Best Abit board? IC7, IS7, AI7...confused.

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total

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Alright guys. I constantly come running back to this forum for help any time I upgrade my PC. Seems like this is one of the best Intel forums out there for overclocking and such. Anywho. I recently came across a P4 2.4C and found out my motherboard was in no way going to support it. I can accept that. After doing some research it seems that the IC7 and the IS7 are the way to go. I have chincy Crucial RAM right now, PC2100. I love Abit boards so I am going to stick with them. I don't really need SATA, or onboard sound, or GIGABIT ethernet. Nor do I need any sort of onboard RAID. I basically want a board that will take this P4 to its limits, and not break the bank. I am going to get some RAM eventually and I seem to be hearing good things about the Geil Golden Dragon dual series; price VS performance. So I guess I am just curious as to what you guys think. I've seen a bit of talk about the AI7 but not a ton. Anywho, I think you understand what I'm getting at. Thanks for wading through the entire post.
 
I got very similar question as i'm going to build nice2.8C/2.8E (i'll decide next monday :D) system soon. Is there any diffrence in overcloaking using IS7E, IS-7, AI-7 or IC7 ?
 
Yeah I know, kinda confusing. Seems there are quite a few Abit boards out there that are very similiar. What ever happened to the days when there would be 2 Abit boards. One with RAID, one without. Gimme back my KT7-RAID days. Even though that was a beast of a board.
 
My IS7-e board was the fastest ram speeds on any of them. I currently use a IC7 cause it's supposed to be faster, but about the same as a IS7

AI7 OC's without any modding, and is a great choice, but mem score's were way lower over 5% no matter what "gat or Pat" settings. Seems disabled to me.

But for the price i'd get the AI7 if you dont like modding. Runs cooler, different Mosfets than the current Abit boards, and voltages are rock stable.

But you cant go wrong picking any of them. Cept for the Max3, overpriced and i had a terrible time with it. Believed they hype.
 
the AI7 rocks, plus its mem scores increase dramatically if you set it to nb strap 667
 
the ic7-max 3 is their newst board with the intel 875 chipset..this is the best for ocing, but to get anywhere you need to up that ram....mushkin pc3500 level 2 is nicee

ai7 is an 865pe chipset and is really nice and can be very suffeicent to your needs

i have no expericne with the is7 but it is a good board just with less features and cheaper


if you want to spring out the extra cash go with the max 3 as there will be more room for upgrade in the future if not go with teh ai7
 
Well, as of right now, the IC-7 Max3 is $186 on newegg. It has onboard sound, SATA, RAID, Gigabit. Like I said, don't need any of it. I will take the SATA simply because I would love to get some Raptors down the line. The IC-7 gets rid of the lan (fine by me, plenty of Realtek cards lying around), spendy onboard sound (have an Audigy 2 Platinum eX), and uber SATA RAID (like I said, no use for it). The IC-7 is only $130. Sounds quite a bit more to my taste, slim board. The AI7 has basically everything the IC-7 does and is only $112, plus they through a NIC in to boot. The IS7 seems to have basically the same features as the IC7, only with a price tag of less then $100. The IS7 seems to be sort of a steal, if these boards all perform relatively close to each other. I am not really looking for an enormous feature set. I just don't have use for a lot of the stuff as I either have better hardware, or no use for the technology yet. Hmmmm...I think I am leaning towards the IS7 or AI7. Price VS. Performance seems to single out those two. Thanks again for the views everyone.
 
I'm happy with my IS7, it's not perfect but it's a good board. BUT if you want more than 2.8 VDIMM go for the AI7, or if you just have to much money to spend go for the IC7 Max3. :cool:
 
I'm gonna be air cooling, but I would like to hit at least 3ghz with my CPU. Do you think 2.8v will be enough for some decent RAM? I was thinking Geil for price, but have Heard good things about Corsair and Mushkin. Those last two are pretty fucking expensive though.
 
You're not going to be overclocking very much at all with that ram. At 200FSB (800) 2.4Ghz and using the 3:2 ratio your ram will be running at spec. So lets say you have decent PC2100 (DDR266) ram that overclocks to 150Mhz (DDR300) then your FSB would be at 225 and CPU would be 2.7Ghz.

So if you plan on getting even close to 3Ghz you will NEED NEW RAM.

As for a suggestion I would go with the IS-7, the AI7's you dont seem to be able to get PAT working correctly/easily like with the IS7's

The IC-7 generic is nice too. (what I have)

so get some new ram. Preferably some 3500 or 3200 with tight timings. Real world apps performance (and stability) is usually better with a ratio and tight timings than with uber high memory clocks at 1:1(& lax timings).

I like Geil and Corsair(have used both).
Though Mushkin Level 1 is nice too. I just cant see paying the premium for Level 2 Mushkin.

The Geil Golden Dragon 3200 is neat looking and has 1 little red LED on it. (not fancy activity lights like Corsair Pro series)
 
Whoa awesome info here dude. Yeah I knew from the start this was gonna be a job. I am heading to a computer sale tonight, we'll see what they are showing down there. I knew from the start my RAM wasn't going to cut it, but I just need something to tide me over until I can really afford it. I think I am just gonna start out with some Geil Dual series. Start with a couple 256 sticks and run with them until I can afford better. Here is a little question for ya. If I put say a pair of Geil 256MB in there and run them in dual...can I add two 512MB Geil sticks of the same style and still run in dual channel mode? Or do I have to stick with the same amount of RAM on every chip. Again, thanks for all the info guys.
 
BTW my Crucial runs at 160Mhz rock solid with loose memory settings. Ran my P4 1.6A at 2.4+Ghz for quite a while.
 
with ram at 160 (DDR320).... FSB=240... CPU=2.88Ghz... so still no 3Ghz :(

Actually, I'm not even sure about the same size thing. I know they have to be in pairs. Whenever, I've seen people running 4 sticks its always been the same size. like 4x256 or 4x512 or 4 x 1Gb!!

I think you can run different size dimms just pair 1&3 and 2&4 up. However, there's probably a performance penalty.

If they're not all the same size, same mBit, SPD, etc.. the memory controller may run in a slower PAT mode to ensure stability.

I havent run in to any problems with 2x256. But then again I dont play Battlefield1942. (runs better over 512Mb)

Its not that much more to go 2x512 though.

Geil Golden Dragon 3200 1Gb (2x512) cas 2-3-3-6 = $188
Corsair XMS3200 1Gb (2x512) cas 2-3-3-6 = $207
Mushkin 3500 Lv 1 1Gb (2x512) cas 2-3-3 = $199
(3500 2-3-3 or 3200 2-3-2 both $199)

Mushkin 3200 (2-2-2) or 3500 Level 2 = $307-315
 
Yeah that Geil memory seems to be exactly what I am looking for. So as of right now it looks like I am going with the IS7 or AI7 and some Geil RAM. You pretty much convnced me to go 1GB. Just doesn't make sense to waste the extra cash waiting it out.
 
Originally posted by total
Yeah that Geil memory seems to be exactly what I am looking for. So as of right now it looks like I am going with the IS7 or AI7 and some Geil RAM. You pretty much convnced me to go 1GB. Just doesn't make sense to waste the extra cash waiting it out.
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Get the IS7!!!!

the AI7 memory scores arent nearly as good. They lag by like 300-400Mb/s like about 7-8%
 
the AI7 has better stability and voltages though, plus you can enable full gat to help the mem scores
 
Originally posted by chrisf6969
You're not going to be overclocking very much at all with that ram. At 200FSB (800) 2.4Ghz and using the 3:2 ratio your ram will be running at spec. So lets say you have decent PC2100 (DDR266) ram that overclocks to 150Mhz (DDR300) then your FSB would be at 225 and CPU would be 2.7Ghz.

So if you plan on getting even close to 3Ghz you will NEED NEW RAM.
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Check the sig :p It's possible. I expected to have to upgrade down the line, but one day I just said "What the frell?" and set the divider to 1:1 (when she was still at stock), and with a little coaxing from the VDimm, it worked!
 
Yeah I dunno. My Crucial runs decently, but I think I will get some Geil. I'm starting to give a second look at the AI7 though. So confused. I am definately going with that Geil RAM though. Looks too sweet to pass up, and if I get a bad stick newegg will replace it. Really, thanks for all the info guys. I love the [H]ard|Forum, always the best place for info.
 
Actually, has anyone heard anything about this RAM? Perhaps this RAM also. Seems to be the same stuff as the earlier posted RAM, just PC3500 instead of 3200. Any experiences?
 
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