Taipei, Taiwan, April 25th, 2003-
Overclocking website OCAddiction recently reviewed the ABIT BH7 and gave it an
Editor''s Choice Award. See why:
Lets face it. When you think of overclocking today, you''ll more than likely
hear the word "ABIT" from anyone that really has a clue about the enthusiast
industry. I still remember cutting my teeth on my very first setup which
consisted of the now legendary ABIT BH6 and Celeron 300a CPU. ABIT was the first
company to release a motherboard that had BIOS options to let you "juice" up
your voltage and change your FSB incrementally in order to increase the actual
SPeeD of your processor, thus began overclocking in it''s purest form.
In typical ABIT style, we see a bevy of goodies packed into this motherboard.
ABIT has clearly built the BH7 from the ground up as an overclocker''s delight.
With support for the Intel P4 Processors with 533MHz FSB and overlcocking
possibilities well beyond that, we''re off to a great start. Mix in the tried and
true Intel 845PE chipset, Serial ATA 150, supported 333MHz Memory Bus and ABIT''s
SoftMenu™ special sauce, and we have the ingredients for a genuine powerhouse
overclocker.
There are also a total of 5 count them FIVE 3-pin fan headers on the
motherboard. This is great for connecting an intake fan up front, 2 spots for
your PSU and/or video card and a fan right by the CPU Socket. Once again thanks
goes out to the ABIT engineers who keep giving us plenty of options for those of
us who like to keep our systems cool.
Intel''s 845PE chipset is aimed squarely at the desktop performance market.
With official support for DDR333 and optimization for Intel''s very own Pentium 4
with Hyper Threading technology, we have a relative speed demon on our hands.
The only thing the 845PE has going against it is it''s lack of AGP 8X support.
Granite Bay has been introduced with AGP 8X support and Dual Channel DDR, and
Canterwood/Springdale are here as well, but the 845PE is still an extremely
competitive chipset, and debatably the best P4 solution available for the price
at the time of this review.
Even since back in the days of the mighty BH6 ABIT has been well known for
their excellent BIOS options. Feature packed and ready to tweak, ABIT continues
to lead the way for enthusiasts in the BIOS area. I''ve used several different
motherboards from several different manufacturers and have yet to see the
flexibility and options you''ll get with ABIT''s SoftMenu?Technology
Layout/Design 9 - ABIT has been hard at work for many years giving us great
performing and smartly built motherboards. This board is laid out very well with
the ATX Power Connector far to the right and out of the way, 5 3-Pin fan headers
to provide plenty of cooling and easy access to DIMM slots and IDE ports.
Additionally, the turned IDE ports make for easy insertion and routing of IDE
cables.
Features 9 - With the BH7 you''ll get just about everything you need to get
the job done. 4 USB Ports (1 additional via hookup), Parallel, Serial, 6-Channel
Audio, Onboard LAN with PS/2 and Keyboard inputs you really can''t go wrong. Pack
that in with 5 PCI slots, AGP, 2 IDE, Floppy and onboard SATA, for the price,
you simply couldn''t ask for more.
Tweakability and Overclocking 10 - ABIT has done it again with their SoftMenu
BIOS Overclocking. With FSB options up to 250MHz, CPU:DRAM ratio''s of 1:1, 4:5
and 3:4, PCI Bus Freq settings of 33MHz, 37MHz, 44MHz fixed with Ext. Clock/3,
4, 5 and 6, DRAM Cas, Act to Precharge Delay, DRAM RAS to CAS Delay and DRAM RAS
Precharge features, and many others, there is more than enough tweakability for
even the most demanding PC Enthusiast. ABIT''s SoftMenu simply can''t be beat.
Stability 9 - The BH7 is commended for it''s stable performance throughout the
review process. Even at 3GHz well over it''s rated stock speed the BH7 kep the
2.4B running smooth. While instability was only 1 or 2 MHz away, 166FSB was
stable as a rock with a 25% voltage increase.
Documentation and Software 8 - ABIT''s user manual provides adequate info for
setting up, tweaking and troubleshooting your system. Obviously it cannot give
you guidance on every encounter you may have, but I believe they did a great job
here with both the provided paper manual and documentation on the included CD.
The bundled software was certainly adequate as well including all drivers, a few
utilities and Hardware Doctor. No frills, but certainly enough to get the job
done.
Price 10 - At 92$ or less at most internet outlets the BH7 is simply the best
bargain out there right now. You can pickup a few budget 845PE based boards a
bit cheaper, but not with the features you''ll see in the BH7.
Performance 9.5 - The BH7 is not only a great overclocker, but also puts up some
very impressive performance numbers to boot. With stability and tweakability
added in, we have even more options when it comes to overall performance. Not
far from perfect.
Overall Score: 92%
Final
Comments
Finally, I''d like to give a few comments regarding the ABIT BH7. Does it live up
to the high bar that the original BH6 set? In most respects, I would easily say
it has. The BH7 by far has the most options out there to get every last drop of
performance out of your Intel based system. And also like the original BH6, you
won''t get a lot of frills packed in with this board. No extra USB cards, no
added software package. But again, for around 92$ retail, your still getting a
great motherboard in the BH7. Overall, I''d easily recommend this board to anyone
looking to build a fast and stable Intel based system for not too much money out
of pocket. Canterwood and Springdale are on their way but pricing of those are
going to be well above what the BH7 is.
Ironically, this motherboard will be replacing my IT7 MAX2 V2.0 in my main
rig since I have enjoyed it so much. No frills, no fluff, just what I need for a
fast stable system. I''m also awarding the BH7 the OCAddiction Editor''s Choice
Award as it has easily earned it.
For the full review please go here:
http://www.ocaddiction.com/reviews/mobos/bh7/
For more information on the ABIT BH7 motherboard, please go here:
http://www.abit.com.tw |
