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Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. October 2nd, 2003
- LostCircuits, one of the most informative and literate sites on the
internet about new computer hardware, has just reviewed the new ABIT IC7-MAX
3 mainboard.
"Whoever said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks? The candidate
in this case is the ABIT IC7, a rather prominent presence in the Canterwood
scene, along with its Springdale brethren, the IS7...probably the top
choice when it comes to a platform for the Intel Pentium4 processor.
 The
new trick is actually not new after all, the MAX series within ABIT's
repertoire has already lost its revolutionary touch and is more of a compromise
now than the first examples were then - stripped totally of any legacy
support, including the PS/2 connectors. Accept the compromise, and only
leave out the parallel and serial legacy, change the PCB color to black
and slap on a better-designed active cooler on the MCH and there is a
barebones idea for the latest spawn of the IC7 family. Replace the venerable
HIP6301CB voltage controller with the more sophisticated ISL6556BCB from
the same manufacturer and stick the entire VRM into a windtunnel-like
design that blows the hot air out of the case, and all of a sudden, the
little pieces are falling together to create an entirely new sensation
of what a mainboard could look like.
They call it the MAX3
We have seen a number of Canterwood and Springdale-based boards around
over the past few months, and the two that we actually liked were the
solutions offered by...(another company)...and ABIT, mostly for reasons
of stability, performance and overclocking capabilities as well as the
feature set coming with the boards.
In the last year, ABIT has pursued two major pushes in their mainboard
repertoire, one of which has been the perfection of the mainboard VRM,
i.e. four phase solutions. The second push has aimed at the ostracizing
of legacy ports in an effort to get rid of all the historical baggage
and to provide room for new features and / or reduce the cost overhead
associated with parts and labor of adding the legacy ports. A third push
from ABIT, mostly implemented in their series of graphics adapters, has
been their Outside Thermal Exhaust System (OTES) technology in an attempt
to prevent recycling of heat inside the case.
The IC7 (-G) in its original version already had one of the nicest, best
organized and most complete featuresets in the genre. Moreover, the bundle
included was just functional without being bloated by accessories, the
value of which falls mostly into the category of collector's items rather
than adding real value. The IC7 Max3 features the same bundle and packaging
but adds the so-called "Secure IDE" hard disk drive module to
the list of features. Briefly, Secure IDE is a module based on the x-Wall
chip by enovatech to generate encryption of data on the entire HDD. In
most cases, this kind of encryption / lockout is based on some lockout
mechanism rather than data encryption, that is, any data encryption currently
used generates a tremendous amount of overhead, depending on the level
of encryption used. The workaround is to embed a reference lookup into
the data stream that is periodically asked for, depending on the payload
and, if not answered promptly will cause a device lockout without consuming
extra bandwidth.
On the software and documentation side of things, ABIT once again gets
the highest scores, mostly for attention to detail, that is, for example,
including the floppy containing the necessary drivers for both the ICH5-R
RAID and the Silicon Image SATA RAID controller. The documentation includes
a sticker with all necessary connectors of the board, a quick reference
guide and finally the full manual, which, fortunately, only features the
IC7-Max3 and no other similar model, thus, avoiding some of the confusion
of previous versions.
The installation CD containing the chipset drivers is working flawlessly
(don't take this for granted, we have seen otherwise too often in the
recent past where cheap media would not run on a standard CDROM, or the
install shield required manual selection of the board model and operating
system for every single driver). All that needs to be done is to insert
the CD into the drive and the autorun will do the rest for a perfect installation
of the mainboard software.
The IC7 MAX3 follows in the footsteps of ABIT's line of Legacy-Free mainboards.
In general, the move towards getting rid of the old ballast is commendable...One
thing is for certain, with respect to performance, it can run with the
best, with respect to layout, it is flawless, and with regards to eye
candy, it beats the rest of the pack hands down, unless somebody has a
fluorescent fetish...Overall, the IC7 MAX3 is among my favorite boards..."
For the full article go to: http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/abit_ic7max3/
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