The Abit IT7-Max2 i845E Motherboard
A New Addition to Abit's "Legacy-Free" Product Line...

By, Marco Chiappetta
December 5, 2002

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:

  • Supports Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 processors with 400/533 MHz Front Side Bus

Chipset:

  • Intel 845E / ICH4

  • Supports Ultra DMA 33/66/100

  • Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP 4X Interface (1.5V only)

Memory:

  • Three 184-pin DIMM sockets (unbuffered Non-ECC DIMM)

  • Supports 3 DIMM DDR 200/266 (Max. 2GB)

Serial ATA:

  • On board 2-Channel Serial ATA interface of 1.5 G bps

ATA133 RAID:

  • High Point HPT374 IDE RAID controller

Audio:

  • 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on board

USB 2.0:

  • 10 Ports USB 2.0

IEEE 1394:

  • 3 Ports IEEE 1394

LAN:

  • On board RTL8100B 10/100M PCI Fast Ethernet Controller
    System BIOS

SoftMenu Technology to set CPU parameters:

  • Supports Plug-and-Play (PNP)

  • Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI)

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