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| ABIT IC7 MAX3 A Bit Less Legacy | ||
| (Review by MS, September 28, 2003) |
Layout
With respect to the general layout, the original IC7 has already been one of our favorites and, if anything, the IC7-Max3 has improved on its predecessor. The changes are relatively minor but there are a few things that are worth mentioning:
VRM
It appears as if the venerable Intersil HIP6301CB has finally reached its end of life, the IC7-Max3 features the ISL6556BCB controller, which also supports 2-4 phases but can operate at up to 1.5MHz / phase. The voltage range is slightly different, where the HIP6301 was operational from 1.1V To 1.85V, the ISL6556 spans a range from 0.8 to 1.6V with a 6-bit granularity (64 steps of 0.0125V) compared to the 5-bit granularity of the HIP6301. In addition, the output precision has improved from + 1% accuracy to 0.5%. On the more technical side of things, the HIP6301 has been an open drain design whereas the ISL6556 uses totem pole drain. Like the HIP6301, the ISL6556 does not feature integrated drivers, rather, the same external HIP6602 dual channel drivers found with most HIP6301 designs are used to interface the control logic with the actual MOSFETs. The package has changed from a 20-pin SOIC form factor to a 28 pin SOIC which required some redesign of the traces but all in all, it is a definite change from an already excellent design to an even better and more sophisticated solution.
Left to right: Meet the VRM version of OTES. The windtunnel is covering the entire regulator module including the heat sinks glued onto the switching regulators. Air intake openings are towards the CPU, at the end of the L-shaped design and at the top of each of the MOSFET heatsinks. The single exhaust fan is integrated into the ATX I/O panel.
The entire VRM, that is, driver chips, MOSFETs and capacitors are covered by a windtunnel-like OTES arrangement with the exhaust integrated into the I/O panel and the passive intakes towards the CPU socket. The entire windtunnel is illuminated by some LEDs, which are actually more than a gimmick in that the OTES, in its present form, is prone to congestion with pet hair and other dust-bunnies. However, with the LEDs in place, it is at least possible to see whether the airways are free. It does not really solve the problem, though, since there is no easy way for removing the enclosure, definitely none with the mainboard installed in the case. At minimum, two of the mounting screws of the upper edge of the mainboard will need to be removed but those screws need actually to be pulled out since they are premounted in the acrylic enclosure.
The problem is that there are no real alternatives. Any hinge-based solution has the inherent risk of much lower mechanical stability. On the other hand, at least, during a few weeks of testing, we did not see any real contamination of the duct but that does not mean that this is a safe solution in all cases.
Otherwise, the layout has not changed much. The IC7-MAX3 features five PCI slots and the same angled 80-pin UATA connectors at the edge of the PCI as the original IC7(-G) and IS7, arguably the best solution when it comes to getting rid of any parallel ribbon clutter.
The i82547 Gigabit controller is used in a Communication Streaming Architecture (CSA) configuration with DMA to the memory over a dedicated path without using the PCI bus.
What has changed, though, is the Gigabit controller, we are now looking at the Intel i82547 CSA-compatible controller with its direct connectivity to the memory controller in order to conserve bandwidth between the ICH5-R and the i875 memory controller hub.
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