Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Introduction

The Abit "Max" series of motherboards is a new series of mainboards trying to establish a reputation for incorporating the bleeding edge of technology. Our first test sample of this legacy is the AT7 -- a new, Socket A mobo based on the VIA KT333 chipset, which means support for both DDR333 memory, and ATA133 drives.

Among the AT7's other interesting points though, is a distinct lack of legacy ports. That means no PS2 ports, no serial ports, and no parallel port interface. Instead, the AT7 is bustling with USB ports, both of the original USB v1.1, and v2.0 varieties.

The AT7 also comes with a four-channel RAID 1+0 controller, which allows users to attach up to 12 ATA133 drives to the board itself.

But wait, that's not all! The Abit has also thrown in not only an integrated IEEE-1394/Firewire controller, and a 10/100Base-T network controller, but also a little bit of icing for the cake: an integrated 6-channel audio card.

So, since this board is just screaming to be put under the microscope, let's say we dispense with the intro, and get down to business, shall we?

Audio

As mentioned in the introduction, the Abit AT7 Max includes an integrated audio-chip in its design. The chip itself is a Realtek ALC650, which features 6-channels out, and support for AC3 and 5.1 Surround Sound configurations.

For a fidelity standpoint, the Realtek AL650 offers very decent performance that's easy on the ears.

Configuration

The Abit AT7 Max's design if purely Jumperless. As a result, users can get it up and running without needing to flip Dip switches or fiddle with jumpers; most configuration matters can be handled from within the SoftMenu III BIOS menu.

Once located there, users are immediately presented with the option to set the FSB frequency to between 100MHz and 250MHz in 1MHz increments.

It's also possible to adjust the clock multiplier setting to a value ranging from 5X to 13X.

Next, we found options that allow for the adjustment of the Vcore, Vio, and DDR voltages, which can be set to any of the values indicated by the table above.

The FSB/AGP/PCI ratios are also adjustable, and can be set to: 3:2:1, 4:2:1, or 5:2:1.

Finally, as expected, the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu offers a number of configuration options related to memory timing. Most of these are located under the "Dram Clock/Drive Control" sub-menu, and includes the ability to set the memory bus frequency to 100MHz, 133MHz, 166MHz, or SPD (Serial Presence Detect), which allows the system to determine a proper operating frequency automatically.

Next: Technical details.