Feature Set

The IT7-MAX2 V2.0 retains all of the features of its predecessor; that should come as good news to many of you as the original IT7-MAX2 was loaded with goodies, earning our Editor’s Choice Award last year. This makes it the most feature-packed 845PE motherboard on the market, everything but the kitchen sink has been included in the IT7-MAX2 V2.0. Lets go over the features.

IT7-MAX2 V2.0 backplate

Main IDE connectors

USB 2.0 Galore/FireWire

While most 845PE motherboards stop at the six USB 2.0 ports natively offered by the 845PE chipset, ABIT goes one step further by integrating VIA’s VT6202 USB 2.0 controller, which supports up to four devices. This brings the total count of USB peripherals supported by the IT7-MAX2 V2.0 to ten. Six USB ports are provided on the IT7-MAX2 V2.0’s back plate, while another two devices can be connected via the USB header included in the IT7-MAX2 V2.0’s packaging. If you need all ten ports, you’ll have to pick up another USB header or one of ABIT’s handy Media XP/XP Pro units, which we’ll discuss a little further in this review.

In addition to the USB controller, ABIT has also fused a FireWire controller from Texas Instruments into the IT7-MAX2 V2.0’s board design. Up to three of three FireWire devices can be connected to the IT7-MAX2 V2.0.

Serial ATA

Although Serial ATA hard drives still haven’t made their debut, the IT7-MAX2 V2.0 supports this upcoming storage technology today. Up to two Serial ATA drives are supported by the IT7-MAX2 V2.0, which is powered by the Marvel 88i8030 chip. Unlike other motherboards that support Serial ATA, the 88i8030 isn’t a dedicated Serial ATA controller; rather it’s a Serial ATA bridge. This means that the parallel ATA signals from the HighPoint controller are converted to Serial ATA. In theory this could come with a slight performance hit, although we haven’t tested with a Serial ATA hard drive to confirm this.

ABIT also goes on step further than other motherboard manufacturers by including their SERILLEL Serial ATA adapter so you can take advantage of one of its key features today: thinner cables. Simply plug the SERILLEL adapter into the back of your current hard drive and attach the Serial ATA and power cable for a sampling of Serial ATA goodness. Our only complaint with the SERILLEL adapter is that ABIT only includes one adapter in the packaging; fortunately you can purchase an additional unit Excalibur PC, ABIT’s distributing partner for all ABIT parts and accessories in America.

HighPoint RAID Controller, Marvel bridge chips, diagnostic LED

Yellow IDE connectors are paired to the HPT374

ATA/133 RAID

In addition to supporting Serial ATA drives, the IT7-MAX2 V2.0 also supports ATA/133 RAID through the HighPoint HPT374 controller, which has been incorporated in quite a few ABIT motherboards in the past. The HPT374 supports up to eight hard drives, and supports RAID Levels 0, 1, and 0+1. Many other motherboards on the market use “lite” controllers from Promise Technology that aren’t as flexible as the implementation on the IT7-Max2 V2.0.

Audio, networking, Firewire, and USB 2.0 chips

Audio/Networking

Like the two previous IT7-MAX motherboards, Realtek provides onboard audio and networking. While the onboard audio of the IT7-MAX2 V2.0 won’t compete with Creative’s Audigy2, it is nonetheless fairly adequate. If you’re running a pair of budget speakers, there really is no point in spending $100 on a sound card anyway and the Realtek ALC650 audio controller should more than suffice.