Abit IS7 - the Champion in Training

[Mikki]

Check out Prometheus' review here (http://www.bleedinedge.com/reviews/abit_is7/abit_is7_pg1.html), and feel free to comment or ask questions about the review in this thread....:)

[LastRide]

Seems like a nice board.I would have liked to know how high FSB this board is stable.I read from other sites that its nothing special when overclocking but at default very nice as you mentioned.

[Duvie]

I don't anandtech has it up as one of the highest at 278fsb!!!


Does anybody know what the IS7-e mobo is and if it is different then the IS7???

It can be had for as little as 92.00 dollars while the IS7 is around 105 range......

[prometheus]

As I said in the first paragraph of the review, the -E does not have SATA RAID (ICH5R) and provides regular SATA only with the ICH5. It appears to have all the other features of the IS7 including Firewire and on-baord 10/100 LAN.

[Duvie]

Originally posted by prometheus
As I said in the first paragraph of the review, the -E does not have SATA RAID (ICH5R) and provides regular SATA only with the ICH5. It appears to have all the other features of the IS7 including Firewire and on-baord 10/100 LAN.

Sorry....I hadn't read the review yet...

[Fossil]

No temperature readings that seem a little high?

[Tony]

seems the IS7 isn't the overclocking king many hoped.Its topping out around 260fsb just like the AX4SPE max..looks like we might be limited by buying later built boards..

[Duvie]

Originally posted by bigtoe
seems the IS7 isn't the overclocking king many hoped.Its topping out around 260fsb just like the AX4SPE max..looks like we might be limited by buying later built boards..

anandtech listed 278fsb I believe as where they were able to hold stability!!! Check their i865/i875 roundup part 1...

[prometheus]

bigtoe and I have been discussing our concerns for several days. As I mentioned in my review of the IS7 I was concerned about the stability problems. It also appears Abit is hell-bent to be the fastest even if it destroys the stability of the board. They're even doing it to the IC7 now, which is getting steadily less stable with each BIOS release.

I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with the IS7, but I do think Abit needs to take a long hard look at their BIOS development - it is out of control. What I would recommend for the IS7 right now is to run with the 667 strap to enable PAT, check whether it is enabled with CPU-Z 1.18C http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-118c.zip, use the GAT sparingly (which does not appear to be PAT at all), and encorage Abit to sacrifice some speed for stability.

Frankly, Asus did a VERY sophisticated job in timings on the P4P800. The more we learn about the tricks they have used the more we realize just what a clever programming job it is. The Asus DOES achieve fast without sacrificing stability. As I've watched this unfold, it is my opinion that Asus has a much better handle on what to do with PAT on the 865, and the P4P800 is the board to get if you want a PAT-enabled 865. I also am finding solace in the 875's, which at present ARE more stable.

In the end the 865 may be the full equal of the 875, but for now there are WAY too many stability issues with most of the fast 865 boards - except the Asus.

In retrospect I may have been too subtle in my review - "In Training" meant it showed promise in my mind - but wasn't quite there yet. I also mention several times my concerns about stability probelms and the fact the IS7 will not overclock as far due to the extrememly agressive timings. Perhaps I should have bluntly said - the fastest but NOT yet the best.

[jhites]

prometheus
Nice review and heads up on this board. Decided to give IS7-E a try myself but so far my P4C800/2.6C @ 3.4Ghz (5:4)PC3500 combo is still the fastest and most stable that I have used. As you mentioned, the 875 seems to be more stable at higher fsb. I still have up and running a P4G8X/3.06b @ 3.4Ghz (1:1)PC2700 and P4P800/2.8C @ 3.3Ghz (1:1)PC3700 for comparisons.

[Croc]

Thanks Prom for that injection of objective reasoning. As I read the reviews here and at ABX I keep delaying my jump to a new board.

So far I have seen too many posts regarding ram timings, Windbond chip probs on Abit boards, etc., etc. For now I am running a 2.66b but my board is obviously limited. My bud has been disappointed with the performance results on his IS7 figuring he was doing just as well with his Asus P4PE.

At this point I have no desire to lay down the bucks for a Canterwood and hoped for some overclocking goodness and stability. The Asus P4P800...maybe.

[jhites]

Say this posted on another site. Thought it was informative.

Link to below tips on IS7 (http://www.mushkin.com/epages/Mushkin.storefront/3f1ada690cd4b078273fc0a8010506a1/Product/View/990879#abitis7)


ABIT IS7: Intel i865PE Springdale

The ABit IS7 uses a trick to bypass Intel's restrictions on the Springdale chipset, that is, even at the 800 MHz PSB, the additional pipeline stages in the memory address and command path are not activated. This, essentially, turns the Springdale into a pseudo-canterwood with all performance benefits associated with the more expensive Canterwood chipset but no support for ECC. In theory, the Springdale should work similar to the Canterwood, however, keep in mind that the dies used there are not validated for Performance Acceleration Technology. This, in turn, means that there are no guarantees that the performance modes will actually run stable. Because of this "cheat" beyond Intel's specifications, we are only scratching the surface of potential issues and bugs at this point.
With the samples at hand, we still found the IS7 100% compatible with all Mushkin PC3200 and PC3500 Black series. Keep in mind that it is necessary to populate the board with a minimum of two identical DIMMs in the complementary slots in order to get "Dual Channel" performance.

USER TIPS: enabling any of the different performance options will override the manual latency and frequency ratio settings and force a 1:1 CPU:DRAM ratio at 2:x:x:x latency settings, with the "Ultra" (now "F1") setting forcing a 2:2:2:5 latency configuration at DDR400 frequency.

The same issues apply to the IS7 as what we listed for the IC7: using the "Turbo" (or "Street Racer") setting at 2:2:2:7 yields overall better performance since a longer tRAS prevents the controller from inadvertently terminating an ongoing data burst. Enabling the CPC (Command Per Clock) adds another small notch to the overall performance but can cause stability problems as well. The Read Delay timer should be set to 5-6 cycles for best stability and performance or else left on Auto.

We found that DIMMs that require CAS latencies of 2.5 or higher at DDR400 will not function in any of the available performance modes. The workaround is to set the performance tab to "Disabled". Even though this appears counterintuitive at first, it makes sense in that there is no point in reducing chipset latencies when the memory itself would add those latencies again at the back-end of the "food chain". The HW monitor shows voltage values that are below the real voltages, so better not crank them up too much.

Keep in mind that these recommendations are based on "snapshots" of a few of the current BIOS revisions and may change with future BIOS versions.

[Neil]

I had one! found the bios lame, just too unstable for me.

[ThugsRook]

the bios on the ic7 & is7 boards can easily be overwhelming if you dont know what everything does.

these boards have more performance bios options then any board i have ever seen! and they all actually do something too ;)

if you want stability w/o tweaking get an asus board.
but if want to be able to tweak your system to be faster then an asus board, then the ic7/is7 is for you.

but again, if you arent familiar with the abits bios options ~ it can be overwhelming.

:wave:

[MrMajestyk]

Originally posted by ThugsRook
the bios on the ic7 & is7 boards can easily be overwhelming if you dont know what everything does.

these boards have more performance bios options then any board i have ever seen! and they all actually do something too ;)

if you want stability w/o tweaking get an asus board.
but if want to be able to tweak your system to be faster then an asus board, then the ic7/is7 is for you.

but again, if you arent familiar with the abits bios options ~ it can be overwhelming.

:wave:

I'll second that. I've got an IS7 and the 1.4 GAT bios, 2.6C and 2x512 XMSC2.

At 1.1 217mhz it's rock stable Prime etc. But no matter what combo GAT settings/ram settings it won't run 250mhz 5.4.

And the temp readings are a joke.~And I've got an MCX4000.

After a P4B533 these Abits are OTT.

Think I'm gonna get my feet back on mother Earth with a PC800-E.

Hey Neil , how do you like the WaterChill setup ??

[Neil]

Originally posted by MrMajestyk


Hey Neil , how do you like the WaterChill setup ??

Wicked M8, runs much cooler now ohh and less noise! Very easy to install and quality gear. Radiator could have been a bit bigger, but maybe I say that cause my case is a lian-li PC70.

Now I wanna get a peltier for the chip!

[Neil]

Originally posted by ThugsRook
the bios on the ic7 & is7 boards can easily be overwhelming if you dont know what everything does.

these boards have more performance bios options then any board i have ever seen! and they all actually do something too ;)

if you want stability w/o tweaking get an asus board.
but if want to be able to tweak your system to be faster then an asus board, then the ic7/is7 is for you.

but again, if you arent familiar with the abits bios options ~ it can be overwhelming.

:wave:

Ok fair comment! and I am a newbie, but how the hell does one get this thing to go. You can feed carrots to donkeys and bananas to monkeys to get them to move, wots the trick ere?

[Neil]

Originally posted by Neil
Ok fair comment! and I am a newbie, but how the hell does one get this thing to go. You can feed carrots to donkeys and bananas to monkeys to get them to move, wots the trick ere?


I have finally learnt something I think!!

A m8 has a P4C800, P4 2.8C, 2 x 256mb corsair ?? and Rad9700 pro. We took out my OCZ and Herc 9800pro and waterchill cause I figured they are better than his, and put it all into his system. Which gave us P4C800, P4 2.8C, 2 x OCZ 3700 Gold, Herc 9800pro, water on CPU, NB and GPU, 1 x standard ide drive and Win xp pro. The chip peaked @ 3599.9MHz 257FSB. We then took his chip and all my bits and put them in my IS7. Of all the benches we ran on both setups mine was bterr but the biggest and most significant difference was 3D Mark 2001 SE. His battled to get 19000, mine, well it got 22680. What does that tell you? IS7 is good, no?

I have finally got this board to move : )

[Croc]

I am not sure what it tells you Neil. Hard to believe he only got 19,000. I can get 20,500 with a lower clock on 4000 Gold which is higher timings than the 3700Gold and 22,680 seems awfully high. That's nearly a 4,000 point difference?

[Neil]

Croc

I hear you but swear its all fact!!!

[Croc]

Hey either way the 22,680 is a sweet score Neil. Congrats.