|
About six months ago,
Abit
Computer Corporation caused quite a stir with the
introduction of their MAX line of "Legacy Free"
motherboards. For years, PS/2, serial and parallel
ports were found on virtually every PC sold around the
world. With the emergence of USB, however, and the
proliferation of devices using USB, these legacy ports
were technically no longer a necessity. In an effort
to draw an even larger pool of early adopters and
enthusiasts to their products, Abit did away with serial,
parallel and PS/2 ports on the first motherboards in their
MAX line of products, AT7 and IT7-MAX. Many
analysts, myself included, welcomed this bold move, but
some users weren't happy with the idea of replacing their
mice and keyboards just to get their hands on Abit's
latest motherboards. Well, Abit listened to those
users and have revised the IT7-MAX. The result is
the motherboard we'll be looking at today, the IT7-MAX2.
With the IT7-MAX2, the PS/2 ports have returned and some
new features like Serial-ATA have been added. With
that said, what do you say we fire this baby up and see
what she can do?
 |
| Specifications / Features of
The Abit IT7-MAX2 |
|
Chock Full Of
Goodies... |
|
|
CLICK ANY IMAGE FOR AN
ENLARGED VIEW
SPECIFICATIONS TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM
ABIT-USA.COM
|
|
CPU:
Chipset:
Memory:
Serial ATA:
ATA133 RAID:
Audio:
USB 2.0:
IEEE 1394:
LAN:
-
On board RTL8100B 10/100M
PCI Fast Ethernet Controller
System BIOS
SoftMenu? Technology to
set CPU parameters:
Internal I/O
Connectors:
-
1 AGP slot, 4 PCI slots
-
Floppy Port supports up to
2.88MB
-
2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100
Connectors
-
2 x Ultra DMA
33/66/100/133 Connectors (RAID)
-
2 x Serial ATA 1.5G bps
Connectors
-
1 x 6 Channel audio FPIO
pin header (for Media XP)
-
2 x USB headers, 1 x IEEE
1394 header
-
2 x CD-IN, 1 x IrDA
Back Panel I/O:
-
1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x
PS/2 mouse
-
4 x USB connectors
-
2 x IEEE 1394 connectors
-
1 x S/PDIF Out connector
-
Audio connectors
(Center/Sub, Surround Speaker)
-
Audio connectors (Front
Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in)
-
2 x USB, 1 x RJ-45 LAN
Connector
Miscellaneous:
-
ATX form factor
-
Hardware monitoring -
Including Fan speeds, Voltages, CPU and System
environment temperature
-
Supports Wake Up by LAN,
Modem Ring, RTC Alarm
-
Supports Keyboard and
Mouse Power On
-
Supports STR (Suspend to
RAM)
Media XP (Optional):
-
Supports card reader
function for Memory Stick?, Secure Digital? and Type
I/II CompactFlash?
-
Supports Wireless Remote
Control and S/PDIF Out / Mic In / Headphone Out / USB
2.0 / IEEE 1394
THE
BUNDLE:
The IT7-MAX2's bundle is
very complete. Included with the board, we found
two, black, 80-Wire ATA/133 IDE cables and a standard floppy
cable. There was a very good user's manual in the
package, as well as a BIOS optimization guide, a small
package of wire ties and adhesive cable hold-downs, a
driver CD and a 3.5" floppy disk with drivers for the
on-board HPT374 RAID controller. A custom port
shield was
also included to accommodate the non-standard external
connector layout on the IT7-MAX2's backplane. An
extra dual-USB
connector was present, as well as a Serial-ATA to
IDE adapter. Abit's "Serillel" adapter,
as its called,
gives users the ability to plug standard IDE drives
into the Serial-ATA connectors available on this
board. As you can see in the picture above,
using the sleek Serial-ATA cable (also included)
should really help unclutter the inside of your case.
We applaud Abit for including a Serial-ATA to IDE
adapter with the IT7-MAX2. Although many
manufacturers have begun equipping their boards with
Serial-ATA ports, none of them have included adapters
to use them with existing drives.
|
|
|
| | The
BIOS, Layout and Quality
|
