BIOS
ABIT's Softmenu III BIOS configuration is a favourite of ours at Hexus. It's eminently robust and tweakable. Let's see if this version adds anything new to a proven formula. We'll have a look at the main configuration screen first.
As the IT7-MAX2 is an i845 chipset-based motherboard, it natively supports all Pentium 4 processors, whether they be the 100FSB or 133FSB variety. The PCI and AGP busses are normally expressed as a ratio of the system FSB, such that they are always kept as close to their native 33MHz and 66MHz as possible. The system front-side-bus can be changed from 100FSB to 250FSB in 1MHz increments for total control. You can choose either set the AGP busses as a ratio of the system FSB, or have them fixed at either 33/66 , 37/75, or 44/88 Mhz irrespective of system FSB. I prefer to have it fixed to 33/66 for security. I can't really see the point of fixing them to 44/88 MHz, personally.
Although the multiplier factor is shown, it cannot be changed on retail Pentium 4s. The DRAM Ratio / H/W Strap is an interesting option. You can either set it to 'Low', 'By CPU', or 'High'. The low setting is aimed at the Northwood A processors on a 100FSB. High is, therefore, meant for the 133FSB processors. The benefit of specifying the low setting is that it allows you to run your system RAM at 1.33x the FSB (3:4 ratio, as shown), or DDR356 at 133FSB. The benefits of this will become abundantly clear in our benchmarks.
CPU voltage can be manipulated from 1.1v to 1.7v for all P4s apart from the 2.8Ghz processor. Because it runs at a default 1.525v, we get another 0.025v to play with. DDR voltage can be changed from the default 2.5v to 2.8v.
Memory timings are identical to the IT7-MAX. I'm using the strictest possible timings for my benchmarking. Timings of 2-5-2-2 are RAM-beaters, be sure to equip only the finest DDR if you wish to run them at elevated speeds. There's an option of DRAM enhancement that gives a little more performance than normal.
The IT7-MAX2 is all about features, features, and some more features. You can manually set the options for on-board audio, on-board LAN, IDE RAID, S-ATA, Firewire, and USB2.0. Looks kind of impressive.
The usual hardware monitoring options are present. The MAX2's CPU sensor seems to read a little higher than most other Pentium 4 motherboards. Whether it's more accurate, or just calibrated incorrectly, is something that I'd like to know for sure.
I'm used to this BIOS after using it on my personal IT7 for the past 4 months. I find it intuitive and very overclocking-friendly. I'd perhaps have liked to see a little more Vcore at our disposal, and perhaps VAGP adjustment. Other than that, it's pretty good.
Most Pentium 4 motherboards have a tendency to undervolt when placed under heavy CPU load from within Windows. The MAX2 was pretty good in this respect. Setting 1.525v in BIOS, the default for a P4 2.8GHz CPU, I got an average of 1.46v load when running the Prime95 torture test.
