Abit BD7-RAID i845D
Dec 19th, 2001 | By Archive
Abit BD7-RAID i845D
Date
: 12/19/01 – 01:30:52 AM
Author
:
Category
: Motherboard
Page 1 : Introduction
Manufacturer: ABIT
Price: $170
Introduction
A few days ago I posted a review of the Shuttle AV40-R, which is a socket 478 board featuring the VIA P4X266 chipset. Thanks to VIA, the Pentium 4 founds it's way to DDR memory offering the end-user similar performance at a much lower cost (when compared to RDRAM).
Intel was not happy with the fact that people were buying boards with the VIA chipset but unfortunately for them, they were fighting against the current when they released the 845 "Brookdale" chipset, a chipset that brought the good old PC133 memory sticks to their latest processor. Although this setup worked flawlessly and was very stable, many people had mixed feelings about this idea because PC133 memory is just too slow for the Pentium 4 needs.
Intel was aware of this, but because of their contract with RAMBUS, they could not release a DDR chipset before the end of the year and that made PC133 memory their only weapon in this raging battle …
Now that 2001 is coming to an end … Intel was in the clear to release the 845D chipset, Intel's DDR solution for the P4. Finally they can fight VIA's success with equal weapons, and today I am taking a closer look at the ABIT BD7-RAID, one of the most promising 845D based motherboards on the market. Looking at ABIT's previous motherboards, we know that their engineers are capable of showing us some really neat tricks, and they added some novelties to the BD7 as well. Add to the formula that ABIT was reference designer for the 845D motherboard and you know that this baby will scream …
Page 2 : Specifications
Specifications
CPU
Supports Intel Pentium 4 Socket478 processor
400MHz System Data Bus
Chipset
Intel 845 (ICH2) chipset , AGP 4X 1.5V device only
Memory
- Supports Two 184 pin DDR DIMMs up to 2GB MAX
Audio
- AC'97 Digital Audio controller integrated
BIOS
- SoftMenuIII Technology
Multi I/O
- 4 Channels of Bus Master IDE Ports support Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133(RAID 0/1/0+1)
Miscellaneous
- 1 AGP4X slot
- 6 PCI slots
- 1 CNR slot
Ultra DMA 133/RAID
- High Point HPT372 IDE Controller
- Ultra DMA 133MB/sec data transfer rate
- RAID 0/1/0+1
The ABIT BD7 comes in four different flavors: first there is the BD7m which is a microATX version of the BD7 featuring onboard LAN and 3 PCI slots. No RAID is available on this version. Secondly there is the BD7, which is a full size ATX board featuring all the usual stuff: 6 PCI slots, one CNR slot and an AGP 4x slot. Last but not least there is the BD7-RAID, which is the one we are reviewing today. The BD7-RAID is identical to the BD7 with the exception of the onboard RAID controller. This board is ABIT's number one P4 board based upon the Intel 845D chipset. If you read well, you noticed I said FOUR falvors … the reason why I didn't mention the fourth one is because it is not available yet but it soon will be!! It will be called BD7L-RAID and it will be identical to the BD7-RAID with additional onboard LAN.
Other ABIT boards with the "RAID" extension in the name, had an onboard High Point UDMA100 controller. When the KR7A-RAID was released (king of the hill for socket A processors) ABIT introduced a new revision of this onboard RAID controller. The new chip goes by the name HP372. This new controller supports UDMA133 which should result in even greater RAID setups. Just like it's precedessor, the HP372 supports RAID0, RAID1 and RAID0+1. The normal onboard IDE channels also support UDMA133 so noone will complain about the speeds in that section heh?
The beauty about this motherboard is the fact that it supports DDR memory, both PC1600 and PC2100 flavors of course. With that out in the open, I also want to point out one of the few negative remarks about the BD7-RAID: it only has two memory slots. Although each slot can take up to 1GB of DDR memory (for a total of 2GB) most people still have 128MB sticks or 256MB sticks. This means you won't be using more than 512MB unless you want to chunk out your RAM and buy some new ones. Most people will have plenty of RAM free when using 512MB, but I am sure that some of you would like to use more so if you are one of those people, be prepared to lay down some cash for 512MB sticks …
ABIT's spec sheet shows that the AC'97 onboard soundcard is used, but the board has a sticker on it reading AC'2001. I am still in the dark about which soundchip is used, but I doubt that their would be much difference between both … these kind of things are great for occasional users but real music addicts like myself or diehard gamers will never settle for any onboard sound.
Just like previous Pentium 4 motherboards, ABIT has equiped the BD7 with an onboard diagnostic LED. I really really really like this feature (did I mention I just adore it ;)) because it makes life so much easier as it helps you locate your computer problems in case you encounter any. Now if only they would install these on their socket A motherboards, the only thing missing would be world peace and free s** for everyone ;).
Another sweet addition that quickly got my attention was that tiny onboard power and reset button. For the normal computer user out there who installs his/her motherboard in a case, these gadgets won't do any good. But for peeps like myself who spend their time with reviewing computer hardware (did you really think I install all these motherboards in a case?), these things are REALLY handy. No more shorting the pins with a screwdriver, facing the danger of slipping and killing your board. I am sure some of you run your mobo out of your case as well and you will like this a lot!
ABIT also installed onboard LED's for that same reason … no more guessing if the hard drive is doing something … the BD7 has an onboard power LED and IDE LED (besides the standard "I am getting power from the PSU-LED").
Something that I always loved on EPoX motherboards, has found its way to the ABIT stable … The "real" freaks out there know that I am talking about the AGP retention clip. This handy plastic lever secures your video card into the AGP slot so it will not get loose when you're travelling to the nearest LAN party ;).
Connectivity won't be a worry either … besides the usual ports, ABIT is installing not one, not two but three onboard USB ports. Since they are not including the USB bracket that is included in most of their motherboards, this is a welcome feature.
The dip switches are there to enable/disable the SM III BIOS and to select some CPU settings. But in normal modus you will not need them in any way …
Of course the BD7 uses ABIT's Soft Menu III BIOS and they added some sweet, unseen features to it, but I'll get back to those in the BIOS section later in the review.
Page 3 : Package
In The Box
What can you expect when you open up this fine looking ABIT box? Fine looking? Yea … Before ABIT tend to use those, in my humble opinion, ugly boxes but now they use a sweet blue/black/white box with ABIT written onto it and terms like "Speed", "Stability", … tagged on it. Anyway … a good looking box with no content sucks bigtime, so let's see if ABIT put some sweet stuff in it …
Besides the motherboard, you will find a floppy cable, two UDMA100/133 IDE cables, a game port bracket, a CD with tools, drivers, … and a floppy disk with the High Point drivers on it. As you can see, you are getting everything you can ask for ;). Before I forget, the BD7-RAID comes with a well written manual so the "rookies" underneath us will be able to get this beast up and running without too much troubles … I think ;).
All in all I am satisfied with the additional stuff that comes with the BD7 … no reason to complain, although … maybe … a USB bracket would have been nice.
Page 4 : Layout
The Layout
The layout of the BD7-RAID is not the best out there, but it certainly ain't the worst! The two memory slots are placed too close to the AGP slot, which means that the left memory slot can not be accessed when a video card is installed. Bummer.
With that being said, the only negative comment has been spilled because all the other parts are placed pretty good. The floppy connector and the two normal IDE connectors are placed at the right end side of the board, aligned vertically with the memory slots. The two RAID connectors are placed horizontally, again at the right side of the board.
The ATX power connector was put at the top right corner, next to the memory slots. This is the best place to install the ATX connector because it won't bother you in any way. Unfortunately, the ATX 12v connector is placed at the opposite side, at the middle left side of the board. All P4 boards have the ATX 12v connector in that location so I guess that there is no other way. Luckily that cable is pretty thin so it won't bother us too much.
The spacing around the CPU socket is fine, and installing big-ass heatsinks or watersetups won't be a problem!! With an overclockers board like this one, big-ass cooling is as normal as seeing a car with 4 wheels so ABIT did a fine job with this.
Also look at the heatsink mounted onto the northbridge. This silver mastodont will make sure that your board remains stable at any given FSB you throw at it. And it looks good too ;).
Page 5 : BIOS & Overclocking
BIOS & Overclocking
The BD7 wouldn't be a "real" ABIT board if it wouldn't be using their famous Soft Menu BIOS. Just like all recent ABIT boards, the BD7 comes with SM III which means EVERYTHING and more can be set in the BIOS.
The BIOS has all the options you normally expect: memory settings, hdd settings, temperature monitoring, … you know the deal. The important part is the overclocking section.
The front side bus can be set at the value of your choice, as long as it lays between 100MHz and 250MHz!! Of course 1MHz increments are present. I was able to clock the FSB all the way up to 131MHz, anything above that wouldn't even POST … even with the slowest memory settings and the voltages to the max.Besides this, the multiplier is adjustable as well, but since P4's are hardlocked you won't be using that one. The divider for the AGP and PCI busses is variable as well … These are the options: 3/1, 4/1, FIX PCI 33, FIX PCI 37.5 and FIX PCI 40. The first two options are available on most boards, but the other ones are 100% exclusive for the BD7!! For example, if you select FIX PCI 33, the motherboard will choose a divider so the PCI bus is always running at 33MHz (or as close as possible). Why is this important? Well, since we are overclocking by upping the FSB, it is critical that the PCI bus stays as close as possible to 33MHz because once you reach 40MHz or more instability will most certainly occur. ABIT gives you the option to take 37.5MHz and 40MHz as well because if your system is stable at those speeds, it will give you a little extra boost.
And that's not all!! The BD7 is the very first Pentium 4 motherboard that I had a look at that supports CPU core voltages ABOVE 1.85v! That's right folks, the CPU core voltage can be increased all the way up to 2.2v, in 0.05 steps. This will open up an entire new overclocking scheme for those with extreme cooling. Note that running your P4 at +1.95v settings is not advised without sufficient cooling … at 2.2v I wouldn't go for anything less than water.
Of course you can also increase the DDR memory voltage up to 2.7v, not bad but I would have liked to set it up to 3.0v … especially since ABIT gives you such wide range of voltage selections on the CPU core.
With all these settings I was able to overclock my P4 2.0GHz all the way up to 2.34GHz rockstable, with only a Vantec heatsink cooling the CPU. Note that the CPU was running VERY hot at this point (+2.0v was used to achieve this) and I strongly advice against these kind of tricks for a long period of time. I was able to POST at 2.4GHz but the box wouldn't load Win2K. I bet with watercooling, 2.4GHz would be up and running … I think I'll have to dig out that Z4 watercooler again ;). Not bad huh, 400MHz over stock with aircooling and 340MHz rockstable?? I was amazed and I bet you are too …
All in all, the BD7-RAID has proven to be a worthy overclocking champion in the P4 market. This will be a tough board to beat in the overclockers community! Let's see what this baby can do in the bench suites …
Page 6 : Benchmarking
Benchmarking
Just like you, I was very curious to see how the Intel 845D chipset would perform when compared to the Intel 850 chipset, the VIA P4X266 chipset and also to an AMD system using the KT266A chipset. First let's look at the test setup shall we?
Test Setup
- ABIT BD7-RAID motherboard
- Intel P4 2.0GHz CPU
- 2x 128MB PC2100 Crucial DDR memory
- VisionTek GeForce 3 video card
- Western Digital 20GB hdd
- Accton 100mbit NIC
- Windows 2000 + SP2 + VIA 4.35 + latest Detonator drivers
Now let's get busy …
MadOnion's 3D Mark 2001
Although the RDRAM still takes the lead when not overclocked, the other contenders are getting very close ;). The king is dead … long live the king. The margins are VERY small and in real life you won't notice the difference.
Quake 3: Arena
In Q3, the RDRAM takes the lead by a larger margin but calling the others slow is not the right thing to do …
Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark
Of course RDRAM is a lot faster than the rest of the pack, but the 845D chipset is pulling it's way nicely if you ask me. The P4X266 chipset seems to be the slowest chipset around for the P4 (not counting the 845 with PC133 memory) but nonetheless performance is still very good and more important, the P4X266 and the 845D are a lot cheaper than the RDRAM + 850 solution.
Page 7 : Conclusion
Conclusion
The ABIT BD7-RAID has really impressed me during the entire period of testing and torturing! The board performed very good in all tests and remained rockstable at any given moment. Add to that the very impressive "gadgets", meaning the onboard buttons and LED's, the onboard RAID, UDMA133 support, the diagnostic display and of course the very powerful SM III BIOS with the great overclocking options. With all the facts out in the open, there is only one thing left for me to do: give the BD7-RAID the official "Overclockers Online Power Award"!! If you want to head the P4 route, go out and buy yourself this beauty. If you also want onboard LAN, look for the BD7L-RAID that will be available soon enough! To conclude I want to say one thing: WAY TO GO ABIT!!
Good
- Overclocks GREAT
- New, unseen features
- Onboard RAID with UDMA133 support
- Cool gadgets
Bad
- Only two memory slots
- No additional USB bracket