UPS man dropped off my Abit IS7 Springdale!

[flyer351]

The UPS man dropped off my Abit IS7 today. I picked it up from googlegear for $124. I was a bit nervous about the feature set, because the Abit site had conflicting information. Here's what's on the board.

-4 USB 2.0 ports on I/O panel
-1 Firewire port on I/O panel
-10/100 LAN
-six channel sound with optical input and output
-two SATA connectors and RAID 0, no Raid 1
-a pci slot cover with another 2 USB 2.0 and 2 Firewire Ports
-two more USB 2.0 connectors on MB
-four 3-pin fan headers

The box had two SATA cables, two SATA power leads, only 1 PATA cable, and 1 floppy cable.

I ordered a 2.4C from Atacom, but they didn't come thru, so now I have a 2.53 OEM coming from Newegg.

I'll probably have the system up by this weekend for some benchmarks for everyone.

 

[gaidin123]

Please post any issues you have with it along with overclockability. The IS7 seems like the best mix of features vs. price on Abit's 865 line so far.

TIA
Gaidin

 

[dloob]

I got my Abit IS7 from googlegear today as well. It's my first dealing with a P4 system after a few AMD systems. Needless to say I'm impressed.

I was initially weary of the purchase because of the conflicting info for the mobo (flyer's description is spot-on), but took the plunge and I'm glad I did. I ordered a 2.4B (got a C1) along with the board, as well as two 256mb sticks of PC3500 HyperX.

Right now I only have the stock cooler, but I will most likely be picking up a Zalman 7000-AlCu later this week. Current OC results:

2.4B @ 178FSBx18 for 3210mhz. Not bad for fresh out of the box
HyperX at 1:1 2-2-2-5 (I will mess with 4:5 later)

I'll be doing more benchmarks tonight and I'll update my findings.

Edit: One strange note, the onboard 3Com NIC is described as "3Com Gigabit NIC" in device manager. I have no way to test it though.

 

[flyer351]

While checking out the onboard LAN chip, I noticed it was a 3COM chip. The motherboard lists a Realtek chip as the 10/100 chip and the 3COM chip as the Gigabit chip. The IS7 is not supposed to have GB lan, but I'm going to load the 3COM driver for the 3COM chip anyway. We'll see how it works out. Man, I can't wait to get my CPU this week.

 

[dloob]

I didn't use the Realtek drivers supplied on the CD, just the 3Com ones and everything is fine.

 

[Rand]

I've been getting conflicting information regarding the Abit IS7 motherboard.
Some are saying it has two SATA connectors powered by the ICH5R SouthBridge, whereas others are claiming it has 2X SATA connectors powered by the ICH5R and another 2 SATA connectors powered by a SiliconImage chip.

Anyone with the board care to clarify which is the case?

 

[dloob]

Looking at the manual, the IS7 has the two SATA ports handled by the ICHR SB, and the IS7-G has the those same two as well as a Silicon Image (I think) chip to handle another two.

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: dloob
Looking at the manual, the IC7 has the two SATA ports handled by the ICHR SB, and the IC7-G has the those same two as well as a Silicon Image (I think) chip to handle another two.

I was referring to the Abit IS7 though, not the IC7.
So far as I'm aware Xbit-Labs is the only site with Springdale benches thus far, and those results didnt exactly paint the I875 as being much faster at all so I'm leaning towards going with a cheaper I865 board over the rather pricey I875.

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: dloob


Edit: One strange note, the onboard 3Com NIC is described as "3Com Gigabit NIC" in device manager. I have no way to test it though.

Why is that strange?

 

[dloob]

Because the manual and website only mention that it has 10/100 ethernet, not 10/100/1000

And Rand, I meant IS7, not IC7 (I dont have an IC7)

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: dloob
Because the manual and website only mention that it has 10/100 ethernet, not 10/100/1000

And Rand, I meant IS7, not IC7 (I dont have an IC7)

Ah, okay... thanks


As far as I'm aware only the IS7-G is supposed to have Gigabit LAN.... quite interesting that Device Manager registers the chip as a Gigabit LAN chip.
Have you checked on the motherboard itself to see which LAN chip is actually on there?
Another question... what does the manual say in respect to the LAN chip?

 

[dloob]

It mentions only the 3Com drivers for the IS7-G, but my IS7 has a 3Com lan chip, not a Realtek... hmmm

 

[Jeriko]

What color is the PCB on this board? From the pictures, I can't tell if it's orange or red.

-J

 

[render]

anyone got a link of the product at googlegear?

 

[vetteguy]

How are Abit motherboards these days? I had some bad experiences with them back in the P2/P3 days (4 consecutively dead mobos) so have gone straight Asus since then. I'm in need of a Canterwood/Springdale board sometime this month, and I'm thinking of this one.

 

[dloob]

The Abit board is more orange than red, not unlike the BH7 board.

Googlegear pulled the IS7 and other 865PE boards from the site for some reason.

 

[vetteguy]

Originally posted by: dloob
The Abit board is more orange than red, not unlike the BH7 board.

Googlegear pulled the IS7 and other 865PE boards from the site for some reason.

Maybe because the Springdale boards haven't been officially released yet?

 

[dloob]

Anyone have any idea when the 865 will indeed be announced?

 

[Viper96720]

What's the numbers on the 3com chip?

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: dloob
Anyone have any idea when the 865 will indeed be announced?

I865 is due to be launched on May 21.

 

[Jeriko]

^ And let me tell you, it's been a looooooooooooooong wait.

-J

 

[flyer351]

Originally posted by: Viper96720
What's the numbers on the 3com chip?

Here is the exact printing on the 3COM chip

3COM
MARVELL
940-MV00
40-0779-000
FB32881A.1
0311 B0P

What do you make out of it? No officials at Abit forums will respond to my question.

 

[flyer351]

Here's a picture of that chip

3COM Lan Chip on the IS7

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: flyer351
Here's a picture of that chip

3COM Lan Chip on the IS7

Gigabit

 

[flyer351]

Here's another small issue worth considering for the IS7. Installation of the Swiftech MCX4000 was problem free. However, I noticed one side of the copper plate touches the capacitors next to the I/O panel. I didn't have to bend the capacitors at all. They just look very close to touching.

The caps on I/O side touching my Swiftech MCX4000
A mobo screen shot

Also, every single capacitor on this board is a Rubycon. Gotta love Abit