*** Official ABIT IC7/G (875P) Thread ***

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: eastvillager

How painful is it re-enable winxp after a complete reinstall? I just installed that copy+license about a month ago, curious if I'm gonna have to be on the phone with MS.

The only people with aything to worry about are the ones using an illegal copy. Worst-case scenario for a legit copy is 5 minutes on the phone.

 

[Burner27]

I just got my new IC7-G mobo installed and running with WinXP, but I have 2 quirky problems:

When I put the IDE Controllers in "Enhanced Mode" which allows for up to 6 devices on the ICH5 using a combination of the SATA connectors and the PATA conectors, the BIOS reports my CD Rom drives attached to the PATA connectors and only 1 of my HDDs attached to the SATA connectors. I am 100% sure of the MASTER/SLAVE settings on all of my devices because when I hook the 2 HDDs to the Silicon Image controller they are seen. I cannot figure this one out.


Secondly, I have a Netgear RT314 Router/Switch which is capable of 100Mb/Full duplex on the LAN side. I used many other cards and I can set the NICs to 100FULL with no problems, yet with the Gigalan onboard the IC7-G, the best I can get is 10FULL. Is there something I am missing?

Any help would be appreciated. Other than that--this board rocks!

 

[ginfest]

Secondly, I have a Netgear RT314 Router/Switch which is capable of 100Mb/Full duplex on the LAN side. I used many other cards and I can set the NICs to 100FULL with no problems, yet with the Gigalan onboard the IC7-G, the best I can get is 10FULL. Is there something I am missing

Here's my experience:

I'm running the same router, after I installed the IC7-G and the Intel network drivers I telneted into the router and checked-my LAN side shows "100M/Full"
The setting in the NIC properties page is "Auto-detect".
I assume means that I'm running 100/Full on the LAN side?
I didn't change any settings in the router or NIC properties.

Maybe re-install the drivers?

Mike G

 

[WizardNJ]

I've read the new 1.1 bios will have problems with drives on the second sata connector unless they are true sata drives or using the Serielle 2 adapter.

There's been a big discussion on this at www.asusboards.com

Dave

Originally posted by: Burner127
I just got my new IC7-G mobo installed and running with WinXP, but I have 2 quirky problems:

When I put the IDE Controllers in "Enhanced Mode" which allows for up to 6 devices on the ICH5 using a combination of the SATA connectors and the PATA conectors, the BIOS reports my CD Rom drives attached to the PATA connectors and only 1 of my HDDs attached to the SATA connectors. I am 100% sure of the MASTER/SLAVE settings on all of my devices because when I hook the 2 HDDs to the Silicon Image controller they are seen. I cannot figure this one out.

 

[eastvillager]

My IC7-G arrived a day or two early. I probably won't have time to start the mobo swap till Thursday, and I'm doing some fan/ps work at the same time.

Anyways, thought I'd list everything that comes in the IC7-G box, just for the curious. This thing is packaged very nice, a pleasant surprise from the usual board and cables sliding around inside a box I normally see.

CD-ROM with manual/drivers/harware monitor/acrobat
SATA driver disk, floppy, si drivers for 98/ME, 2000 and XP, intel drivers for XP
ATX rear personality plate (Digital input/output punchouts still in place, btw, remove them)
Motherboard jumper settings/layout/diagram sticker (I usually put these on the inside of the left case panel.)
User's Manual
Quick Installation Guide
Serillel2 Documentation Sheet

2 SATA .5M data cables
2 SATA to legacy power adapters
1 Serillel2 adapter, with y-power cable
1 rear slot panel with connectors for 2 USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire.
1 rounded floppy cable (black)
1 rounded ATA cable with host,motherboard, and slave connetcions (black)

1 IC7-G Motherboard.

Got a zalman 7000series copper heatsink to replace the stock intel. Maybe quieter, but the thing easily weighs twice as much.

IC7-G reviews are popping up on the net now, hot hardware has shootout, and hard-ocp a regular review.

 

[oldfart]

I just set mine up last night and am so far, very pleased.

The 6K RPM NB fan is VERY QUIET, which was a pleasant surprise. Its nothing like the annoying whine of my Radeon 9700 Pro! Zalman ZM80A is on the way to fix that problem.

The 11 BIOS helps quite a bit. With this BIOS, you have control over the cas settings unlike the 10 BIOS. Gives a nice performance boost. I hear it does break the SATA though. I'm not using it, so no big deal for me.

 

[gmoss]

Originally posted by: oldfart
I just set mine up last night and am so far, very pleased.

The 6K RPM NB fan is VERY QUIET, which was a pleasant surprise. Its nothing like the annoying whine of my Radeon 9700 Pro! Zalman ZM80A is on the way to fix that problem.

The 11 BIOS helps quite a bit. With this BIOS, you have control over the cas settings unlike the 10 BIOS. Gives a nice performance boost. I hear it does break the SATA though. I'm not using it, so no big deal for me.

Thanks for the info on the NB fan. I was a little concerned when I saw the speed of the fan.

gmoss

 

[snidy1]

I think I'll get the Abit IC7-G. I'm just waiting on the review from Anandtech.

 

[eastvillager]

took some pics when I was putting the mobo onto the tray, and installing cpu/ram/video card/zalman 7000, etc.

IC7-G attached to atc-201 removable tray, proc installed, mounts for zalman

same, with Zalman attached

IC7-G in atc-201 case, most drive cabling complete, video card in as well

These images are pulled straight off of a microdrive from a digital camera, haven't been resized at all. They're each about a meg or so in size and are ample proof that I need to learn how to use this camera better.

Oh, btw, I didn't have the fan control inline in the first two shots, but it is hooked up in the last.

 

[la400]

Hey Guys

Just set up my IC-7G after that damn nightmare with the MSI 875P board. This board is a dream!!! The 1.1 BIOS does NOT break the SATA, I had nothing but a smooth install. I have got a pair of Raptor HDD RAID0-ed. This thing is FAST (keep in mind that I am running only a 1,8A @ 2.4). My god i ilove this mobo.

One thing i didnt like (that is not too big of a deal) is that it comes with only 2 SATA data cables; so there is no way to connect a 3rd HDD (using the included serillel2) if you are already using the 2 SATA cables included (MSI had 4 included - and 2 extra ports from the promise raid controller - which I could NOT get to work - driver would NOT install).

9.5 out of 10 stars for me!!!

gurgen

P>S> Now I am gonna mess around with the RAM timing settings. I have got 2 sticks of GeiL ram, and the mobo will NOT boot correctly (although it WILL post) with ULTRA performane mode enabled (havent tried the others).

I will report back with more info guys. Good luck

 

[coffeesmurf]

Geat pics ! From what I can see and from what others have been saying you didn't find any problems using the Zalman ..?

A little of topic but what camera are you using ?

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took some pics when I was putting the mobo onto the tray, and installing cpu/ram/video card/zalman 7000, etc.

IC7-G attached to atc-201 removable tray, proc installed, mounts for zalman

same, with Zalman attached

IC7-G in atc-201 case, most drive cabling complete, video card in as well

These images are pulled straight off of a microdrive from a digital camera, haven't been resized at all. They're each about a meg or so in size and are ample proof that I need to learn how to use this camera better.

Oh, btw, I didn't have the fan control inline in the first two shots, but it is hooked up in the last.

 

[eastvillager]

No real problems with the Zalman, I was actually amazed it didn't end up brushing against anything. Getting the screw on each side of the bracket started is really a job for somebody with 4 hands, but I used a couple shims to hold the bottom brackets up to the clamp to get the screws going.

Camera is a Nikon Coolpix 5700. I had a 1gig IBM microdrive in it, which i just popped out and stuck into a pcmcia adapter so I could move the jpegs to pc. Don't even need any software long as the camera is set to jpg format for your shots. I need to get a tripod for taking shots like this, I suppose. Flash against the shiny aluminum of the case didn't help any, lol.

Oh, couple things with the serillel 2 adapter and my plextor burner. On the plextor, the data cable connection and the power connection are right next to each other. Kind of a pain since the serrilel2 adapter body is longer than the connector, on each side, by about a quarter of an inch. Trimmed off the 'grip' on the power plug closest to the serrilel2 and was able to attach both at once. Also had to move the burner down from the top slot since the extra couple inches on the back of it with the adapter installed made it bump into the blowhole fan housing. It would've worked, but I just know about an hour after I'd finished those two would've started rattling against each other and driving me bananas.

Finished my power supply mods at work, will be putting it in when I get home in a couple hours. Got my fingers crossed. I've got a 435 watt enermax, probably the last one of those I'll ever buy. Supposed to be quiet, but it has some huge design flaws. Two fans, with the intake fan larger than the one blowing air out, AND perforated grillwork 90 degrees to it allowing all that extra hot air to circulate right back into the case. Ended up pulling out the internal PS fan, and removing the grillwork from the remaining fan, we'll see how it goes. PC ends up with 2 fans sucking air in at the front, 2 blowing air out at the back, 1 blowing air out at the top, and 3! blowing air around inside. Probably gonna sound like a hovercraft when I power it on.

Hey, anybody stuck one of the zalman video coolers on a 9700pro aiw? It is supposed to work on a 9500 pro aiw, but I think they changed tuners since then and it might be different size, causing the zalman not to fit. That'd save me lots of noise from the 9700pro/aiw, if it works.

 

[eastvillager]

FYI. Had to change AGP Aperature from 128(default) to 64, otherwise got screen corruption on SI bios screen, and then even more corruption and lock up on Intel bios screen.

 

[eastvillager]

nooooo, gotta go buy a stupid floppy drive cause winxp install won't load other controller drivers from any other source.

I haven't had a floppy drive in my last 5 computers, this is sad day.

 

[mngisdood]

Hey guys,

I've tenatively decided on the ic7-g versus the a7n8x v2 because of the mad s-ata issues on the asus. That said, my question is whether the two following heatsinks are gonna work on the ic7-g, or am I to have to sell or trade them for something more 'compatible.' They are:

slk-800a -what i got now
slk-800u
slk-900

Thanks in advance...

edit: wanna see if the 800u would work too

 

[oldfart]

Dont know if those will work, but if you do need a new HS/F, I'm using an Alpha 8942 with a Panaflo L1A fan. Nice VERY quiet setup. The Swiftech MCX4000 is also a very good one.

 

[legendma]

Originally posted by: mngisdood
Hey guys,

I've tenatively decided on the ic7-g versus the a7n8x v2 because of the mad s-ata issues on the asus. That said, my question is whether the two following heatsinks are gonna work on the ic7-g, or am I to have to sell or trade them for something more 'compatible.' They are:

slk-800a
slk-800u
slk-900

Thanks in advance...

edit: wanna see if the 800u would work too

I'm using a Thermalright SLK-900 w/a 92mm Fan.. Fits perfectly, no problem at all on the IC7..

 

[eastvillager]

sisoft sandra benches for disk.

2 x WD360GD RAID 0 on intel sata vs. 1 180GB 180GXP on IDE

Drive Index: 71750 kB/s 29977 kB/s
Buffered Read: 168 MB/s 89 MB/s
Sequential Read: 110 MB/s 44 MB/s
Random Read: 13 MB/s 7 MB/s
Buffered Write: 35 MB/s 76 MB/s
Sequential Write: 97 MB/s 41 MB/s
Random Write: 22 MB/s 11 MB/s
Average Access Time: 4 ms 7 ms

If I get ambitious, I'll create the stripe on the SI controller, test it there, then break the stripe and test single drive on intel and si.

 

[vetteguy]

Originally posted by: eastvillager
sisoft sandra benches for disk.

2 x WD360GD RAID 0 on intel sata vs. 1 180GB 180GXP on IDE

Drive Index: 71750 kB/s 299977 kB/s


If I get ambitious, I'll create the stripe on the SI controller, test it there, then break the stripe and test single drive on intel and si.

Did you perhaps either forget a digit on the left, or add one in on the right? Otherwise, it looks like the RAID-0 set didn't even get 25% of the score of the single 120GB.

 

[baraka]

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took some pics when I was putting the mobo onto the tray, and installing cpu/ram/video card/zalman 7000, etc.

IC7-G attached to atc-201 removable tray, proc installed, mounts for zalman

same, with Zalman attached

IC7-G in atc-201 case, most drive cabling complete, video card in as well

These images are pulled straight off of a microdrive from a digital camera, haven't been resized at all. They're each about a meg or so in size and are ample proof that I need to learn how to use this camera better.

Oh, btw, I didn't have the fan control inline in the first two shots, but it is hooked up in the last.

I'm thinking about getting the ic7 and the atc-201 case but I'm worried that the slave connectors on the ide cables won't reach the 5.25" bays because the ide ports are at the bottom of the mobo. Do you think this would be a problem?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: baraka

Originally posted by: eastvillager
took some pics when I was putting the mobo onto the tray, and installing cpu/ram/video card/zalman 7000, etc.

IC7-G attached to atc-201 removable tray, proc installed, mounts for zalman

same, with Zalman attached

IC7-G in atc-201 case, most drive cabling complete, video card in as well

These images are pulled straight off of a microdrive from a digital camera, haven't been resized at all. They're each about a meg or so in size and are ample proof that I need to learn how to use this camera better.

Oh, btw, I didn't have the fan control inline in the first two shots, but it is hooked up in the last.

I'm thinking about getting the ic7 and the atc-201 case but I'm worried that the slave connectors on the ide cables won't reach the 5.25" bays because the ide ports are at the bottom of the mobo. Do you think this would be a problem?

Well, one thing you will have to look out for is the tight squeeze in there if you use the Serille 2 adaptor on any of your hard drives. I will have to look at mine to see how much slack there is (I am using the top IDE controler only, and right now only have one device conected to it), but I will see if I can hook up the "slave" connector on the cable to the top of the case when I get home... I'll let you know if the included cable will reach. If it doesn't, just pick up a 24" shielded Rounded IDE cable from svc...

 

[baraka]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

Originally posted by: baraka
I'm thinking about getting the ic7 and the atc-201 case but I'm worried that the slave connectors on the ide cables won't reach the 5.25" bays because the ide ports are at the bottom of the mobo. Do you think this would be a problem?

Well, one thing you will have to look out for is the tight squeeze in there if you use the Serille 2 adaptor on any of your hard drives. I will have to look at mine to see how much slack there is (I am using the top IDE controler only, and right now only have one device conected to it), but I will see if I can hook up the "slave" connector on the cable to the top of the case when I get home... I'll let you know if the included cable will reach. If it doesn't, just pick up a 24" shielded Rounded IDE cable from svc...

Please let me know, thanks.

I plan on setting up a RAID array using the southbridge and hooking up another hard drive to the ide1 port. That would mean I would have to use ide2 for both of my optical drives. If the slave connector doesn't reach then I will have to pick another motherboard (I don't really want to use a smaller case).

Is it possible to use some kind of extender to go from the slave ide connector to the drive? I think the max length for ide is only like 18" or something.

 

[NicColt]

Originally posted by: oldfart
I just set mine up last night and am so far, very pleased. The 6K RPM NB fan is VERY QUIET, which was a pleasant surprise.

Fart are you talking about the NB32J ??? what fan are you talking about and are you going to keep your alpha and panaflo on the cpu ??

 

[la400]

sisoft sandra benches for disk.

2 x WD360GD RAID 0 on intel sata vs. 1 180GB 180GXP on IDE

Drive Index: 71750 kB/s 299977 kB/s
Buffered Read: 168 MB/s 89 MB/s
Sequential Read: 110 MB/s 44 MB/s
Random Read: 13 MB/s 7 MB/s
Buffered Write: 35 MB/s 76 MB/s
Sequential Write: 97 MB/s 41 MB/s
Random Write: 22 MB/s 11 MB/s
Average Access Time: 4 ms 7 ms

If I get ambitious, I'll create the stripe on the SI controller, test it there, then break the stripe and test single drive on intel and si.

What was your stripe size, please tell me. I ahve got a couple of raptors on the raid0 setup too, and have heard that the best stup occurs from the lowest stripe size (16k i think)

PPlease tell us

G

 

[Spicedaddy]

Originally posted by: NicColt

Originally posted by: oldfart
I just set mine up last night and am so far, very pleased. The 6K RPM NB fan is VERY QUIET, which was a pleasant surprise.

Fart are you talking about the NB32J ??? what fan are you talking about and are you going to keep your alpha and panaflo on the cpu ??

He's talking about the Abit fan on the north bridge...

Glad to hear it's not that bad, the 6-7K rpm number scared me a little. Mine should be here tomorrow or Friday. Dammit, why is UPS so slow?