Review: Abit AT7 MAX - Part 1
Dave Cook thinks he has seen the future. But could it really be time to throw away that old mouse and keyboard?
| Product | AT7 MAX |
|---|---|
| Company | Abit |
| Web | www.abit.com.tw |
| Price | £125 |
| We like | Performance and reliability. Plus, virtually everything you need is provided onboard. |
| We don't like | Design layout could be better. |
| Rating | 10/10 |
| Requirements |
Once in a while manufacturers introduce a new product that really makes you sit up and take notice. Abit achieved this with the first entirely jumperless motherboard. The company succeeded again when it produced the BP6 and its predecessor, the VP6, which were the world's first truly affordable dual processor motherboards to be aimed at the mass market.
But that's history. You will no doubt be pleased to discover that Abit has gone and done it again, this time in the shape of the AT7 MAX. Abit claims the new MAX series of motherboards are the boards of the future. Well, we've had an opportunity to peruse the AT7 and, quite frankly, we're inclined to agree.
So what's so different about the AT7? In an industry first, the board is entirely free of PS/2 and serial connectors. By moving away from a legacy I/O system to an all-USB system, Abit clearly hopes to maximise on two main qualities: performance and ease of installation. There's only one problem: in order to achieve this, many punters will have to throw away their old mice, keyboards, and modems.
Up Front
The AT7 MAX supports VIA's KT333 chipset for the AMD Athlon platform. While in terms of future-proofing, the AT7 should sustain almost everything you'll ever need for at least the next couple of years or so, including support for the latest ATA/133 hard drives and up to 4GB of fast DDR333 SDRAM.
To circumvent the absence of PS/2 and serial support, the AT7 MAX throws in a veritable bucket-load of extras. For example, the board supports up to 10 USB devices (six USB 1.1 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports).
Be warned! The reliance on USB connectivity means you won't get far running an operating system such as Windows 95. Few, though, would lose sleep over that. Frankly, anyone still running an outdated platform like Windows 95 needs to get a life fast!
With the AT7 MAX you're also treated to a couple of IEEE1394 Firewire ports, a built-in 10/100Base-T LAN connector, and onboard 5.1 audio with digital output. In addition the board is fitted with the usual AGP slot, which is compatible with both 2x and 4x graphics cards.
Up Close
Unfortunately, the AT7 suffers from a similar hiccup to the one found in most boards that contain four DIMMs - namely the close proximity betwixt the AGP slot and the extra DIMM. It's a very small hiccup, but it makes installation of the last memory stick a tad fiddly unless it's done before the video card is installed.
You should also note that the AT7 MAX offers only three PCI slots. But don't let that put you off. Most of the peripherals you'll ever use, with the possible exception of SCSI devices, are already supplied onboard.
Next Time
That's it for now. In part two, we'll be delving into the rest of the specs. We will also be checking out the board's unobtrusive Firewire header which, for all media addicts, could be the icing on the cake.
