Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. April 29th,
2003- PC Enthusiast Magazine recently reviewed the ABIT BH7 and gave
it a full 10 out of 10 rating.
"Despite the recent advent of the new Springdale and Canterwood boards and
processors, which are due out just around the corner, ABIT decided to make
another board using the Intel 845PE chipset. People may challenge this decision,
but they have to remember that this is the BH7 - the prodigal son of the BH6. As
some of you may remember, the BH6 was one of best Pentium II BX boards of its
time, and was known as an excellent overclocking board using its famous ABIT
Soft Menu II."
"Of course, this decision isn''t without merit, as the BH7 uses its Soft Menu
III, which also supports 800 MHz FSB!!! This is achieved by its four-phase PWM,
which provides the juice it needs to boost itself. If you get a preview of
what''s to come today, you''ll still be able to run with the boards of tomorrow.
Of course, you''ll also get all the goodies that are included with the 845PE
chipset, such as DDR333 support and HyperThreading. Other features include
six-channel audio and USB 2.0."
"...we still have a real monster under the hood, and it''s ready to be let
out...you need to keep in mind that the simplicity of this board is what allows
it to scream SPEED!!!"
"ABIT also provides you with a nicely added centerpiece via a Marvell 88i8030
Serial ATA Bridge, allowing the BH7 to stay abreast with its competitors. If you
check Marvell''s website,
http://marvell.com/products/storage/sata/88i8030.jsp you''ll see that this
particular controller leaves room for supporting Generation II SATA speeds of
3Gbps. It''s important to remember that if the SATA feature is enabled, you will
lose the ability of running a second device on IDE channel 2."
"A tight bundle of connections will be facing you head-on as you look at the
bank of connections on the BH7. Not only do you get six-channel sound, but you
also get digital SPDIF (in/out) connections as well as four USB 2.0 connections
on the outboard. Despite having a regular compliment of connections, this is a
lean speed machine. Less excess equates more speed."
"Ah, we finally come to the "Piece De Resistance," which comes in the form of
the ABIT BH7 Soft Menu III that is housed in a Phoenix AwardBIOS. Looking quite
harmless, this "Sleeper" (a disguised fast car) of a BIOS seems like the
ordinary off the shelf variety, but don''t let this "Wolf in sheep''s clothing"
fool you. Let''s take a closer look at what''s under the hood of this "Sleeper,"
shall we?"
"Just like an oil temperature gauge or boast meter for your turbo engine, you
get a PC Health Monitor in the BIOS to keep track of things. Here, you can set
your fan alarm settings, fan failure shutdowns, CPU shutdowns, and so on. You
can also monitor your temperature and voltage levels in the monitor?"
"I''m still at a loss for words, and I cannot even fathom the speed barriers I
might be able to break with Mobile P4. I am elated by the performance of my
2.4GHz processor on the ABIT BH7. Completely won over by the sheer performance
of speed under a staggering amount of stress and abuse, I am now a loyal subject
of the ABIT BH7 and hopefully its future sons."
Rating: 10 out of 10
Check out the full article online at their website here:
http://www.pcemag.com/article.asp?aid=39&pid=119
ABIT Computer Corporation designs and sells a complete family of award-winning
mainboards and multimedia products that support industry-leading technology and
provide leading quality and performance for system integration of computer
components supporting a broad range of PC applications, such as e-commerce,
e-business, entertainment and education. Corporate headquarters are located in
Taiwan. For more information, visit the Company''s web site at
http://www.abit.com.tw
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