The board is built on the same PCB as NF7-S,
but it has weaker peripherals support.
Accessories: - Package
of the standard design;
- Documentation: user manual in 6 languages;
-
Cables: 1 ATA66/100/133 and FDD;
- Bracket with 2 USB ports;
-
Bracket for the rear computer panel;
- CD containing:
- drivers;
- user guides for NVIDIA based boards;
-
Adobe Acrobat Reader;
- DirectX 8.1;
- system monitoring
utility.
The layout has typical drawbacks: audio-ins are in front of PCI and an inserted
video card can make it difficult to handle memory modules and IDE cables. It's
not difficult to reach the only jumper when the board is already installed. Its
functions are shown on the textolite. The 3-channel switching voltage
regulator incorporates 5 capacitors of 3300 uF and 4 of 1200 uF. The
following controllers are integrated: - audio controller based on
the chipset and Avance Logic ALC650 AC'97 codec; 5.1 audio system supported, front
audio inputs/outputs and SPDIF connectors provided;
- network controller
based on the chipset; 10BaseT/100BaseTX supported;
Non-unsoldered
connectors: SATA RAID controller with connectors, FireWire bus controller with
connectors. System monitoring is supported by Winbond W83627HF-AW chip.
What is controlled: - processor voltages, 2.5, +3.3, +-5 and +-12
V, VBAT and +5 V Standby
- speed of 3 fans;
- temperatures
of the processor (built-in sensor) and the board (built-in sensor).
There
are 2 connectors for adjustable and 2 for unadjustable connection of fans (one
of them is connected to a fan on the north bridge's heatsink). Brief
board's characteristics: memory slots - 3 DDR SDRAM; expansion slots - AGP/
5 PCI; I/O ports - 1 COM/ LPT/ 2 PS/2/ 6 USB 2.0; dimensions - 305x245 mm.
Settings:
| jumpers and switches |
Jumper to clear up the CMOS |
|
| BIOS based on Phoenix AwardBIOS 6.00PG |
Setup of memory timings |
+ |
Row-active delay, RAS to CAS delay, Row precharge delay, CAS
Latency |
| Setup of memory frequency |
+ |
FSB:DRAM = By SPD, 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6, 4:3, 4:5, 4:6, 5:3, 5:4,
5:6, 6:3, 6:4, 6:5 |
| Setup of AGP bus |
- |
|
| Setup of PCI bus |
- |
|
| Changeable scaler of AGP and PCI buses |
- |
|
| Manual assignment of interrupts |
+ |
|
| Changeable FSB frequency |
+ |
100-237 MHz in 1, 2, 3 and 5 MHz steps
|
| Changeable CPU multiplier |
+ |
x5-x22 |
| Changeable core voltage |
+ |
1.1-1.85 V in 0.025V steps |
| Changeable memory voltage |
+ |
2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 V |
| Changeable chipset voltage |
+ |
1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 V |
| Changeable AGP bus voltage |
+ |
1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 V |
| Changeable video core frequency |
+ |
100-123 MHz in 1MHz steps |
We used the BIOS nf7_b15.b00 as the latest
available version. The board has budget-level functionality, and we recommend
it for the respective category of users and for those who don't need integrated
features and are going to overclock their systems - in this respect ABIT NF7-M
is far better that the competitors. Test results:
|
|
