ABIT BH7 - ABIT BH7

Overclocking
Now the fun part. Obviously ABIT is targeting the enthusiast market with the BH7 motherboard so lets see what she can deliver. First lets take a look at Cpu-Z with our P4 2.4GHz at default speed.

2.4GHz

The BH7 is certainly an aggressive overclocker but unfortunately, it could not push any more juice out of my trusty 2.4B CPU than the IT7 MAX2 V2.0 could. 166MHz FSB was the highest stable speed we could run and very stable it was. Anything much higher and I would start seeing anomolies and random reboots. I was able to boot into windows at the 170MHz mark but again, this was very unstable even with maximum voltage pushing the 2.4B.

3GHz

At 166FSB and the 18X multiplier, we effectively have 3GHz worth of CPU speed. This also gives us a nice system bus of 666MHz. Spooky eh? Also, here are shots of the mainboard tab and memory tab.

Mainboard                 Memory

Memory timings are semi-aggressive showing 2-2-2-6 which let me run very stable as high as the CPU would go.

Conclusion

Winding down the review I can easily say I've had a pleasant experience with the ABIT BH7 845PE based motherboard. In the end, I was hoping to squeeze a little more juice out of the aging 2.4B P4 CPU but lets face it, all the tools are there to get some truly amazing overclocks out of this board, but my CPU was definitely holding me back. Once again, with SoftMenu™, Enhanced 533MHz FSB, Official DDR333, Serial ATA 150MB/s, 6-Channel Audio and USB 2.0 your getting a getting an excellent value. And for once, enthusiasts can rejoice in a feature rich motherboard for less than 100$ retail. ABIT has really come through for us this time. Lets break it down into categories and highlight various points of the complete package.

1. Layout/Design  9 - ABIT has been hard at work for many years giving us great performing and smartly built motherboards. This board is laid out very well with the ATX Power Connector far to the right and out of the way, 5 3-Pin fan headers to provide plenty of cooling and easy access to DIMM slots and IDE ports. Additionally, the turned IDE ports make for easy insertion and routing of IDE cables.

2. Features 9 - With the BH7 you'll get just about everything you need to get the job done. 4 USB Ports (1 additional via hookup), Parallel, Serial, 6-Channel Audio, Onboard LAN with PS/2 and Keyboard inputs you really can't go wrong. Pack that in with 5 PCI slots, AGP, 2 IDE, Floppy and onboard SATA, for the price, you simply couldn't ask for more.

3. Tweakability and Overclocking 10 - ABIT has done it again with their SoftMenu™ BIOS Overclocking. With FSB options up to 250MHz, CPU:DRAM ratio's of 1:1, 4:5 and 3:4, PCI Bus Freq settings of 33MHz, 37MHz, 44MHz fixed with Ext. Clock/3, 4, 5 and 6, DRAM Cas, Act to Precharge Delay, DRAM RAS to CAS Delay and DRAM RAS Precharge features, and many others, there is more than enough tweakability for even the most demanding PC Enthusiast. ABIT's SoftMenu™ simply can't be beat.

4. Stability 9 - The BH7 is commended for it's stable performance throughout the review process. Even at 3GHz well over it's rated stock speed the BH7 kep the 2.4B running smooth. While instability was only 1 or 2 MHz away, 166FSB was stable as a rock with a 25% voltage increase.

5. Documentation and Software 8 - ABIT's user manual provides adequate info for setting up, tweaking and troubleshooting your system. Obviously it cannot give you guidance on every encounter you may have, but I believe they did a great job here with both the provided paper manual and documentation on the included CD. The bundled software was certainly adequate as well including all drivers, a few utilities and Hardware Doctor. No frills, but certainly enough to get the job done.

6. Price 10 - At 92$ or less at most internet outlets the BH7 is simply the best bargain out there right now. You can pickup a few budget 845PE based boards a bit cheaper, but not with the features you'll see in the BH7.

7. Performance 9.5 - The BH7 is not only a great overclocker, but also puts up some very impressive performance numbers to boot. With stability and tweakability added in, we have even more options when it comes to overall performance. Not far from perfect.

Overall Score: 92%

Final Comments

Finally, I'd like to give a few comments regarding the ABIT BH7. Does it live up to the high bar that the original BH6 set? In most respects, I would easily say it has. The BH7 by far has the most options out there to get every last drop of performance out of your Intel based system. And also like the original BH6, you won't get a lot of frills packed in with this board. No extra USB cards, no added software package. But again, for around 92$ retail, your still getting a great motherboard in the BH7. Overall, I'd easily recommend this board to anyone looking to build a fast and stable Intel based system for not too much money out of pocket. Canterwood and Springdale are on their way but pricing of those are going to be well above what the BH7 is.

Ironically, this motherboard will be replacing my IT7 MAX2 V2.0 in my main rig since I have enjoyed it so much. No frills, no fluff, just what I need for a fast stable system. I'm also awarding the BH7 the OCAddiction Editor's Choice Award as it has easily earned it.

We'd like to thank you for joining us here at Dev Hardware, and hope you enjoyed the review. Want to discuss this or other reviews? Head to our forums. We'd also like to thank the ABIT Corporation for graciously providing this review sample and answering questions and concerns along the way. Looking to pickup this mobo on the net? Checkout PriceGrabber for the latest prices on this and other items.