Cream of the Crop
Written: Nov 17 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reliable, latest technology, easy to assemble, tweak heaven.
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: Definetely reccomend the board. It has the almost the latest technology for under $100.
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| petrentz's Full Review: Abit IS7 Motherboard |
I have had many computers for the past 10 years. I am not a computer guru or a high tech whiz, but always try to improve the performance of my computers.
That said, I purchased Abit IS7 because I have used Abit boards in the past and they are incredibly reliable. They are very user friendly and anyone can tweak the processor, heat sink fan, the CPU temperature, etc to get the optimum performance.
Abit and ASUS are the two famous Motherboard companies among the overclocker community out there. Those are the people that like to run their CPU's at higher speed than they are rated for. For example, one of my computers had Abit BH6 (which is discontinued) with Celeron III - 300MHz. I went in the BIOS and changed the CPU speed to 450MHz.
I did not purchase an ASUS board because I had some problems with one of my computers, which did not seem to go away even after changing numerous devices.
That is why last week I purchased Abit IS7. The IS7 series includes IS7-E, IS7-M, IS7, and IS7-G. They are pretty much the same boards, but IS7-E & IS7-M do not have SATA ports (port for the newest, fastest hard drives), and they do not have a FireWire ports as well. IS7 has two SATA ports and IS7-G has 4. Both of them have FireWire ports. For more information, go to www.abit-usa.com.
I purchased IS7 because I do not have a SATA-type hard drive, but wanted the FireWire port and one of the latest of Intel chips (865). I found a really great price on www.pricewatch.com and went from there. For a motherboard/cpu combo with a heat sink I paid $290. For that price I got a P4 2.6GHz 800FSB and Intel approved heat sink and fan.
When the board arrived, it came with cables, drivers, quick installation guide and more detailed manual, which covers the BIOS as well as the detailed installation. Installing the board was a piece of cake. Unlike many other boards, Abit boards do not have tens of jumpers that all need to be set correctly in order for the computer to start and work properly. On the IS7 series, there are only 4 jumpers – 2 for the USB ports (wake feature), 1 for the mouse wake, and 1 for CCMOS (board remembers the settings).
The manual is extremely helpful and easy to follow. Install as many cables and connections before you put the board in the case. This way, you will have easy access to the jumpers and cable ports. I installed all of my components (most of them were from an older PC), cleared the CMOS and fired it up. Installed Windows XP and installed the Abit software that came with the board.
The software is very user friendly. You can change the fan RPM, the CPU and Motherboard voltage, the alert temperature and many other things. One great thing about newer Abit boards (including IS7) is the fact that you can download software from Abit, which can be used to install new versions of the BIOS. My board came with BIOS version 1.2. I installed the software in Windows, pointed at the new version of BIOS (1.3) and clicked OK. The software installed and updated the BIOS to the latest version. This was incredible. Before, you had to create boot disks and update the BIOS using the C-Prompt.
I love Abit boards and will never buy anything else again. No matter which board you buy, you will get superior performance and reliable piece of computer hardware marvel. Once the prices fall further, I am going to buy another IS7 or IC7 and build another computer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 98
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Epinions.com ID:
petrentz
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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