Abit VT7 Motherboard
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- Front Side Bus Speed: 800 MHz
- Storage Controller Type(s): DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra) x 2, Serial ATA x 4
- Form Factor: ATX
- Video Interface: AGP 8x
- Chipset: VIA PT880
- Compatibility: PC
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Excellent value!
Pros
Inexpensive, looks to be overclocker-friendly.
Cons
No front headphone inputs, literature misleading about maximum RAM capacity.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
This is an excellent board for the price. Good for number of PCI slots and overclockability.
After using an Asus P2B-F for almost 7 years, this was a breath of fresh air. It does everything I need it to do without damaging my wallet. Here are a few reasons why I chose this board. I wanted a board with several PCI slots. I was planning on possibly using my own sound card, a couple of TV tuners, a modem to receive faxes, and possible some other peripherals, so I wanted to make sure I would have enough PCI slots to do that. (I ended up using the onboard sound, which is great, especially using S/PIDF output). I also wanted SATA and IDE channels because I was using four hard drives, and two optical (CD, DVD) drives. And I wanted something inexpensive, which at about $70, this fit perfectly.
There are a few layout issues. Some large capacitors get in the way near the PCI slots, and there are no connectors for optional front headphone jacks.
I had some mild difficulty getting the SATA drive to be recognized as my main HD. I don't think it's enabled by default. The manual isn't as clear as it should be, and I'm not exactly a beginner at building PCs. The main shortcoming is that Windows XP still required 3rd party drivers for SATA, so that's not a complaint against the motherboard.
My biggest complaint is that the literature states that the motherboard can accept up to 4GB of RAM. That would mean it can accept 1GB of RAM in each of its four slots. So I bought a 1GB stick of RAM to start with, and it would not work. After several calls to tech support, I found out that although all the literature states that it can accept up to 4GB of RAM, there is not a single 1GB stick of RAM on the market that is compatible with the motherboard! So that's a load, if I've ever heard one.
However, I am satisfied with the board and would definitely recommend it to anyone.
There are a few layout issues. Some large capacitors get in the way near the PCI slots, and there are no connectors for optional front headphone jacks.
I had some mild difficulty getting the SATA drive to be recognized as my main HD. I don't think it's enabled by default. The manual isn't as clear as it should be, and I'm not exactly a beginner at building PCs. The main shortcoming is that Windows XP still required 3rd party drivers for SATA, so that's not a complaint against the motherboard.
My biggest complaint is that the literature states that the motherboard can accept up to 4GB of RAM. That would mean it can accept 1GB of RAM in each of its four slots. So I bought a 1GB stick of RAM to start with, and it would not work. After several calls to tech support, I found out that although all the literature states that it can accept up to 4GB of RAM, there is not a single 1GB stick of RAM on the market that is compatible with the motherboard! So that's a load, if I've ever heard one.
However, I am satisfied with the board and would definitely recommend it to anyone.
