec....its ööööen öööö imo.....:mad:

Atlas baby here we come!!!!! :banana:

[JCviggen]

Let me add my experiances.

I got myself an IT7. Went very nice, but I could not run higher than 226 on the memory with my XMS3200 C2. This was not enough for running 3D at a decent speed ... so I was complaining about it and PilsY told me about the box colour thing. A friend of mine has a red boxed one, so he came over to try my stuff in his board. I immediately went from 168 MHz 3:4 to 174 MHz 3:4 and the memory would not run higher than that. So I got myself a red one after much trouble, and it worked well. Then I killed it. Contacted ABIT for RMA and 2 days later I get a replacement board from UPS. Pop it in .... its a brand new spanking BLUE box ... 170 3:4 maximum with my PC3500 C2. The PC3200 maxes out at the old 168 MHz. Again I had a USELESS IT7. So I traded boards with some guy to have a red one again. Gave him 50$ on top of the trade. I ran my 3D run at 178 3:4 (238 memory) at 2.9 volts and the memory was not maxed out yet.

So this is no rumour.... the blue ones were useless to me and the red ones do what they need to do. I have NO idea why. But its like that. I do want to say that up to the limit on the memory the boards were equally stable, equal CPU overclockers, etc. Just the blue ones seemed to have a wall at around 230 mem :(
I tested an IT7-MAX2 which had the exact same thing. But i'm reading a lot of ppl who get past 230 easy on the MAX2 so I dont know whats up with that. The board came straight from ABIT tho, not a retailer, maybe that has smth to do with it

[Tiribulus]

The Abit rep proclaims in no uncertain terms that ALL motherboards with Abit's name on it that comes in an Abit box are made by Abit themselves. Only "SI" Systems Integrator boards made for companies that mass produce computers have been outsourced to ECS and they do not bare Abit's name. So if you have an Abit board, ABIT BUILT IT. Staight from the horses mouth.
Tiribulus:D

[ricksimm]

Which "end" of the horse was that? Just kidding- I think. You certainly can understand the apprehensive feeling almost all people get from having talked to vendor customer service people in the past. Thanks for the info. :confused:

[tape]

Hi everyone. I'm reading this forum for a while and I think it's definitely the best when talking of OC. Now I've decided to join and share some of my experience.
As about the manufacturer: I've just checked some of the boards and what I found amongst:
- an BE7-RAID made in Taiwan by Yang An Ya
- an AT7-MAX2 made in Taiwan by Tean TN2
- an SR7-8X made in China by Tean TN2
I could check further, but I think one thing is clear: Tean TN2 is NOT the company that manufactures (in-house) ABIT boards (like GVCryan said), as far as ABIT doesn't have facilities in China ;)
And the colours: all I've seen lately from ABIT were Intel boards in blue boxes and AMD in red ones. The only exception was at the soccer championship promotion indeed, when all boxes were red with an soccer ball photo on the box.
So I guess the only differences come from different batches, and it's not any hint to find a better board looking at the box or something.
AFAIK only BG71 and SA7 were made by ECS, but apparently also SR7-8X, which is made in China, could be made by ECS.

Later edit: after reading the entire interview: as ST states that ABIT facilities are located in China, who's manufacturing then the "made in Taiwan" boards? :confused:

[GreenBeret]

If you think this blue one does better than this red one or vice versa, and as from that interview, they are all built by Abit, then Abit's quality control should be questioned.