Is this a good MB?

[Lile]

Buying an Abit IC-7 Mb, is this a good board for future upgrades? Or is it about to be phased out? Just checking before i buy, tks

[rond36]

Lile, Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums

I think this should have been posted in the buying and upgrading advice forum but MJC will move it if he feels the need to.

It should be a good board. It has Intel's newest chipset so it should be around longer than some of the others. What version are you getting?

ABIT IC7, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 P4 Canterwood ATX motherboard
Specifications:
Supported CPU:Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket 478 processors, Hyper-Threading Ready
Chipset:Intel® 875P / ICH5 RAID
FSB:800/533MHz 400FSB not Supported
RAM:4x 184pin Dual Channel DDR 400 Max 4GB ECC Support
IDE:2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors up to 4 Devices
SATA: 2x SATA For RAID 0
Slots:1 x AGP PRO, 5 x PCI slots
Ports:2xPS2,1xLPT,1xCOM,2xUSB2.0,1x1394 and Audio **No onboard LAN**
Onboard Audio: 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC on
Onboard IEEE 1394: IEEE 1394a at 100/200/400 Mb/s transfer rate

ABIT IC7-G, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 800MHz Canterwood ATX Motherboard
Specifications:
Supported CPU:Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket 478 processors, Hyper Threading Ready
Chipset:Intel® 875P / ICH5 RAID
FSB:800/533MHz
RAM:4x 184pin Dual DDR 400 Max 4GB
IDE:2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors up to 4 Devices
SATA:4 x Serial ATA 150 Connectors up to 4 Devices
Slots:1 x AGP PRO, 5 x PCI slots
Ports:2xPS2,1xLPT,1xCOM,2xUSB,1xLAN, and Audio Ports:
Onboard Audio: 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC
Onboard LAN: Intel CSA Gigabit LAN

ABIT IC7-Max3, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 800MHz Canterwood ATX motherboard
Specifications:
Supported CPU:Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket 478 processors, Hyper Threading Ready
Chipset:Intel® 875P / ICH5 RAID
FSB:800/533MHz
RAM:4x 184pin Dual DDR 400 Max 4GB
IDE:2 x Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Connectors up to 4 Devices
SATA:4 x Serial ATA 150 Connectors up to 4 Devices
RAID: 2 channel SATA RAID (0/1) via South Bridge; 4 channel SATA RAID (0/1/0+1) via Silicon Image PCI Chip
Slots:1 x AGP PRO (8X/4X; 0.8V/1.5V), 5 x PCI slots
Ports: 2xPS2, 1xLPT, 1xCOM, 1x1394, 4xUSB, 1xLAN, and Audio Ports:
Onboard Audio: 6-Channel AC 97 CODEC with S/PDIF in/out
Onboard LAN: Intel CSA Gigabit LAN

[Lile]

Which is better out of the three? Building a gaming system..tks

[Jumby]

Watch out for Abit. The first one I bought was defective, sent it back. It worked fine for a year or so, it just died. Went back to Asus. Just my 2 cents. I'm sure many people have used them with no problems.

[rond36]

If you don't need gigabit LAN or more than 2 S-ATA drives get the IC7 for $129.00

If you need gigabit LAN and 4 S-ATA drives get the IC7-G for $183.00

If you need gigabit LAN and 6 S-ATA drives get the IC7-Max3 for $220.00

Prices are from Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=280&manufactory=1283&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1)

If I were buying a new motherboard it would be the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=P4C800-E%20Deluxe&langs=01) for $191.99 at Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=280&manufactory=1315&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1)

[Lile]

Ill go with the IC-7, 2.6 processor, 512 crucial ram, WD 80 gig Hd, and Radeon 9800 pro. Does this sound good for a gaming system? I have a 420 watt case, 19 inch monitor and speakers already. Suggestions, before i buy? tks....:)

[saphalline]

I suggest 1GB of RAM. If you can afford a Radeon 9800 Pro, you can afford to support it with a gig of RAM. ;)

Also, you're thinking of a SATA hard drive, right?

[Lile]

Thank,s man. i was planning on 2-sticks, does it look good other than that?

[saphalline]

That's one of Intel's new dual-channel DDR chipsets so you better put in two sticks of RAM if you want the most out of it! Most buyers of the i875P chipset have been putting in 2 x 512MB of PC3200 or higher.

Other than that, it looks like the kind of system I want to put together right now but don't have the money. :p Still, I got my P4 2.26B OC'ed to 2.47 on an Abit IS7, so I guess I can't complain too much. ;)

Still, you do know you're giving up onboard LAN with the IC7, right? You got an extra ethernet PCI card you can put in there?

[Lile]

Not sure what that means saphalline, im new.. can you explain? Also how many case fans you think i need? Im buying from newegg, making sure i get everything. :confused: Do all cables come with mb? or seperate? doesnt say.. tks dude:)

[saphalline]

Uh, which part do you want me to explain?

I would think 2-3 case fans would be fine, and the fan(s) on the power supply will help, too.

A retail mobo will come with a floppy cable, a 40 wire IDE cable (for CD/DVD drives), and usually an 80 wire IDE cable (for ATA hard drives). Most new mobo's with SATA will also come with 1-2 SATA cables.

[Mosley]

According to ABIT's website the IS7 offers on board 10/100MB LAN.

What is the difference between 10/100MB LAN and Gigabit LAN?

[pave_spectre]

Gigabit LAN = 1000 Mbit LAN, which means that Gigabit is rated with a maximum speed that is ten time faster than the rated speeds of 10/100 LAN.

[Mosley]

So if I have a 10/100MB Linksys router will this work with the IS7-G (Gigabit LAN)?

[pave_spectre]

Gigabit is usually the maximum rated speed (and will sometimes be written as 10/100/1000 LAN) and is capable of running at whatever speeds the rest of the devices on the network support, so any 10/100 switches or routers should work fine, but Gigabit LAN would only work at 10/100 speeds rather than gigabit speeds.