In the last couple of weeks I tested several motherboards, but I didn’t write any review because I was very busy working for an internal project. I had on the testing bench many interesting boards, but most of them didn't deserve a full review. I wanted to write a representative article and the best subject seemed to be a motherboard based on a new chipset. I decided to publish a review about Abit NF7-S because I received a lot of emails from users who requested it. Abit NF7-S is based on a chipset that brings dual channel memory support to the AMD world; such a fact can not be ignored. Another important reason was that I found the motherboard pretty attractive and interesting; a nice subject to chat about. I like to take a look to new things, the first sign that I am getting older :).

First look

The motherboard is shipped in the normal Abit box, although high end Abit motherboard models were shipped in a special box. Inside the box you can find the board, one ATX shield, one serial ATA cable, one IDE to serial ATA adapter, one USB bracket, one IEEE1394 bracket, one IDE cable, one floppy cable, one Serial ATA floppy disk, one drivers CD and the manual. The motherboard I tested was revision V1.00. The user's manual is written in Abit’s style and describes pretty well the installation and configuration process.
Abit NF7-S presents a 5PCI/1AGP/3DDR slots design. Between the AGP slot and the first PCI slot there is a lot of space, so there is no surprise that Abit chose this location to place the IEEE1394 connectors. In order to provide the firewire features the board uses Realtek RTL8801B cable transceiver / arbiter.

From the features perspective the motherboard delivers a lot of nice toys. You can find onboard a six channels audio controller (RealTek ALC650), six USB ports, serial ATA, ATA133, LAN, etc.

The motherboard's layout is a little different from VIA based boards design. The Northbridge is aligned at 45 degrees relative to the motherboard's edges. Due to the 128bit memory controller a lot of traces go from the nForce2 Northbridge to the memory slots. This is the best explanation for the nForce2 position, traces length minimization. Near the memory slots there are a lot of surface capacitors and resistors which regulate the memory signals. The CPU voltage regulator isn’t placed in the best location because it forces a quite unpleasant position for the ATX headers. Abit designed this regulator in such a way to be very close to the CPU. Unfortunately ATX headers are placed well too far away from the power source, making cables routing a bit difficult. Abit included a 12V power supply header on board, but it's not required to use it. Around the CPU socket there is plenty of space for medium sized coolers, but the cooler installation may be pretty difficult in medium tower cases. The socket is placed very close to the power source, so that you won’t be able to play with the cooler very easily. Abit didn't include the four cooler mounting holes near the CPU socket and I don't think that hardcore overclockers will appreciate this decision.

Most of the internal I/O ports are placed in the front of the board, in pretty regular positions. Although many motherboard manufacturers place the USB connectors in front of the PCI slots, far from the mobo's edges I think that a position between the PCI slots is better. The floppy interface connector is placed near the third DDR slot, making a CDROM installation in the lower bay of a medium tower case an impossible job. Abit NF7-S is one of the motherboards that suffer from the DIMM insertion problems. Hopefully you will not need to remove or add memory very often.

Abit NF7-S product picture

A very interesting aspect at NF7-S RAID is the Serial ATA capability. All motherboards I have reviewed until now used discrete chips which provided the Serial ATA to ATA133 connectivity. NF7-S is different because it uses the Silicon Image SIL3112A, a full featured Serial ATA controller.