TH7-RAID

ABIT TH7-RAID Scoring
Feature set	A+
Performance	A
Stability	A+
Board Layout	B+

ABIT TH7-RAID

Notice the LED below the floppy drive

ABIT's TH7-RAID is the newcomer among the 850 motherboards in our office. Unlike the other manufacturers, ABIT had not chosen to produce an 850 product until the beginning of this year. During a meeting with representatives from ABIT USA prior to Comdex, we were told that the company had decided to adopt a wait and see approach. The TH7-RAID we're reviewing today has literally gone from a concept to full retail product in a very short period of time; we'd hazard a guess to say it has been slightly less than a few months!

The TH7-RAID brings a slew of new features to an ABIT platform, the most notable being an integrated POST (power-on self test) LED located on the bottom right corner of the motherboard. ABIT's POST LED takes diagnostic LEDs to the next level. While MSI's offering on their newer motherboard is limited to only 16 combinations maximum, ABIT's implementation offers hundreds of combinations. As a result, diagnosing startup problems has never been more powerful. We just wish ABIT offered more complete diagnostics in the manual, we noticed many codes on our TH7 that were undocumented.

Besides the POST LED, integrated AC'97 2-channel audio is also offered onboard. This isn't the first ABIT product to offer integrated audio (the SA6R we reviewed last year for example also included this feature), but with ABIT's roots in the enthusiast market, this is a feature we're a bit surprised to see implemented on the TH7-RAID. The final notable addition added to the TH7-RAID is integrated power and reset buttons located below the POST LED. It won't come in handy for most of you, but it sure is practical for us when running tests.

For overclocking, ABIT's SoftMenu II interface is used. SoftMenu II differs from SoftMenu III in that it doesn't offer bus adjustments in 1MHz increments. Instead, bus speeds of 90, 100, 103, 105, 108, 110, 112, 115, 118, 120, 122, 125, 130, 133, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 145, 148, 150, 152, 154, and 156MHz are offered (the highest bus speed we achieved was 145MHz). For the higher bus settings, PCI and AGP ratios can also be adjusted to keep them closer to spec. In addition, RDRAM bus speed is adjustable as is the CPU's clock multiplier, although those of you with retail CPUs won't be able to take advantage of the latter feature.

The layout of the TH7-RAID is a little different than the reference Intel 850 motherboard we tested. The addition of the HighPoint controller and accompanying IDE connectors (as well as the POST LED, power, and reset buttons) required a few changes to the design.

For instance, the floppy connector is located across from the second PCI slot; making installation of longer PCI cards in that slot difficult. ABIT also utilized a three-port USB connector on the back of the TH7-RAID. Most other designs utilize two-port connectors integrated on the back of the motherboard with an additional external two-port bracket (which isn't included in the TH7-RAID packaging) for full support of up to 4 USB devices. ABIT also departs from conventional design with the audio connector. A vertically aligned connector is integrated on the motherboard with an external header for the game port bracket (which is included in the packaging). For OEMs, an RJ45 connector is available as an option.

Like the 850 reference board, the ATX12V connector is located below the CPU socket, which means this power cable must lie near the CPU socket. While the ATX12V connector is too thin to significantly impede airflow near the CPU, the danger of it getting caught in the CPU fan is always present. A better location would have been closer to the other power connectors, away from the CPU.

As the name implies, the TH7-RAID includes an integrated ATA/100 RAID controller, the HPT370. Supporting RAID levels 0, 1, and 0+1 the HPT370 controller has been a popular addition for ABIT and is a snap to setup.

From a features perspective, the TH7-RAID is the most complete 850 motherboard currently available on the market. No other product offers as many overclocking options with the addition of IDE RAID as the TH7-RAID. Stability was top-notch, and the performance fell in line with other 850 motherboards we tested (more on both of these aspects later). We have no problems recommending this board to anyone looking for a solid 850 solution.

SoftMenu II Menu

Tweaking bus speeds