ABIT AT7-MAX2 (VIA KT400) Mainboard

VIA KT400 chipset

This is not the first board of new MAX series, but here the company deviates from its original approach of not using Legacy ports. The today's sample comes with PS/2 connectors and more PCI slots.

Accessories:

Package of a standard design with a handle; the board is packed into a plastic case;
Documentation: user manual in 6 languages;
Cables: 2 ATA66/100/133, 1 SerialATA and FDD;
ABIT Serillel adapter for connection of devices with the ATA33/66/100/133 interface with the SerialATA cable to a respective connector;

Power splitter for connection of the Serillel adapter;
Bracket with 2 USB ports;
Bracket for the rear computer panel;
Several buckles for cables;
Diskette with drivers for IDE RAID;
CD containing:

drivers;
user guide;
system monitoring utility;
DirectX 8.1;
Adobe Acrobat Reader;
3Deep E-Color;
Norton Antivirus 2002;
BuzzSoft programs;
InterVideo WinDVD.

The layout changed markedly compared to the AT7-MAX and mainly at the expense of numerous PCI slots, though the downsides are the same: audio-ins are in front of the PCI, and the IDE RAID are behind them, it's hard to plug in cables into some connectors along the left side of the board, and an inserted video card can lock access to memory modules. It's not difficult to reach jumpers when the board is already installed. Their functions are shown on the textolite.

The 3-channel switching voltage regulator incorporates 3 capacitors of 3300 uF and 3 of 1200 uF.

The following controllers are integrated:

audio controller based on the chipset's capabilities and Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec supporting 5.1 audio systems and having connectors for front audio inputs/outputs and for SPDIF;
network controller based on the chipset's capabilities and supporting 10BaseT/100BaseTX;
IDE RAID controller based on the HighPoint HPT374 chip with using Marvell 88i8030-NNC chips, it supports RAID 0, 1 and 0+1 on the ATA133 and SATA protocols;
IEEE 1394 bus controller based on the Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 chip;
USB 2.0 bus controller based on the VIA VT6202 chip and supporting 4 ports.

Non-unsoldered connectors: none.

The system monitoring is supported by the Winbond W83697HF chip. What is controlled:

processor voltage, AGP bus, memory, +3.3, +5 and +12 V, VBAT and +5 V Standby;
speed of 2 fans;
temperatures of the processor (a built-in thermo diode of the processor and an external sensor in the socket), and the board (a built-in sensor).

There are 2 connectors for adjustable and 3 for unadjustable connection of fans (one of them is connected to a fan on the heatsink of the chipset's north bridge).

Brief characteristics of the board: memory slots - 4 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/ 5 PCI; I/O ports - 2 PS/2/ 3 IEEE 1394/ 10 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm.

Adjustment can be carried out with:

jumpers and switches	Jumper to clear up the CMOS
jumpers and switches	Jumper to select a mode of the CPU-NorthBridge bus		Hardware/Software
BIOS based on the AwardBIOS 6.00PG of Phoenix	Setup of memory timings	+	CAS Latency, Bank Interleave, Precharge to Active, Active to Precharge, Active to CMD, Burst Length, Queue Depth, DQS Input Delay, DQS Output Delay, MD Drive Strength, CMD Drive Control, DRAM Access, DRAM Command Rate, Write Recovery Time, DRAM tWTR, DCLK Output Delay
	Setup of memory frequency	+	By SPD, 100, 133, 166 and 200 MHz (at FSB 166 MHz - only 166 MHz)
	Setup of AGP bus	+
	Setup of PCI bus	+
	Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses	+	FSB:AGP:PCI = 3:2:1, 4:2:1, 5:2:1, 6:2:1
	Manual assignment of interrupts	+
	Changeable FSB frequency	+	100-250 MHz in 1MHz steps
	Changeable CPU multiplier	+	x5-x22.5
	Changeable core voltage	+	1.1-2.375 V in 0.025V steps
	Changeable memory voltage	+	2.5-3.25 V in 0.1V steps
	Changeable chipset voltage	-
	Changeable AGP bus voltage	-

We used the latest available version of the BIOS - BIOS B7.

The board is definitely one of the best solutions on the market, but far not everyone is going to use all 10 USB 2.0 connectors, while a missing connector for an old modem is a real downside of the board. Moreover, the price is not low, that is why this model won't enjoy wide popularity with users.

Test results:

Dmitry Mayorov (destrax@ixbt.com)

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