ABIT AI7 board layout

[jpoet]

Has anyone purchased one of Abit's new AI7 boards?

It has nice specs, but I am conserned about the layout.

Does it come with a long enought floppy drive cable to reach all the way from the bottom of the board to a typical floppy drive location?

Why did they rotate the CPU socket 45 degrees? A typical heatsink will no longer cover the entire surface of the CPU in that configuration.

John

 

[Tates]

I'm looking at picking up one of these.
It looks like the floppy cord provided is plenty long.
I don't think the angle of the socket would impede heatsink performance, since the actual die under the metal slug would still be covered.

 

[althes]

The board seems to have some issues when oc. Not up to stuff as yet.

 

[Tates]

The board seems to have some issues when oc. Not up to stuff as yet.

Where did you hear about that? First hand experience? Some other forum?

Link please

 

[Tates]

I poked around the net and found one forum where someone was stuck at 250MHz fsb, but had not loaded all the proper drivers and the uGuru software.

Anyway, I've got one on order from Newegg and expect delivery by the first of next week.

I'll report back with my impressions.

 

[jpoet]

Originally posted by: Tates
Anyway, I've got one on order from Newegg and expect delivery by the first of next week.

I'll report back with my impressions.

Cool. I look forward to your report.

Thanks,

John

 

[uGURU2]

I should have mine on Monday.
God willing running by Monday night...

 

[crapito]

please post your AI7 experiences, cause i am going to buy a new computer within the next 2 weeks, and my motherboard choices are between the AI7 and the IS7.

thanks.

 

[Tates]

Got a new AI7 delivered today from Newegg, went through loading windows and it crapped out. One long beep.....................:brokenheart:

I tested the memory on another system (OCZ PC3700 Gold) and it tested fine. So it's RMA time.

Oh well, I'll give it another try with a fresh AI7 hopefully on Thursday.

 

[crapito]

since there isn't an "official" AI7 thread, i'll ask a question here...

what's the difference between the new AI7 and the existing IS7? AFAIK, the only real difference is the Guru feature on the AI7. correct? (a rotated CPU socket and nicer layout doesn't count as a real difference in my book.)

 

[jpoet]

Originally posted by: crapito
(a rotated CPU socket and nicer layout doesn't count as a real difference in my book.)

Nicer layout? You actually like where they put the floppy connector?

John

 

[crapito]

who cares about a floppy drive? learn to burn bootable CDRs for chrissakes! aside from an older Yamaha synth which has no USB/digital port, i have no use for a floppy.

 

[jpoet]

Originally posted by: crapito
who cares about a floppy drive? learn to burn bootable CDRs for chrissakes! aside from an older Yamaha synth which has no USB/digital port, i have no use for a floppy.

I agree that my use for a floppy is VERY rare, however it is not extinct. Still need it about once a year. Needing it even once, means that it needs to work, which means that it needs to be hooked up.

Are you only going to run a f loppy cable when you need it, and otherwise leave it disconnected?

The floppy connector on the AI7 is so badly placed, that they might as well just leave it off and force people to find an alternative.

John

 

[Tates]

Ok, got the new Abit AI7 from Newegg and am currently running a P4 2.6C @ 3250MHz (250fsb) at default voltage of 1.525v with 512mb of OZC PC3700 Gold (2x256mb) @5:4 200Mhz 2-3-3-6.

Even though the OZC is rated at 2.7v & 2.9v max, the AI7 likes it @2.55v. If I set the vdimm in excess of 2.55v, I get graphic anamolies on my ATi Radeon 9800 Pro and random reboots. Leave it at 2.55v and all is well.

I've paired two new Hitachi 7K250 80GB SATA 7200 RPM drives in Raid0 (32k stripe). Very quiet and fast.

I'm sure there will be several BIOS upgrades forthcoming, since the AI7 is a new board. It's been available for about a week and already there have been two BIOS revisions.

So far, so good.

Updates to follow

 

[Sunny129]

Originally posted by: jpoet

Originally posted by: crapito
(a rotated CPU socket and nicer layout doesn't count as a real difference in my book.)

Nicer layout? You actually like where they put the floppy connector?

John

its a bit of a tradeoff from the older IS7 board layout. remember how ridiculous the placement of the IDE connectors on the edge of the board was? and those got close to the bottom of the board as well...you'd think Abit would get it right this time. they used to do it right a few years back. its like Abit progressed in some ways, and regressed in others...

other than that, is the change in board layout and addition of this uGuru software crap the only difference between the AI7 and the IS7?

 

[uGURU2]

I just got mine up and running. Floppy cable...big deal. ABIT supplied a longer cable and it reached just fine. Only problem I had was the disk they supplied. I had to DL the utilities off the net to get a proper installation. Now all I need to do is swap my AIW 9700 pro into the new box and I'm ready for some OC... SO far this AIT MB was flawless. Even got my SCSI setups running with no problems on first try... I sure made the right choice. ABIT always seems to be a good bet on their new technology.

 

[crapito]

uGURU2: questions about your setup...

"1 Gig Kingmax 3500" - did you get it from Newegg? is it 2 sticks of 512mb RAM? is this the RAM? i'm thinking about getting the same stuff, as $166 shipped for 1GB PC3500 is very tempting. i wanna know how well it works, so please post your overclock results.

also: what CPU do you have? i am going to go with a retail P4 2.6C and hopefully reach 3.25GHz/250FSB+ (what Tates achieved) with the stock heatsink/fan.

thanks!

 

[althes]

Not bad for a first setup. Keep us updated.

 

[uGURU2]

I got the Kingmax for $88 a chip I think. Seems to be fine. I read it doesn't over clock too well. I have a 2.4 Ghz. I planned on swapping out the video cards, but I have a lot of backing up to do as this old TH7 Raid is going to the boy. Lost power for 3 hours tonight so all my plans went to hell... Another day then. Peace...

 

[Tates]

***Update***

Ok....

Overclocking got easier when I populated DDR slots 2 & 4, instead of 1 & 3.

Now Running:

P4 2.6C @ 3250MHz (250MHz FSB) @ default 1.525v
OCZ PC3700 Gold 5:4 200MHz @ 2/3/3/6 2.8v

Checking Abit's website, it suggests overclocking CPU : DDR ratio of 5:4

Got it to 3380MHz (260MHz FSB) @ 1.6v, however I prefer to run the CPU at default voltage.

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: Tates
***Update***

Ok....

Overclocking got easier when I populated DDR slots 2 & 4, instead of 1 & 3.

Now Running:

P4 2.6C @ 3250MHz (250MHz FSB) @ default 1.525v
OCZ PC3700 Gold 5:4 200MHz @ 2/3/3/6 2.8v

Checking Abit's website, it suggests overclocking CPU : DDR ratio of 5:4

Got it to 3380MHz (260MHz FSB) @ 1.6v, however I prefer to run the CPU at default voltage.

thanks TATES for all your information. I have been eyeing this board as opposed to getting a canterwood board. the canterwoods seem much higher for negligible performance over the springdale. All my rigs are AMD now and a few smoke pretty good. I am just curious in the new 800fsb intell chips and chipsets. My 2.6 333 xp is clocked at 2.38~ with fsb of 192 on my abit atmax2 and pc3200 memory. Does really well...how is your raid performance? How do you like the new IBM/hitachi drives...i have gone through so many deskstars that i am swaying away from them. What sound card are you running? I have an audigy 2 that I will be using with my radeon 9800np, great card!

thanks again TATES for you results and time to post them!

JC

 

[Tates]

thanks TATES for all your information. I have been eyeing this board as opposed to getting a canterwood board. the canterwoods seem much higher for negligible performance over the springdale. All my rigs are AMD now and a few smoke pretty good. I am just curious in the new 800fsb intell chips and chipsets. My 2.6 333 xp is clocked at 2.38~ with fsb of 192 on my abit atmax2 and pc3200 memory. Does really well...how is your raid performance? How do you like the new IBM/hitachi drives...i have gone through so many deskstars that i am swaying away from them. What sound card are you running? I have an audigy 2 that I will be using with my radeon 9800np, great card!

thanks again TATES for you results and time to post them!

JC

Jc,

Raid0 (32k stripe) on (2) Deskstar 7K250 80GB SATA drives. My raid performance numbers from SiSoft Sandra 2004:

Drive Index - 71,934kb/s
Buffered Read - 194MB/s
Sequential Read - 112MB/s
Random Read - 10MB/s
Buffered Write - 157MB/s
Sequential Write - 104MB/s
Average Access Time - 6ms (estimated)

The new Hitachi Deskstar 7K250's are great. Quiet and fast. 3 year warranty.
Storagereview.com lists them atop their leaderboard for IDE 7500RPM drives, better than the WD Caviar SE drives.


Sound - onboard RealTek ALC658

 

[Chunkee]

Originally posted by: Tates

thanks TATES for all your information. I have been eyeing this board as opposed to getting a canterwood board. the canterwoods seem much higher for negligible performance over the springdale. All my rigs are AMD now and a few smoke pretty good. I am just curious in the new 800fsb intell chips and chipsets. My 2.6 333 xp is clocked at 2.38~ with fsb of 192 on my abit atmax2 and pc3200 memory. Does really well...how is your raid performance? How do you like the new IBM/hitachi drives...i have gone through so many deskstars that i am swaying away from them. What sound card are you running? I have an audigy 2 that I will be using with my radeon 9800np, great card!

thanks again TATES for you results and time to post them!

JC

Jc,

Raid0 (32k stripe) on (2) Deskstar 7K250 80GB SATA drives. My raid performance numbers from SiSoft Sandra 2004:

Drive Index - 71,934kb/s
Buffered Read - 194MB/s
Sequential Read - 112MB/s
Random Read - 10MB/s
Buffered Write - 157MB/s
Sequential Write - 104MB/s
Average Access Time - 6ms (estimated)

The new Hitachi Deskstar 7K250's are great. Quiet and fast. 3 year warranty.
Storagereview.com lists them atop their leaderboard for IDE 7500RPM drives, better than the WD Caviar SE drives.


Sound - onboard RealTek ALC658

thanks again. still pondering canterwood vs springdale and the cost diff

JC

 

[crapito]

Chunkee, i've read a good bit regarding the cheaper Springdale vs. the more expensive Canterwood, and i've come to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter much performance-wise, so long as you get a Springdale board from a reputable company, ie Abit/Asus. as Abit makes a Canterwood board that costs the same as the AI7 Springdale board, IC7 is $120 @ Newegg, money no longer is a factor. according to Anandtech's 865PE/875P Motherboard Roundup June 2003, the Springdale based Abit IS7 motherboard was the Editor's Choice. not bad, eh? as of right now, the IS7 is going to be my next motherboard, unless this AI7 offers up something good for its ~$20 price premium.

 

[KDKPSJ]

I see a lot of topics going on here, but seems like no mention of CPU socket change. So, does 45 degree rotated socket make any difference? Positive, negative, or nothing at all?