Abit first provided information at Computex 2004 about their interest in better addressing enthusiasts and gamers. Jonathan Wendel, one of the most successful semi-professional gamers, was heavily involved in Abit's development of a new product family for these markets. His gaming handle is now poised become a powerful brand of the same name: Fatal1ty.

Initially, people were talking mainly about Fatal1ty motherboards. However, it became pretty obvious that the new line would only make sense if there were more products than just those covering Abit's core motherboard business. Also, competition in the motherboard market has become very fierce. As a result, we will see also Fatal1ty graphics cards and other system components soon.

When it comes to Fatal1ty, expectations were mixed. Some people were initially skeptical, calling the concept a paper tiger; others were hopeful that they might finally receive something close to a perfect motherboard. Abit itself was responsible for the high expectations, as the involvement of a highly-dedicated gamer like Fatal1ty in product development implies a great degree of interest in the wishes of enthusiast users.

As always, the reality lies somewhere between these two extremes. Thanks to the high level of experience that Abit was able to collect with enthusiast-orientated products (I'm referring to µGuru or SoftMenu), the first Fatal1ty motherboard is indeed a highly interesting product, if not a perfect one.