SUMMARY: Abit has long been making quality motherboards that have been noticed by the enthusiast crowd. They have even gone so far as to remove legacy ports from some of their product line as well. Join Asher "Acid" Moses as he checks out their latest offering; namely the Abit IT7. It combines support for the new 533MHz Pentium 4 processors, DDR266 memory and more RAID ports than you can shake a stick at. But can it live up to the reputation that it has garnered in the past? Let's find out!
Abit has gained much respect in the enthusiast motherboard market since the release of their MAX series of motherboards. These innovative products lacked the aging and now redundant legacy ports, but include features such as IEEE1394, USB 2.0, 6-channel audio, 10/100 Ethernet and much more. The first MAX motherboard to hit the shelves was the AT7 featuring VIA’s KT333 chipset for the Socket A platform. We were very impressed with this product; so much so that it received our coveted "Editor's Choice" award.
Since then, Abit has added another product to their MAX range, this time called the IT7. The IT7 is based on the Intel i845E chipset supporting the new 533MHz bus Pentium 4 processors as well as DDR266 memory. We have put the board through an array of tests comparing it to competing motherboards and chipsets. Is the IT7 as impressive as the critically acclaimed AT7? Or has Abit's luck just run out? Read on to find out!
