ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0 - ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0 (Page 7 of 7 ) 
Conclusion I apologize for the extremely long review, but I wanted to highlight every possible feature, option and performance rating that I could in order to give a well rounded opinion of this motherboard. To put it simply, WOW! I believe ABIT has done a great job here with a motherboard that provides just about everything you could want in order to build an extremely high performance system. RAID/ATA133 capability, up to 10 USB2.0 ports, 3 IEEE 1394 Firewire ports, On board 2-Channel Serial ATA capability, 3 DIMM Slots for a maximum of 2GB of memory, 6 channel audio and 10/100 LAN built in, and of course the awesome ABIT SoftMenu™ Overclocking to let you tweak your BIOS with nearly endless options. Not to mention the Intel 845PE chipset with official DDR333 support and an enhanced 533MHz system bus. IMHO, this is simply the best Intel motherboard currently on the market. Obviously there has been quite a bit of stir lately about motherboards showing up with Intel's 7205 (Granite Bay) chipset with Dual Channel DDR and support for AGP 8X, but there are 2 things we have to consider here. First, the Granite Bay chipset is not a product aimed at the Desktop Performance crowd. It was built and intended for the Workstation/Server environment and is also very pricey compared to the 845PE. Secondly, I have yet to see GB put up the type of performance numbers we are seeing here today with the ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2 utilizing Intel's 845PE chipset. Lets see how the board rates in several different categories we have below.
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 up top and out of the way, several 3-Pin fan headers and easy access to DIMM slots and IDE ports. Features 10 - What can I say here? With this motherboard you have everything you need and then some, 10 USB 2.0 Ports, 3 Firewire ports, PS/2 ports for older mouse and keyboard users, 6-channel sound and 10/100 LAN both On board, RAID ATA133 capability, DDR333 support, Intel HT Support, Serial ATA 150MB/s capability, and BIOS options that will keep you busy for days, there is nothing more that we could possibly ask for. Tweakability and Overclocking 10 - ABIT has done it again with their SoftMenu™ 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 and 4, DRAM Cas, Act to Precharge Delay, DRAM RAS to CAS Delay and DRAM RAS Precharge features, and many others, there is plenty of tweakability for even the most demanding PC Enthusiast. Stability 9 - The IT7-MAX2 V2 was extremely stable throughout all testing. Not once did I encounter a problem associated with motherboard stability, and with the latest BIOS providing up to 1.85V available to the CPU, we have the chance to keep this system stable, even during insanely high overclocks. Once or twice I did get a blank screen when shooting for speeds in excess of 3GHz but this is almost to be expected. A simple CMOS reset or hitting the reset button 3 times easily cures this and lets you boot back into the BIOS. 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, but I would certainly like to see more in the future. Unfortunately, the Norton's AV that comes bundled has no subscription days left and cannot be updated so if you want to use that, you'll have to pay for it. Price 9 - At a $170, this motherboard is not aimed at the discount market. However, given the options and features you get with the IT7-MAX2 V2.0, I think the price is competitive since there are few (if any) other motherboards on the market that offer everything the IT7-MAX2 V2.0 does. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and here, we are defiitely getting our money's worth. Performance 10 - Again, what can I say here? This is simply the best performing Intel based motherboard to ever come through OCAddiction. With extremely high benchmarks all around, and SiSoft Memory Bandwidth Scores that soar through the roof, I think we truly have a winner on our hands.
Overall Score: 93%
Final Comments I am extremely happy with the performance of the ABIT IT7-MAX V2 and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking to build an Intel based performance powerhouse. Obviously this board is aimed squarely at the experienced PC enthusiast with all the bells and whistles you could ask for. I definitely would not recommend it for the first-time builder, or those of you looking for continued support on antiquated platforms such as Serial or Parallel/Printer ports. And again, I'd like to give ABIT kudos for having the foresight to build the "MAX" line of motherboards that gives us the chance to move a step forward in technology with support for the latest standards. Still, if you just simply must have your parallel and serial options, ABIT's BG7 and BE7 series motherboards will give you everything you need and at a competitive price. Finally, the ABIT IT7-MAX2 V2.0 is simply the best motherboard I have ever used and easily gets the Dev Hardware "Essential Hardware" Award. 
We'd like to thank you for joining us here at Dev Hardware today 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. And I'd like to send a final thanks to my bud @MBReview for providing assistance and user feedback. | DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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