ABIT's Emodulator system actually consists of three parts :-

• ABIT Siluro GF256 GTS graphics card
  - nVidia GeForce2 GTS GPU running at 200MHz
  - 64MB DDR SDRAM running at 166MHz
  - TV/Video out with support for resolutions of 640x480 and 800x600
• Emodulator 5.1 Home Theatre AC-3 audio card
  - Fortemedia FM801 sound chip
  - supports 5.1 channel output
  - A3D, DirectSound3D, Q3D and EAX compatible
  - 18-bit audio codec support with sampling rates of up to 48KHz
• Emodulator Home Cinema Speaker System (SP-20 / SP- 51 / SP-50)

The Siluro GF256 GTS is basically just a GeForce2 GTS card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM. So, the heart of ABIT's Emodulator system is the audio card. Using Fortemedia's FM801 audio chip, it offers 5.1 channel output with Soft DVD providing Dolby Digital AC3 support.

Rounding up the package is a choice of three different speaker systems. The SP-20 2.1 channel upgradable speaker system is the basic set. It consists of a subwoofer and two egg-shaped satellite speakers. The SP-51, on the other hand, symbolizes the mid-range solution. It comes with a different subwoofer and four box-shaped satellite speakers.

Finally, we have the SP-50, which is the ultimate choice for the discerning audio enthusiast. Just like the SP-51, it comes with 4 satellite speakers but these are the egg-shaped ones. Also, the SP-50 comes with a more powerful subwoofer and an additional center speaker.

From my chats with the ABIT reps, I gather that the speakers were actually designed by a renown OEM speaker company. No wonder they sounded really good. If you think the satellite speakers look rather puny, think again. They packed quite an acoustic punch and when I picked them up, they were surprisingly heavy. No el cheapo plastic tweeters here...

In the previous picture, the demo machine is actually using the SP-20 set, so there are only two satellite speakers. Below, you can see the higher end models. The SP-50 is shown here with its four speakers, a large subwoofer and a center speaker. There's also a SP-51 subwoofer sitting on the SP-50's subwoofer.

Well, it looks as if ABIT's planning to diversify its business from mere motherboards to everything else. And they will be well-prepared to do that as well because when I was there, I was told that ABIT would be going public within a month. By this time this is posted, ABIT should already have its shares traded on the stock exchange and will consequently have millions of dollars in its coffers to expand its product line.

So I think we can expect to see ABIT launching other non-motherboard related products in the future. Being ABIT, you can expect them to come up with some truly unique ones like the Emodulator.

In Part 2, we will check out AOpen, Intel and some processor coolers among other things. There will also be a special section devoted to a relatively unknown company called AZZA. Unknown for now but that may change because they have demonstrated some really interesting features in their motherboards which may pick up and make them household names (or rather desktop names).