ABIT IS7 865PE Motherboard

Company: ABIT
Product: IS7
Street Price: ~$120 USD
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao
Overall Rating: (90%)

Introduction:

It has been almost a month since we first saw the Intel 875P (canterwood) chipsets on the hardware scene. Now, a few weeks later, we are reviewing our first 865PE (springdale) board, the ABIT IS7. There are a few differences between the 875P and the 865PE chipsets such as the lack of PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology) on the 865PE. The 865 chipsets will be aimed at the mainstream market since it is considerably cheaper than the 875P.

ABIT doesn't really need an introduction. Most enthusiasts know who they are by now. ABIT provides motherboards with good stability, features, and overclocking options that most boards do not provide. More recently, ABIT has really started marketing more towards the enthusiast community with their high overclocking features and capabilities. Hopefully this board overclocks as well as the others from ABIT that we have tested in the past.

The 865PE Chipset:

There are three different version of the 865 chipset, 865P, 865PE, 865G. All three are lacking Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT), which gives the 875P a little better performance. In addition, all 865 chipsets do not support ECC memory, which isn't going to affect many people who are regular desktop users. Intel is definitely marketing the 875P for the workstations with the extra support for PAT and ECC memory. All three do support Dual Channel memory, CSA (communications streaming architecture), and Hyperthreading like the 875P.

The differences between versions of the 865 are the 865P does not support DDR400 or 800 MHz FSB. The 865PE does support DDR400 and 800 MHz FSB. The 865G has everything the 865PE does but also has onboard graphics.

Since the 865PE does not have PAT, we are curious to see how much different it scores compared to the 875P chipset. The chipsets are almost the same and actually come off of the same line. The chips are tested for PAT support and those that do not pass the test are marked as 865, while the others go on to be 875. Now that we have taken a quick glance at the new chipset, let us move on to see how ABIT has designed the IS7 and how well it performs.

Specifications:

Processor
- Supports Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket 478 processors with 800/533 MHz FSB
- Supports Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology

Chipset
- Intel® 865PE / ICH5 RAID
- Supports Dual Channel DDR 400 Memory
- Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI)

Memory
- Four 184-pin DIMM sockets
- Supports 4 DIMM Single/Dual Channel DDR 400 memory (Max. 4GB)

AGP
- Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP PRO 8X/4X (0.8V/1.5V)

LAN
- On board 10/100MB LAN

Serial ATA RAID
- On board 2 channels Serial ATA 150MB/s data transfer rate
- Supports RAID 0

USB 2.0
- 8 ports USB 2.0 supports 480MB/s data transfer rate

Audio
- 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on board
- Professional digital audio interface supports 24-bit S/P DIF optical In/Out

Media XP (Optional)
- Supports card reader function for Memory Stick™, Secure Digital™ and Type I/II CompactFlash™
- Supports Wireless Remote Control and S/PDIF Out / Mic In / Headphone Out / USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394

IEEE 1394
- Supports IEEE 1394a at 100/200/400 Mb/s transfer rate

System BIOS
- SoftMenu™ Technology to set CPU parameters
- Supports Plug-and-Play (PNP)
- Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI)
- Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS

Internal I/O Connectors
- 1 x AGP PRO, 5 x PCI slots, 1 x Floppy Port supports up to 2.88MB
- 2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors
- 4 x Serial ATA 150 RAID Connectors (2 x Optional)
- 2 x USB 2.0 headers, 2 x IEEE 1394a header
- 1 x CD-IN, 1 x AUX-IN

Back Panel I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard, 1 x PS/2 mouse, 1 x Printer Port, 1 x COM port
- 1 x S/PDIF Out connector, 1 x S/PDIF In connector
- Audio connectors (Front Speaker, Line-in, Mic-in, Center/Sub, Surround Speaker)
- 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x RJ-45 LAN Connector
- 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a

Miscellaneous
- ATX form factor
- Hardware monitoring - Including Fan speeds, Voltages, System environment temperature