Probably my most favorite feature on this board is the addition of the dual 7-segment POST Code LED display. Similar to what is found on many other boards these days, ABIT have included a diagnostic display that gives a step-by-step indication of the boot process.

Finally, we come to the μGuru circuit itself. This is not so much a circuit as a dedicated microcontroller, based on the Winbond W83L950D and some associated Windows software. The controller is actually an embedded 8051-based microprocessor originally designed for keyboard interfaces in notebooks. All of the control and monitoring functions for the Vcore, Vdimm, and Vagp regulators, and the fans, are done through this chip. This allows the AN7 board to track the CPU temperature using the CPU thermal diode and report it back to applications while still being able to guarantee shutdown of the CPU quickly in the event of a cooling failure. It also allows this monitoring to be done while using a minimum of host CPU cycles.

The BIOS is very similar to what we have become used to with the NF7-S, so I won’t dwell on it. A couple of new things that have been added are ‘OC on the fly’, and the ability to save up to 5 custom BIOS configurations which can be loaded. The ‘OC on the fly’ option is designed to allow you to apply your BIOS OC changes (such as Vcore and FSB) immediately instead of having to reboot. The custom configuration settings allow you to save your favorite OC settings (such as max absolute OC settings and then max stable OC settings, or similar) so that, when you have to blow your BIOS settings away, you can restore them from FLASH with one keystroke.

The AN7 comes with the normal complement of drivers and utility software. The driver installation is pretty straight forward. The utility installation is a little less so. The utilities will want to install the Winbond Hardware Doctor. Don't! This utility cannot coexist with the Abit AN7 software.

Once the utilities are installed, you will be greeted with a start menu containing the AbitEq, the FanEq, the OCGuru, the Flash Menu, and the Black Box.

The AbitEq is the utility that you use for monitoring system and CPU temps, Fans speeds, and system voltages. It has an interesting design, using a 'skin', which makes it look 'cool'. The display is fairly static, from the standpoint that you get three rows of three guages each, plus a top row of guages that cycles through a set of guages. The functions that are monitored in each of the three lower rows, and in each guage in the top row, are static. For example, the first row of auxiliary guages can only be used to monitor voltages, although you can choose what voltages to monitor. Likewise, the second row is for fan speeds, and the third row is for temps. For the top row of guages, the left guage cycles through various voltages, the middle guage cycles through fan speeds, and the right guage cycles through temps.

FanEq is a utility that allows you to program the voltage range through which the fans operate, and at what temp the range takes effect. You will notice in this picture that I have my CPU Fan set for a low of 8 volts and a high of 12 volts. I also have it set to run at 8 volts all the way up to 50C, and then to ramp up the voltage until I am running maximum voltage at 60C. 8 Volts and 12 volts represent the absolute limits of the adjustable voltage range, however you can set the high and low voltages to anything within those limits. The software allows you to configure the fan voltage and temps to behave in any fashion you desire, or you can select one of the default settings of 'Cool', 'Quiet', and 'Normal'. The NB Fan tab works the same way. I assume that if I had a fan plugged into the System Fan header on the board, there would be another tag for adjusting that.