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Page 1 of 4 Gizmo takes a long look at the Abit AN7. Initial impressions are good, but there's one or two things that aren't all they seem to be! Find out just what's good about this board, and what's not quite so good.
Summary
A good motherboard, whose execution is marred by a lack of
significant support in current overclocking tools, a poorly implemented
utility set, and a lack of interest from ABIT to address these issues.
Overview
Many of you have no doubt been following my trials and tribulations
in building my own direct-die waterblock for cooling my CPU. (If not, you can read about it in the forums.)
During the course of my experiments I managed to kill my NF7-S motherboard. Having had good luck with my NF7-S, and after
having read positive reviews of the AN7 at some other enthusiast sites, I thought getting an AN7 might be a good proposition.
The built in μGuru circuit seemed like a real plus (more on that later), and the board was only $1 more from NewEgg than
the NF7-S, so I took the plunge.
Features
The Board
AN7 Motherboard
The AN7 is
very much like the NF7-S. It uses the same general layout, and is
based on the same nForce2 chipset as the NF7-S, with the same Serial
ATA controller. It has the same number of ports, with one exception,
but the ports are arranged slightly differently. You will also note
that the ATX power and ATX-12V headers have changed their
orientation. This makes it a bit easier to plug and unplug power than
with the NF7-S.
NF7-S Back Panel
The NF7-S
has 2 USB, 2 Serial, 1 parallel, S/PDIF out, Ethernet, 5 audio jacks
and the keyboard and mouse ports on the back panel, and then four
more USB and two Firewire ports on board headers.
AN7 Back Panel
On the
AN7, you only have one serial port, and no IRDA header (I believe the
second serial port is used to communicate with μGuru, but I’m
not certain; this also explains the absence of the IRDA header, as
this function is usually implemented on the second serial port), but
you get 4 USB, 1 firewire, and S/PDIF in, in addition to the ports
available on the back panel of the NF7-S. You have a second firewire
as well as two more USB ports on board headers.
AN7 IDE Connectors
The IDE
headers have rotated 90 degrees and are now arranged down the edge of
the board on 90-degree connectors. This means that your ribbon cable
now comes off the board to the side, instead of the more tradition
vertical orientation. In my Yeong Yang server case this works quite
well, but this is a matter of taste. Also, notice the screw hole on
the left side of the IDE headers. Most motherboards use this hole
for a mounting screw to attach the motherboard to the case.
Unfortunately, with the AN7, the hole is too close to the IDE1
connector, and you can't get the screw in.
The board
has a plethora of fan headers, with no less than five. While this is
only one more than the NF7-S, these are more flexible. Both the CPU
and North Bridge fans can be speed controlled now. In addition, one
of the auxiliary fan headers (fan 4) can also be controlled. This
functionality is enabled through the μGuru.
There are
three temp sensors, one for the motherboard itself (the location of
which I have not been able to find), one for the CPU (which now uses
the built-in thermal diode instead of a socket thermistor), and one
for the Vcore regulator section (located near the keyboard/mouse
connector). This last sensor is really nice, IMHO, because the Vcore
regulator can get quite hot, especially when pushing your board for
maximum OC.
AN7 Chipset Regulator
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NF7-S Chipset Regulator
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AN7 VDIMM Regulator
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NF7-S VDIMM Regulator
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The voltage regulators for the Chipset and DIMM voltages feature larger,
beefier switching FETs than the NF7-S, and you have more options for
voltage settings (for example, the VDIMM can now go to 3.3 volts).
The design of the Chipset regulator has changed somewhat. Instead of
using a standard forward mode switching regulator using inductors,
they appear to have switched over to a simpler linear regulator
arrangement, similar to the way the VDIMM circuit is done. This was
probably done to reduce costs (torroid inductors are expensive), as
well as improve performance (linear regulators produce less
electrical noise). In addition, the VDIMM circuit now uses two FETs
on the AN7, instead of the single FET used by the NF7-S. The VDIMM
regulator is also fed from the +5v rail instead of the +3.3v rail as
in the NF7-S.
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