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- Date:
- Tuesday , February 04, 2003
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0
Will ABIT's new I845PE board live up to the high expectations of its MAX brethren? Read on to find out how much of a flagship board this is to ABIT’s Intel lineup...
Introduction
ABIT has long been synonymous with cutting edge motherboards and speed demon performance. Their MAX line raises the bar even higher. For the first time, a motherboard manufacturer did away with all legacy external ports; replacing serial, parallel and PS2 keyboard/mouse ports with USB ports. This was met with major support and hype, but did cause some raised eyebrows. As a result, their current MAX offerings (including the current board under review) include legacy PS2 ports for those of you who are too attached to your old keyboard and mice.
The IT7-MAX2 is the flagship board using Intel’s 845PE chipset. Unlike its other 845 based brethren, the IT7-MAX2 introduces two technologies that are fast becoming mainstream in the PC world, IEEE 1394a and Serial ATA controllers. The chipset itself brings support for processors that utilize Intel’s HyperThreading technology, as well as support for DDR Ram of speeds up to 333 MHz. This feature-packed board sports an integrated diagnostic LED for debugging of boot related problems, integrated power and reset switches, 5.1 channel sound support with optical output onboard, a 10/100 fast Ethernet controller, 6 integrated USB 2.0 controllers with the option of adding 4 more through headers on the motherboard, 2 PS2 ports, 2 onboard IEEE 1394a ports with the option of adding one additional port through a header on the motherboard, 2 serial ATA ports and 4 IDE ports. All in all, a worthy board for the MAX name.
Here are some preliminary specs on the board:
CPU | Intel Socket 478 Pentium 4 or Celeron |
Chipset | Intel 845PE / ICH4 |
FSB | 100/133 |
BIOS | Phoenix AwardBIOS v6.00PG |
Memory | 3 DDR DIMMS, up to 2 GB |
Expansion slots | 1 x AGP, 4 x PCI |
Onboard IDE | 4 100/133 IDE headers, 2 SATA 150 |
USB | 6 rear panel / 4 headers (10 ports total) |
AGP | AGP 1x/2x/4x |
Audio | 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC with rear panel S/PDIF output |
NIC | 1 10/100 PCI Fast Ethernet controller in rear panel |
Here’s the entire specification list for your viewing pleasure:
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In the Box
Normally, external packaging comes in a distant second because we all just want to tear into the box and start frying hardware. In this case, ABIT has outdone themselves. The box itself is covered with slogans daring you to abuse the board as best as you can such as Give your PC Attitude. In the very bottom right corner, ABIT makes sure that you are clear what is important to them – Speed, Stability, Power – all three attributes very near and dear to enthusiasts everywhere.
The board comes standard with six onboard USB ports, and also offers an additional four USB 2.0 ports through external panels, one of which is included with the board (the rear panel offers you two additional ports for a grand total of eight ports possible out of the box). ABIT includes a rear plate for all the MAX goodness included in the onboard back panel and even show that appearance and airflow does matter with the three included zip ties and cable routers for all your pesky PSU and SATA cables.
Also included in the box are ABIT customized ATA-133 and Floppy cables (with nice and sturdy pull tabs, but rounded cable would have been nicer), an ATA-150 capable SATA cable, and one of their famous Serillel adapters (which allow you to use your most treasured IDE drive on an SATA port). Only one SATA cable/Serillel combo is included, though two would have been nice since there are two SATA ports on the board.
Board Layout
The board layout itself is superb, with the exception of a few areas of concern. The busiest area on the board is right around the DIMM sockets. First, the ATX header is dangerously close to the DIMM slots, and will require you to unplug the ATX header to remove any Ram. While this is not a wanted thing, it could be said that the board should be unplugged before removing Ram anyway. A close second would be the CPU area. The positioning of fan connectors FAN2 (CPU) and FAN3 (spare) could make it very hard to connect and disconnect fan plugs with an overly larger HSF unit installed without using any tools. The positioning of the ATX12V header could impede airflow due to routing issues with the cable from the PSU, but overall, we are pleased to see it at the top edge of the board and not below the socket itself.
The CPU socket area itself has enough clearance for even the biggest HSF units, with the capacitor placement well back from the socket. Also, you have the option of three fan headers in the area of the CPU; one for connection to you PSU (FAN1), one for connection to your CPU HSF unit (FAN2), and one spare connection that you can use for one of your rear case fans (FAN3). Note that the FAN3 connection is an unmonitored connection.
The 845PE Northbridge has simple passive cooling on it, even though the trend today with higher FSB speeds is towards active cooling the increasingly hot northbridge. The hold down mechanism for the northbridge is very sturdy, but easy to use. Upon popping off the northbridge heatsink, we find the industry standard pink thermal interface material. My advice here is to remove the pink gunk, carefully apply your thermal compound of choice. People feeling a little industrious could mount a 40-50mm fan to the heatsink after replacing it on the chip, keeping in mind that a permanent modification to the HSF could void their warranty. We did not see the need for active cooling though.
There are 3 DIMM sockets on the board with adequate room between them and the AGP slot. A full size video card should pose no problem to insertion and removal of memory. Directly to the right of the DIMM slots, you find you primary and secondary ATA-133 IDE ports, as well as your floppy port. Just below the DIMM slots is your naked ICH4 southbridge. The ATX connector is above the DIMM slots, a good location for cable routing, but bad for removal of memory.
The Highpoint HP374 controller chip just to the right of the boards 4 PCI slots offers two ATA-133 based IDE ports as well as two SATA based ports for a total of six possible additional devices (raid or not). The controller offers the options of standalone devices, Raid 0, Raid 1, or Raid 0+1 over all controlled ports. At the lower right corner of the last PCI slot are two more fan connectors, one spare (FAN4 - unmonitored) and one for chassis fan connection (FAN5).
One of the most unique things that this board has to offer is the onboard power (black button) and reset (yellow button), as well as the highly useful diagnostic LED. ABIT even goes so far as giving you 3 pages worth of diagnostic code listing and detailed explanation in the motherboard manual. While we don't see much value in the buttons for people that would be installing this board in their case, it does come in handy for folks like us testing equipment.
The only jumper header located on the board, used of clearing the CMOS memory, is located next to the BIOS chip. Next to the CMOS jumper header is a SMB connection for support of SM Bus devices.
The IT7-MAX2 has only four PCI slots. The removal of a PCI slot between the AGP slot and the remaining four PCI slots was, in our view, a smart move by ABIT. This space, provided by the absence of a PCI slot, is a benefit since the current trend in video cards seems to be larger more space consuming cards. The other side of the coin is the fact that you are still left with only four PCI slots. Located just below the AGP slots you can see the first of two USB 2.0 headers on the board, with the other being located on the far left hand side of the board between PCI slots 2 & 3. Just to the left of the AGP slot is an IEEE 1394a header with two internal audio connectors. The board also contains an onboard speaker, sandwiched between the edge of the board and PCI slot 4.