Abit AT7 Max2 and IT7 Max2

Abit originally released its Max motherboards as a step towards creating the legacy-free PC, but PS/2 ports were not included. These two revised Max2 boards (the AT7 Max2 and IT7 Max2) have now stepped in to redress the balance.

These two new boards have no serial or parallel ports on the back panel, but there is no skimping elsewhere, as a glance at the specs box will show.

Just as importantly, Abit has updated the chipsets and done some work on the Raid connectors. Originally you got four IDE connectors controlled by the HPT374 chip, but now you get two IDE and two Serial ATA connectors.

There are no Serial ATA drives on the market so Abit has included a 'Serillel' adaptor. This acts as an interface between the IDE plug on your hard drive and a Serial ATA cable and power cable splitter.

All the cables are included and the result is an ATA drive running on a cable only 9mm wide. The inclusion of Serial ATA connectors adds a decent amount of future proofing.

The motherboards are well laid out, with the PCI slots moved away from the AGP slot to give your graphics card breathing space.

The layouts of the two boards differ but the power connectors are well placed at the end of the board.

Unusually the Athlon Max2 also has an ATX-12V four-pin connector to help stability, but you can use a regular ASTX power supply.

To top it off, performance was stunning, and faster than just about anything else on the market.

Abit AT7 Max2

• Supports Athlon processors
• Via KT400 chipset with VT8235 southbridge & HPT374 Raid controller
• 4 Dimm slots
• AGP 8x, 5 PCI, floppy controller, 4 IDE controllers, 2 serial
• 8 USB2, 2 Firewire, 2 PS/2, 10/100 Lan, six-channel audio, optical & S/PDIF
• Serillel adaptor
• 2yr warranty

Abit IT7 Max2

• Supports Intel processors
• Intel 845PE chipset with ICH4 southbridge & HPT374 Raid controller
• 3 Dimm slots
• AGP 4x, 4 PCI, floppy controller, 4 IDE controllers, 2 serial
• 8 USB2 ports, 2 Firewire, 2 PS/2, 10/100 Lan, six-channel audio, optical & S/PDIF
• Serillel adaptor
• 2yr warranty

DETAILS

Prices:
AT7 Max2: £148.05 (£126 ex VAT)
IT7 Max2: £157.45 (£134 ex VAT)

Contact: Dabs
www.dabs.com