Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Introduction

The IT7 Max is the second addition to the "Max" series of motherboards from Abit. Unlike the AT7, which we've tested previously, which was designed with AMD processors in mind, the IT7 is equipped with an i845E chipset, and is meant for owners of 400MHz and 533MHz FSB Pentium 4 CPUs.

One thing that the IT7 does have in common with its fore bearer is a complete lack of legacy ports -- meaning no serial, no parallel, and no PS2 connectors. What it does have, though, are USB 2.0 ports, and plenty of them!

The IT7 isn't deprived in the communications department either. It comes with two integrated IEEE-1394/"Firewire" ports -- all of which makes it the envy of every board on the block.

To connect your internal drives, the IT7 Max also provides both a standard IDE ATA100 controller, and an integrated Highpoint HPT374 RAID 0+1 controller, meaning that up to 12 separate internal drives can be connected to the "Max" simultaneously.

And, if that isn't enough, the Abit IT7 Max also comes complete with a six-channel Realtek ALC650 audio-chip, and a LED diagnostic panel.

Furthermore, like some other manufacturers, Abit has tweaked the i845E chipset's reference specifications in order to unofficially support the new memory standard, so users will be able to use DDR333 or if you prefer PC2700 with this motherboard.

It's also worth pointing out that the IT7 comes with four PCI slots, compared with the AT7's three, and that it lacks the latter's USB 1.1 ports -- the IT7 sports only v2.0.

Well, now that we've gone into some detail on the IT7's features, let's get down to the analysis.

Audio

As mentioned in the introduction, the Abit IT7 Max's audio circuitry is based around a Realtek ALC650 sound-chip. The ALC650 supports AC3, and 5.1 Surround Sound, and allows users to hook-in upto six audio channels, including a center base channel.

From a fidelity standpoint, the Realtek AL650 is quite good at what it does, and should satisfy most users.

Unfortunatly, optical connectors are not included.

Configuration

The IT7 Max's design is a purely jumperless affair. Not a single on-board jumper or Dip switch exists that is directly related to the CPU.

In short, if you want to adjust motherboard settings, you'll be spending your time in the SoftMenu III BIOS menu.

Once located there, users will be presented with the option to set the FSB frequency to values ranging from 100Mhz to 250Mhz in 1Mhz increments.

The clock multiplier value can also be set the between 8X and 24X.

The Vcore and DDR voltages are also configurable, and can be set to any of the values indicated in the table above.

The PCI bus ration can be set to Clock/3, Clock/4, or fixed values of 33Mhz, 37Mhz, or 44Mhz

The memory ratio can also be set to run syncrhonious with the CPU 1:1 or asynchronous 3:4, or SPD, which allows the system to determine a proper setting automatically. With A FSB of 133Mhz, the memory goes to 133 X 1.33 which give a DDR333 memory speed.

Finally, as expected, a number of memory timing settings can also be adjusted from within the "Advanced Chipset Features" menu. This includes the option to allow the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) system to set the proper values according to the type of memory detected in the system.

Next: Technical details.

Abit IT7 Max