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Abit IS7 motherboard

Evgeny Rudometov, Victor Rudometov

basis motherboard Abit IS7, released by Abit, was the high-performance Intel 865PE chipset. This board, which implements a large number of proprietary technologies, is aimed at creating high-performance computer systems, which are based on NetBurst architecture processors with Hyper-Threading technology.

The models of computer components on the market are very diverse. This makes the choice difficult. This is especially difficult to do in the case of complex products such as motherboards.

Dozens of large and small motherboard manufacturers persistently recommend their products to potential users.

Their products differ not only in price and packaging, but also functionality, parameters of reliability and stability of operation.

Moreover, these parameters largely depend on the choice of microcircuits and the quality of manufacturing of boards by manufacturers. And this depends on the suppliers, the qualifications of the developers, the equipment used and the thoroughness of testing.

Rice. 1. Structure of a computer based on the Intel 865PE chipset

Many computer companies, the number of which amounts to several dozen, are engaged in the development and production of motherboards. One of such manufacturers is the well-known company Abit. This company produces a wide range of products aimed at modern high-performance processors.

As an example of boards designed for processors Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Celeron NetBurst architecture, created and manufactured by Intel specialists, includes the ABIT IS7 motherboard, available in several models.

The Abit IC7-G motherboard is designed for the desktop market used in offices and homes.

This board is based on the high-performance Intel 865PE chipset, which allows you to realize all the advantages of the architecture Intel processors Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading technology.

Chipset Intel 865PE motherboard Abit IS7

The Intel 865 (i865) chipset line consists of i865PE, i865P, i865G models. This line of chipsets, previously known as Springdale, is aimed at developing desktop personal computers. Supports Intel Pentium 4 processors with Hyper-Threading technology, created using 0.13 micron technology, connected via Socket 478 and operating with a QPB (Quad-Pumped Bus) FSB bus.

The flagship of the i865 line - the i865PE chipset is designed for clock frequencies of 100, 133 and 200 MHz, which provides data transmission frequencies of 400, 533, 800 MHz.

The PAT technology implemented in the i875P is not supported by the i865PE chipset (officially and in fact, contrary to marketing messages from some motherboard manufacturers). In addition, chipsets of this line do not support ECC.

The basic kit consists of Intel 82865PE Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and Intel 82801EB (ICH5) chips. Intel 82801ER (ICH5R) can be used as a second chip.

The MCH chip supports dual-channel memory DDR266 (for any FSB frequency), DDR333 (for 533 and 800 MHz) and DDR400 (800 MHz only), AGP 8X, CSA bus (for Intel Gigabit Ethernet chips).

ICH5/ICH5R chips support up to 6 PCI Busmaster devices, AC"97 codec(s) (20 bit, AC"97 2.2), 8 USB 2.0 ports, 4 IDE devices with interfaces up to ATA100, 2 IDE devices with Serial ATA interface ( with a number of restrictions). When using the ICH5R south bridge, it is possible to organize Serial ATA devices in RAID0.

Rice. 2. ABIT IS7-E motherboard kit

Main technical parameters of the Abit IS7 motherboard

CPU

Supports Intel Pentium 4 (Socket 478) processors with FSB frequencies 800/533/400 MHz

Support Intel technologies Hyper-Threading

Intel 865PE/ICH5 (ICH5-R)

Dual Channel DDR 400 support

Game Accelerator technology support

Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) support

4 connectors for random access memory(184-pin, DIMM)

Supports 4 DIMMs Single/Dual Channel DDR 400 memory (Max. 4 GB)

Accelerated Graphics Port supporting AGP PRO 8X/4X (0.8 V / 1.5 V)

Serial ATA/Serial ATA RAID

2 channel Serial ATA 150 MB/s data transfer rate / RAID 0 (optional)

LAN support

Integrated Network Controller

10 / 100 Mbit (10 / 100 / 1000 Mbit option)

USB 2.0 interface support

Supports 8 USB 2.0 ports with transfer speeds up to 480 Mbps

IEEE1394 interface support (optional)

Supports IEEE1394a interface with data transfer rates of 100 / 200 / 400 Mbit/s

Sound subsystem

Professional digital interface supporting 24-bit S/P DIF optical In/Out

Media XP (Option)

Card reader for Memory Stick, Secure Digital and Type I/II CompactFlash cards

Support wireless control and S/PDIF Out / Mic In / Headphone Out / USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394

SoftMenu technology

Plug-and-Play (PNP) support

Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI) support

Antivirus function (AWARD BIOS)

Internal connectors

1 x AGP, 5 x PCI slots

1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88 MB

2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors

4 x Serial ATA 150 Connectors (2x option)

2 x USB 2.0 headers, 2 x IEEE 1394a header (optional)

1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN

Rear Panel Connectors

1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse

1 x Printer Port, 1 x COM port

1 x S/PDIF Out connector, 1 x S/PDIF In connector

1 x Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in)

1 x Audio connectors (Center/Sub, Surround Speaker)

2 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a

2 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector

Additional

ATX form factor

Hardware monitoring - Including Fan speeds, Voltages, System environment temperature

Rice. 3. ABIT IS7-E motherboard, designed and manufactured by Abit

Abit IS7 motherboard models

Composition of the Abit IS7-E motherboard kit

The kit includes:

Box;

Abit IS7-E motherboard;

CD with drivers and utilities;

User's Guide on English language With brief descriptions on different languages, including Russian;

Quick guide to installing motherboard and software;

ATA 100/66 device and floppy drive cables;

I/O protection panel conforming to ATX specification, etc.

Rice. 4. ABIT IS7-E motherboard connectors

Features of the architecture and design of the Abit IS7-E motherboard

The design of the Abit IS7-G motherboard, developed and manufactured by Abit, generally corresponds to the reference design of similar products created and recommended by companies that produce system logic sets.

Since the Abit IS7-E board is intended for use in high-performance systems, it is recommended to use Intel Pentium 4 processors with Hyper-Threading technology and an 800 MHz bus in systems based on this board. This ensures maximum performance levels are achieved. However, it is possible to use less productive models. These could be, for example, processors designed for a 533 MHz or even 400 MHz bus.

Together with motherboard Abit IS7-E, created on the basis of the i865PE chipset, can also be used in models without support for Hyper-Threading technology. However, models can also be used together with this board Celeron processors, although it must be recognized that this does not provide high level performance available to more powerful processor options and this motherboard.

The board's memory subsystem is dual-channel. In this case, the operating mode of the modules DDR memory SDRAM can be either single-channel (3.2 GB/s) or dual-channel (6.4 GB/s). In this case, the first two DIMM slots of the Abit IS7-E motherboard belong to the first channel of the memory controller built into the i867PE chipset, the last two belong to the second channel.

Rice. 5. MCH chip of the i865PE chipset with cooling means and connector CPU Socket 478

It should be noted that the two-channel mode allows you to get a completely balanced system. This is ensured if the bandwidths of the processor bus and memory bus coincide and are equal to 6.4 GB/s. In this case, the operation of DDR SDRAM memory modules can be either synchronous - the clock frequency coincides with the FSB frequency, or asynchronous - the clock frequency differs from the FSB frequency. This is specified in BIOS Setup- SDRAM Frequency.

One of the design features of the Abit IS7-E is the cooling means for the MCH chip. Despite the fact that the reference design of the motherboard from Intel provides passive cooling this chip, Abit engineers used a traditional solution for their products - a relatively small radiator equipped with a fan. This, according to the developers, increases the stability of the board, especially in overclocking modes, which is promoted by Abit in its products, although it should be noted that the additional fan does not help reduce the overall noise level.

The second chip of the i865PE chipset - ICH5, which is responsible for input/output, due to its insignificant heat generation, traditionally does not require cooling means, which is reflected in the design of the Abit IS7-E.

In addition to Intel and Abit chips, the motherboard architecture uses elements from companies such as Abit, RealTek, Avance Logic (a division of RealTek), Texas Instruments and others.

Rice. 6. ICH5 chip (Intel 82801EB, responsible for input/output) of the i865PE chipset and Serial ATA connectors

Another important feature of the architecture and design of the Abit IS7-E motherboard is the use of tools that provide the implementation of the Serial ATA 150 interface. However, the architecture of this model does not provide RAID tools and capabilities.

Audio facilities are provided by the traditional ALC650 chip. This integrated controller provides six-channel audio.

A network controller is integrated into the motherboard architecture. This allows you to easily connect your computer via the built-in RJ-45 connector to a high-speed local network.

Like all motherboards from this company, Abit IS7-E supports overclocking modes.

For overclocking enthusiasts, it is possible to set forced processor operating modes. This is done by increasing the frequency (overclocking) of the processor FSB and memory bus, as well as choosing optimal values ​​for operating parameters DDR modules SDRAM.

Rice. 7. Four-channel VRM of Abit IS7-E motherboard

Increased reliability and stability of operation is facilitated by the implementation of hardware monitoring, which provides control over supply voltages and the operation of cooling fans. This feature simplifies control when using overclocking modes.

Another feature of the Abit IS7-E architecture is the use of a four-channel voltage converter (VRM), characteristic of Abit motherboards. The VRM converter is traditionally located between the processor and the I/O connectors.

Assessing the operational parameters of the described motherboard, it should be noted that when performing numerous, lengthy tests, the Abit IS7-E board worked stably, providing high computer performance, but this is the topic of one of the following articles.

ABIT IS7-E motherboard provided by the Moscow representative office of Abit

They say that one of the ancient Chinese curses says: “May you live in an era of change.” It doesn't seem scary... unless you lived in such an era. It is human nature to desire peace, tranquility, constancy, reliability, and the abit AW9D-MAX motherboard makes its small contribution to ensuring this stability. If you don’t pay attention to the new logo and its capitalization, then it’s still the same good old Abit, known to us for many years. In today's review, we can see that familiar traditions have been preserved; the company's products are recognizable even in detail, from packaging to characteristic BIOS settings. The words “traditionally”, “as always”, “familiar to you” will appear more than once in this article; they are the leitmotif, the “red thread” running through the entire description. At the same time, it cannot be said that the company is standing still, since new interesting opportunities have appeared, which, hopefully, will also become traditional. Let's take a closer look at the mother abit board, based on the Intel 975X Express chipset.

Packaging and accessories

Packaging is far from the most important thing in a motherboard, but it is intended not only to introduce a potential buyer to the product, but also to ensure the safety of the contents during transportation. It should be noted how carefully abit takes this aspect.

advertising

The box is very large and equipped with a handle for easy carrying. Its outer decorative shell opens up like a book, allowing you to personally get acquainted with characteristic features the motherboard through prudently made “windows”, and on the back of the shell there is a photograph of the board and a description of its capabilities. The board itself is not wrapped in the usual antistatic bag, but is located in a separate box made of thick cardboard with a transparent plastic cover.

Abit’s approach to packaging accessories is no less thorough: they do not lie in a disorderly pile under or above the motherboard, as is usually the case with other manufacturers, but are neatly placed in two separate cardboard boxes. Among them:

• quick installation guide in 20 languages ​​(including Russian);
• board manual;
• abit μGuru guide;
• diagram of the location of jumpers on an adhesive basis (it can be glued to the inside of the wall system unit, for example, so that it is always at hand);
• CD with electronic versions documents, drivers and utilities;
• floppy disks with drivers for RAID arrays;
• bridge for connecting two video cards;
• rear panel cover;
• seven SATA cables, as well as “round” cables for FDD and IDE;
• bracket with two IEEE1394 ports and two USB;
• optical audio cable.

As you can see, the package contents are traditionally rich, but for the first time we see in accessories a cable for connecting to the S/PDIF optical connector.

The appearance of the i845 step "B" chipset became an impetus for a noticeable revival of the motherboard and processor market. Those who prefer to use Intel products can now confidently move to the new platform - Pentium-4, without worrying about low performance or lack of support for new technologies. Having traditional stability, reliability and compatibility, the new Intel chipset can use the most promising PC2100 memory (DDR SDRAM) today. At the same time, it officially supports both the previous Willamette and the current Northwood processors, and unofficially can work with a bus frequency of 133 MHz (or 533 MHz), allowing you to postpone the next motherboard upgrade for several years.

All manufacturers without exception have released motherboards based on the new chipset. Among them is ABIT, a company consistently ranked among the top ten largest manufacturers of motherboards, whose products are aimed at the most demanding users. It recently announced the BD7 line of boards, which includes three models - BD7, BD7-RAID and BD7L-RAID.

All models in the family have the same design and differ only in the presence of certain additional controllers. The BD7 model is the youngest in the family - it does not have an ATA/RAID chip, a network codec, or a USB2 controller. This is a full-size ATX board, larger in size than many analogues.

The set of board slots includes six PCI and one CNR. The AGP slot is equipped with a latch that securely fixes the video card. There are two memory slots.

The BD7's I/O port panel is non-standard. The Game port has been removed, and in its place there should be an RJ-11 network connector (the BD7L-RAID has it). However, the board is not left without joystick support - a bracket with the corresponding connector is included in the kit. The second feature of the ports is the presence of three, rather than two, USB connectors. To ensure that the user does not have problems mounting the board into the case, ABIT includes a plate with suitable holes in the boxes.

The Avance Logic ALC200 codec (a proprietary feature of ABIT boards) is used as built-in audio. It has 18-bit ADC and DAC and supports customizable sampling rates. For simple office tasks (for example, playing MP3 music) it is quite suitable. Three analog signal sources can be connected to the codec, since the board has three connectors.

In addition to POST indicators, ABIT placed two buttons on the BD7 - Power and Reset, which help when testing the board. There are also LEDs - IDE, PWR, RST and SBY. The DIP switch block allows you to select the processor bus frequency (100 or 133 MHz), disable additional USB ports, select the primary AC"97 codec, and also disable SoftMenu-III - a separate BIOS Setup item responsible for overclocking.

Still, the situation with motherboards is interesting. In just two weeks, Intel will release a new i820 chipset, designed to replace the i440BX, and this doesn’t seem to concern board manufacturers. They continue to produce old and announce new boards based on the old i440BX and have no plans to switch to Camino. Apparently, everyone is stopped by the fact that the i820 chipset can only work with the new super-expensive Direct RDRAM memory, and support for the old PC100 will only be possible by installing an additional MTH controller chip on the board. As for the other advantages of the i820, such as AGP 4x and Ultra DMA/66, the increase in speed from using the first is quite doubtful due to the fact that all modern video cards have a sufficient amount of local video memory, and the second can be easily implemented on the BX- system boards. According to a number of Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers, systems based on the i820 will begin to gain popularity no earlier than December, and until then the i440BX will retain its dominant position. Unless, of course, Intel stops producing it altogether.

This is where the main problem with BX motherboards lies. The production of i440BX chipsets has already been reduced so much that Intel is not able to meet orders from all motherboard manufacturers. Moreover, the needs for chipsets are met by only about a third. Therefore, manufacturers are often unable to satisfy customers' needs for boards, and therefore are forced to maintain interest in their products in other ways. Apparently, ABIT was guided by precisely this logic, therefore, almost after the already sensational BE6 board, it released a new product - BE6-II. Moreover, ABIT again managed to surprise users with its new product and implement something that no one else has yet - a system bus frequency of 200 MHz. We'll talk about the feasibility of such a solution later, but for now let's take a look at the BE6-II specification.

Specification

The ABIT BE6-II board comes in the usual blue Abit box, in which, in addition to the board, you can find a set of cables, including one additional Ultra DMA/66 cable, detailed guide, a CD with drivers from Intel and Xstore and a monitoring program from WinBond, a floppy disk with drivers for the Ultra DMA/66 HPT366 controller under Windows 95/98/NT, as well as a temperature sensor connected to the motherboard with 30 cm wiring.

Installation

Simultaneously with the announcement of BE6-II, ABIT also presented another motherboard - BF6. The differences between these two products are minimal - BE6-II has Ultra DMA/66 support and five PCI slots, and BF6 is equipped with six PCI slots, but does not have Ultra DMA/66 support. The manufacturer’s calculation is clear: since the emergence of a systemic ASUS boards P3B-F showed that solutions with six PCI slots are popular, ABIT decided to keep up with the largest manufacturer of motherboards. However, on the ASUS board, the sixth PCI slot was almost certainly made for installing an Ultra DMA/66 controller, and therefore it is simply impractical to make a similar number of PCI slots on the BE6-II with an integrated controller. And users who for some reason are not satisfied with the controller installed on the BE6-II will use the BF6 board.

Apparently for reasons of economy and due to small differences between BE6-II and BF6, both boards are produced on the same PCB and do not differ in the element base (except for the Ultra DMA/66 controller and one PCI slot), therefore everything said in this review is about BE6-II can be transferred to BF6 practically without amendments.

In addition to the AGP slot and five PCI slots, a number that has almost become standard for modern motherboards, the BE6-II also has one ISA slot. The previous version, BE6, had two ISA slots, but probably under the influence of the realities of today, when ISA is about to die out, the number of ISA slots was reduced to a minimum. As a result, the BE6-II turned out to be compact - the board size is the same as the BE6, therefore, the BE6-II board will feel at home in almost any ATX case.

It's a little disappointing to see only three DIMM slots on the BE6-II. That is, it turns out that the board supports only up to 768 MB of RAM, while all modern competing products support up to a gigabyte. Apparently, the traditional memory buffer, which ABIT always supplies its boards with when using four slots, did not fit on the board without increasing its size, and therefore the developers decided to sacrifice not only the buffer, but also the fourth slot. Of course, find applications that would require so many resources in currently quite difficult, but the day of release of the operating room is not far off Windows systems 2000, which itself requires (according to Microsoft recommendations) 256 MB of RAM.

As far as the overall design is concerned, there is nothing wrong with it. The evolution of the BE6-II was long - its four predecessors (BX6, BH6, BX6 Rev.2, BE6) simply made the relative arrangement of the components “lick”. All slots except ISA can accommodate full-size boards without any problems. The DIMM connectors are located close to the chipset, therefore there will be fewer failures, including during overclocking. And lastly, the BE6 bug has been eliminated, which had an overly large heatsink on the chipset, which prevented the installation of a number of large cooling systems on the processor. The heatsink is now used standard size. Only one thing darkens the rosy picture - the power connector located behind the processor is not very convenient.

Now about nice features. As already mentioned, the High Point HTP366 Ultra DMA/66 controller is integrated on the board, which allows the connection of four additional devices that support this protocol. Thus, up to eight IDE devices can be connected to ABIT BE6-II, four of which can operate in Ultra DMA/66 mode.

In the lower right corner of the board you can see something completely uncharacteristic of ABIT boards - a set of dip switches for setting the system bus frequency and multiplier. However, their functions are somewhat specific. Since ABIT boards are designed primarily for overclockers, settings in the SOFT MENU, which allows you to change processor parameters from the BIOS Setup, always take precedence over the values ​​​​set by dip switches. But in the case when the settings made in Setup have to be reset, for example, in the case of an overclocked and non-starting processor, the processor will start operating not at the minimum frequency of 233 MHz, but at the one indicated by the switches. So the idea of ​​​​using a block of dip switches can be called successful. However, you should keep in mind that when installing ABIT BE6-II into the case, access to this unit will be difficult - it will be covered by floppy drives and hard drives. Although, on the other hand, you are unlikely to have to click these switches often.

Following ASUS, ABIT began to use the new sixth version of Award BIOS. Access to options in Setup has become more convenient, and the list of them has expanded significantly. Setup allows both IRQ distribution by PCI slots, so fine tuning all memory timings.

Hardware monitoring on ABIT BE6-II is made on the Winbond 83782D chip, which controls the rotation of two of three fans that can be connected to ABIT BP6, nine voltages and three temperatures, one of which can be measured by an external sensor, by the way, included in the delivery package .

In conclusion, I would like to mention that the BE6-II, like other new motherboards, uses color-coded external connectors that comply with the PC99 specification. And on the board itself, among other things, there are two SMBus connectors, as well as SB-Link, Wake-on-LAN and Wake-on-Ring connectors.

Overclocking

Undoubtedly, the most interesting question when it comes to motherboards from ABIT is overclocking. This motherboard manufacturer pays special attention to the overclocking process and is constantly introducing new features to meet the needs of extreme users. In each new board from ABIT, in the SOFT MENU we find new options that allow the processor to reach new frequencies. For example, in the BE6-II we are considering, ABIT promised support for FSB frequencies up to 200 MHz.

However, the SOFT MENU in ABIT BE6-II is different from previous versions already by appearance and the reason for this, firstly, is the use new version Award BIOS 6.0, and secondly, the presence of new options. But let's look at all the features of the SOFT MENU in more detail.

Thanks to the use of the new RTM520-39D clock generator (by the way, Chaintech already uses similar chips in its boards), ABIT BE6-II allows you to set 119 different system bus frequencies. This is 66, 75 MHz and the entire interval from 83 to 200 MHz with an interval of 1 MHz. Yes, we have never seen such a set before. True, there is not as much sense from such abundance as one would like. Naturally, at FSB frequencies above 140-150 MHz, the performance of memory, AGP and PCI is a big question mark.

Multiplication factors available in BIOS in this moment- up to 8x. True, changing the multiplication factor in BIOS Setup does not affect the functioning of all modern processors - the multiplication is fixed in them. But you can change the divisors for PCI bus and AGP. In the first case, their set consists of 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4, and in the second - of 1 and 2/3. Yes, unfortunately, the i440BX chipset itself does not allow dividing the FSB frequency by more than 2/3, and this is what significantly limits the overclockability of the system when using AGP video cards, which are very jealous of ensuring that the AGP frequency does not deviate much from the standard 66 MHz.

However, to ensure more stable operation of the system on high frequencies FSB ABIT is making every effort. The result of these efforts was the appearance of two new options in the SOFT MENU (we already saw the first of them in BIOS ABIT BE6) - Level 2 Cache Latency and In-Order Queue Depth. Level 2 Cache Latency allows you to increase the latency of the L2 cache, which in many cases makes it possible to increase the CPU speed by another ten or two megahertz. The performance drop due to an increase in cache access time is not so great and does not cover the resulting acceleration. And the Order Queue Depth option disables the bus pipeline between the northbridge and the processor, which can also increase the stability of an overclocked system, although again at the cost of a slight drop in performance.

As for the traditional change in the processor supply voltage, it is in place. Voltages from 1.3 to 2.3V in steps of 0.05V are at our disposal. It’s especially nice to see that this series starts at exactly 1.3V - this low voltage may be required very soon, in particular for processors with a core made using 0.18 micron technology. It is gratifying that ABIT has added to the SOFT MENU the ability to change the voltage supplied to the memory, chipset and AGP. This feature has been implemented for a long time in many other boards, making it possible to increase system stability a little more in critical situations.

As for the practical aspects of overclocking, on ABIT BE6-II, if you do not use all sorts of exotic features available only on this board, processors overclock no worse than on competing boards, for example, on ASUS P3B-F. However, the presence of SOFT MENU functions, which are absent in other boards, allows you to overclock the processor a little more, unless, of course, it is it, and not the video card or memory, that resists increasing the frequency. True, the real performance with such violence against the system may not increase, but you can brag to your friend about the number of megahertz.

Performance

All that remains is to look at the performance. The following components were used as part of the test system:

• Intel Pentium III 450 processor
• ASUS V3800 Deluxe video card based on nVidia Riva TNT2 Ultra chip
• Sound card based on Ensoniq ES1370 chip
• IBM DJNA 372200 hard drive
• 128 MB SEC PC-100 SDRAM

The following applications were used:

• Operating system Windows98 SE
• WinStone99
• Quake2 massive1 running via OpenGL at 1024x768x16 resolution

Results:

However, nothing surprising. All ABIT BE6-II's predecessors were fast, and the BE6-II itself is fast too. Although of course the concept of speed for motherboard It’s very relative - the speeds of different products on the same chipset differ “by pennies”.

conclusions

Of course, with the release new board ABIT BE6-II the world has not changed, but this board contains all the innovations that can only be implemented on a board based on the i440BX chipset. And if you choose a motherboard based on the i440BX chipset, turning a blind eye to the i820, then ABIT BE6-II definitely deserves attention, at least for its SOFT MENU.

• Huge set of FSB frequencies - 119 values
• Additional features to increase stability during overclocking
• Ultra DMA/66 support
• Availability of dip switches

• Total three DIMM slots
• Using a stale i440BX chipset with all the ensuing consequences

Technical characteristics of the Abit AI7 board
Supported processors	Pentium 4 Socket 478 FSB 400, 533, 800 MHz
	Intel 865PE/ICH5R
PCI/AGP slots
	4xDDR 266, 333, 400, up to 4 GB
Disk subsystem
	RTL 8100C 10/100
FireWire ports
USB 2.0 ports
Proprietary technologies
Overclocking capabilities	Very serious

The board is built on the i865PE chipset. Actually, this is where we can end the conversation about the characteristics of the board, since this already says a lot. However, this board, in addition to the chipset, has a bunch of other interesting chips, which we will talk about later.

AI7 is packaged in a dark box with a picture of the µGuru chip. What is there in this box! By the way, why not? There is no second SATA cord, everything else is there: a bracket with two USB and one FireWire, a SATA cable and a power adapter, UATA and FDD cables, a plug for the rear panel, a CD and three instructions: Quick Installation Guide, Quick Guide and a full-fledged User's Manual . The first has a Russian section, the second has beautiful pictures, and the third has everything, everything, everything about the board and its functions.

The board itself makes it clear at first glance that it has more than enough functions. There is not a single more or less free space on it, except for the space for an unsoldered SATA controller and its connectors. What immediately catches your eye is the large cooler on the northbridge chip, as well as the processor socket rotated 45 degrees relative to its normal position. The processor power regulator consists of 12 capacitors, 8 of which have a capacity of 2200 μF each, the rest - 1200 μF each. Powerful.

Impressive and back panel fees. In addition to the standard PS/2, LPT and COM, it has four USB ports, one FireWire port, RJ-45, five audio minijacks, as well as two SPDIF connectors: in and out. The network is provided by the RTL8100C chip, and the sound is provided by the new ALC658 codec, the “six-channel” nature of which we don’t even want to talk about, since everything is clear from the set of connectors. The board also has a µGuru chip, the functions of which we will talk about later, and a two-digit indicator that displays the progress of the initial self-test procedure. There are no microswitches on the board, and jumpers are responsible for standard features, such as resetting BIOS Setup and USB bus power mode after turning off the PC.

No serious flaws were noticed in the layout of the board, everything that was needed was signed and explained, everything that needed access was provided with access, but the board was a little cramped - so what to do with it, there were too many elements.

Digging into Board BIOS, you can change the following memory settings: CAS Latency Time, Active to Precharge delay, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge. You can also tinker with overclocking, but in order to overclock the AI7 and its processor, there is a much more convenient tool - the same “little guru”, that is, the µGuru chip with the corresponding set of software.

µGuru is essentially a second microprocessor on which the functions of monitoring, recording and setting the board’s operating parameters lie. There is nothing special about all these functions, but the fact that a separate chip is used to implement them, which does not require CPU resources, is really interesting and new.

µGuru allows you to use six proprietary Abit technologies, each of which has a corresponding software tool: OC Guru, BlackBox, ABIT EQ, FanEQ, Audio EQ and FlashMenu. Abit EQ is a monitoring program that does not stand out in anything special, and allows you to monitor a standard set of voltages, speeds, temperatures, and warns you that some parameter has gone beyond the range of acceptable values. FlashMenu is a utility that has already become familiar to many boards BIOS updates straight from Windows. The name of the BlackBox utility speaks for itself - it is really a “black box” that collects information about the system for the “commission to investigate the causes of the disaster” - technical support. Collecting such a set of information (model, brand, operating frequency, driver version, etc.) on your own is long and tedious, so the utility can be really useful, but we, of course, wish you never to use it ;-) Audio EQ – a program for setting up the sound subsystem, which has both a pleasant interface and good customization capabilities. A ten-band equalizer, work with 3D audio technologies, auto-detection of devices – these are just a small part of the program’s capabilities. By the way, the ALC658 codec is very good, and if you don’t write music, then in an external sound card there is no need.

FanEQ is a very interesting technology that allows you to control the speed of fans. You set the upper and lower temperature limits of the device being cooled, be it a chipset or a video card, and the fan does everything it can if the temperature is close to the upper limit, and does nothing at all if the load is low and the temperature, accordingly, too. Everything is done very simply, and if you are too lazy to tinker with the settings, you can choose one of three fan operating modes: Cool, Quiet or Normal. Fans of silence will be pleased.

And finally, the OC Guru utility, which, in our opinion, is the main highlight of the µGuru technology. It is designed to overclock the system directly from Windows. The following can be changed: FSB and AGP frequencies, processor multiplier, if unlocked, processor, memory and AGP supply voltage. If overclocking is successful, the parameters are entered into the BIOS Setup settings, and in the future the system operates in this mode; if it is unsuccessful, the system itself will roll back to the old settings. It is clear that working on an overclocked system does not always make sense - for example, in games it is needed in order to squeeze out another four frames per second, but when working in Word it is absolutely useless. OC Guru solves this problem too - now for each type of application you can save certain settings, and to apply them you just need to call the corresponding profile and click Apply. It looks like overclocking is becoming really widespread, and therefore very simple.

All these technologies work, if not flawlessly, then at least very well and without any special problems (there are flaws in the work, but these are nothing more than normal errors of normal programs). Any user will find a lot of joy from them, regardless of whether he is going to torture the board or just wants to work calmly and comfortably. The board itself works in such a way that you begin to doubt the need for the BlackBox utility - we were not able to get a single case for which we could, in principle, contact technical support.

At the same time, the board works quite quickly. Just recently we published an article about the ASRock P4i45PE board based on the “overclocked” i845PE. Please note that Abit AI7 outperforms both participants in that testing almost everywhere.

We have no desire to comment on the mere percentage of performance gains in certain tests, especially since this board is not at all valuable for its performance. Its main advantage is the µGuru technology, which, based on the chip of the same name and without affecting CPU, gives the user enormous possibilities for configuring, monitoring and overclocking the system, directly from operating system, and not by digging into things that are obscure to many BIOS settings Setup. And it is precisely for this, as well as for its good functionality, that this board is worth paying close attention to.