Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., January 27th, 2004 -
Gruntville.com is immersed in all of the latest and best equipment for
building and tweaking your own system. In this review they look at the
AI7 from ABIT. Not only does it get their Editor's Choice Award but also
gets the Recommended Award. Read on:
when Gruntman called me up and asked if I was interested in reviewing
ABIT's new AI7 and Corsair's newest memory, I looked at my trusty gaming
rig (the same one that had never ever crashed, never failed to post, never
caused me an ounce of grief) and said, "Are you nuts, Hell YEAH I would!".
Of course this was fairly easy for me to justify, after all I have used
ABIT boards in the past and they have always been first class. And the
ABIT AI7 looks very promising. It has all the modern conveniences of Raid,
SATA, 5.1 sound, LAN, dual channel DDR support, and it includes an awesome
array of OCing features. There is also the tantalizing promise of the
new ABIT uGuru technology that they claim will revolutionize hardware
monitoring. So now I sit here dismantling "old faithful" so we can take
a look at this ABIT AI7, benchmark it, and see if this new uGuru technology
will make the Joneses take notice of us for a change.
The first thing that caught my attention about the AI7 packaging is the
focus and enlargement of the uGuru (correctly pronounced as "micro guru")
processor on the box cover.
The new microprocessor was designed by ABIT and is offered exclusively
on ABIT motherboards to give users an unparalleled level of control in
the hardware monitoring and tweaking process. The six current features
that the uGuru microprocessor let you control are: ABIT EQ, Fan EQ, OCGuru,
FlashMenu, Audio EQ, and BlackBox. Each of these features is controlled
under a fairly straightforward Windows based interface that allows you
to access the information and make certain hardware adjustments without
having to go through the BIOS settings.
The ABIT EQ is the hardware system monitoring feature for the uGuru.
It monitors a complete range of power voltages, multiple fan speeds, and
several system temps while making sure that all the input stays within
an adjustable, designated range. The monitor settings page allows you
set the acceptable ranges for the data and gives you options to either
notify you with a beep or shut down the system when the program detects
abnormal readings.
The EQ itself has a display setting page that lets you adjust which readings
you want displayed and the readings are displayed in either a digital
readout or a graph type display. I found the readouts were reasonably
accurate, easy to read, and the information came in very handy for monitoring
my system.
ABIT OCGuru: The OCGuru is a Windows based overclocking
utility that allows you to adjust the front side bus speed, and the voltages
for the CPU, AGP, and DDR memory.
This is a huge plus for tweakers and OCers, because all the adjustments
can be made instantly within the operating system without restarting the
computer. The feature allows you to save up to three different configurations,
and it will reboot your system if it can't achieve a particular setting.
I found this utility particularly useful for my needs. It allows me to
keep one max setting for benchmarks and bragging rights and then another
one, set slightly lower for gaming and general usage (I don't want to
risk a crash in the middle of a gaming session).
ABIT AudioEQ: The Audio EQ uses the Realtek ALC658 Codec
to enrich your PC audio experience. The EQ supports 5.1 Channel surround
sound and most of the current game audio technologies including EAX 1.0/2.0,
DirectSound 3D, A3D, HRTF3D, and Sensaura3D. You can adjust multiple settings
including the speaker configuration, equalizer settings, and even a built
in set of sound effects.
The Fan EQ feature works to control the CPU fan to increase the fan speed
for better cooling when the CPU is stressed and then for lower, quieter
speeds when the system is idle. The CPU fan speed can be used either in
conjunction with the three preset settings (Cool, Quiet or Normal) or
you can set your own User Defined temperature ranges.
ABIT FlashMenu:
The Smart BIOS Flash feature makes updating your motherboard pain and
hassle free. You can save a copy of your current BIOS, follow a step by
step BIOS update, or simply click a live update that will contact ABIT's
website and automatically download and install the latest BIOS version
for you.
ABIT BlackBox:
The uGuru Black Box feature is designed to help the ABIT tech support
division to better troubleshoot any problems you may be having with your
system. It can be used to record pertinent system info and then email
that diagnostic data directly to ABIT. Then an ABIT technician can email
you back with some advice for correcting your problem. Luckily I didn't
have to try this feature out, but it seems like a novel approach to gain
more in depth tech support.
Many companies try to throw in a useless gimmick or trick that will help
sell their products, but I can guarantee you that this is not the case
with the uGuru microprocessor. I found most of the uGuru features rewarding,
and I have grown quite attached to both the OCGuru and the EQ monitoring.
You simply can't beat the ease of Windows based OCing without having to
reboot for every new setting! Overall, I believe the ABIT Corporation
has a solid winner in the AI7. The price is extremely reasonable considering
the amount of features that is packed into it. In fact, I was quite shocked
to learn that the board is only listed at a little over a 100.00...The
AI7 is running rock solid at even the highest of bus speeds and the Joneses
are looking none to happy about it.
For the full review go here:
http://www.gruntville.com/reviews/mohterboards_Intel/ABIT_ai7/index.php
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