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No it doesn't crash it, it's just REEEAALLLY SSSLLOOOOWWW! hehehe.

Wait it out, it's worth it.
 
guys really the site is just slow. I contacted the owner and he says he's trying to fix the problem. But if you let it sit there for a while it will load up. I will try and get the review on another server for your viewing.

Cheers,
Axiom
 
I have been going to the site all day several times on several different computers.

Okay I will try and sum it up, but I can't get you pictures.

See if you can go to:

http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/motherboards/abit/ic7-max3/page6.htm

however this is what it says.

bios(5).jpg


Memory Voltage on the IC7-MAX3 has been a focal point of mine the last few weeks. The SoftMenu BIOS setting has provision for a DIMM voltage of 3.2 volts! The fact that the board has "out of the box" voltage setting this high has been the boards premiere selling point for months now. After all, what hard core Overclocker wouldn't' want the chance to give their RAM modules more voltage. More voltage equated to higher bus speeds and more often than not, tighter memory timings. A lot of other reviews I have read regarding this board, all make light mention of, but never dive head-first into the voltage plane problem with this board. Yes, PROBLEM! In fact, ABIT themselves have finally acknowledged this fact admitting the the problem isn't going to be correctable with a simple BIOS tweak. While I'm still dissecting a lot of the information, I'm going to pass on some of the most relevant findings and facts here, and present some locations to try and help those of you who may already own this board.

As of now, there is only a revision "1" of this motherboard, and in its "out of the box" state, the IC7-MAX3 is plagued with a voltage plane problem relating to the vDIMM and vTT voltages. The most obvious problem is vDIMM stability when the voltage settings 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 are selected in the BIOS. Instead of your desired voltage, vDIMM would run very rampant and fluctuate uncontrollably between seemingly random voltage amounts. Very recently, ABIT has announced an RMA process through which they will replace your motherboard with a "modified" board to cure this problem. If your in the mood to void your warrantee and loose any and all hope of help from ABIT, the mod is VERY easy and can be done yourself. Which is where a very large and active support group comes in -- The ABIT forums! ABIT PR announced the fix via a thread in these forums, and since then the thread has been very active with other "MODS" to correct the other issue with vTT.

max3_vdimm_mod.jpg


This picture was posted in the Xtremesystems.org forums in the "max3 Vdimm stabalisation mod" thread. This mod shows what is required to be removed from the motherboard to stabilize the voltage selections between 2.9 and 3.1 volts. Keep in mind, doing this mod yourself will totally VOID YOUR WARRANTEE. That said, I have performed the mod on two separate IC7-MAX3 motherboards and have seen the desired result with both boards. Voltage selections of 2.9 - 3.1 volts do stabilize quite a bit. Some of the chatter in the forums also speak of higher stability with 5:4 CPU:DRAM ratio Overclocking as well, but I myself have not seen that result with these MAX3 boards here. Depending on which RAM I use, 5:4 would either (A) complete a POST cycle but crash before WIndows reaches the desktop (B) Result in BIOS MEMORY beep codes (C) work like a champ with 100% stability. I've simply seen no pattern, other than single sided 256MB modules seem to like the 5:4 ratio better than 512MB double-sided. Do not take my 5:4 results as gospel, with this board I've simply not seen or heard enough to establish a valid pattern.


volt.jpg


If vDIMM were the only voltage we had to worry about, things would be great, but that is not the case. Another voltage rail that is causing problems is vTT. JEDEC standards are very stringent upon many of the factors of voltage regulation, and the vTT rail is one of them. In laymen's terms, the vTT must equal vREF and these two values must be equal to one-half of the vDIMM voltage. So, at 2.80 volts, vTT/vREF should equal 1.40 and the above screen shots vTT at 1.39 which is pretty darn close to the spec.

volt(2).jpg


Here I have chosen 3.10 volts in the BIOS, which should have a vTT voltage of 1.55, but the vTT voltage has dropped to 1.34 -- which is bad. vTT/vREF fail to meet the specification at the fore-mentioned 2.9. 3.0 and 3.1 voltage levels. For those of you handy with a solder iron, and total disregard for a motherboard warrantee, this too can be fixed. I put this mod to be a bit beyond my personal skills with a soldering iron and have chosen to wait until more information and testing is done by the independents who have discovered and completed this fix. The instructions for the vTT mod can also be found in the ABIT forums under the "VDIMM Issue UPDATE: Information about MAX3 VDIMM voltage fluctuation issue " thread.

The voltage issues with this board should not eclipse the overclocking potential of this board. During the testing phases of this board, I utilize OCZ Gold EL PC-4000 DDR to overclock the CPU with a synchronized bus speed. The vDIMM during the test and all subsequent operational use was set at 2.8 volts. The board maintained 100% stability. A purchase decision at this point regarding the IC7-MAX3 and selectable memory would come down your own plans and implementation. If you require voltage levels higher than 2.8 and lower than 3.2, this board will require a few warrantee voiding modifications to achieve 100% stability, unless ABIT agrees to RMA the boards based on the known problems with the intent to correct them. I would expect ABIT to make a more detailed announcement as the situation develops.
 
http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/motherboards/abit/ic7-max3/page9.htm

Conclusion

The ABIT IC7-Max3 is by no means a new motherboard. It has even been under the microscope of several of the worlds top reviewers since its introduction onto the market. Why it has received so many awards is anyone's guess, but these vDIMM and vTT issues did not happen overnight. With the RMA procedure that has just begun, the vDIMM issue can be given a band-aide, but that is really all it is. You can perform this simple mod yourself with a pair of tweezers and a low-power & fine-point soldering gun. The vTT issue will take quite a bit more work, and will relate to what can be called major surgery to get the problem corrected. Does this mean ABIT can't fix it? They already have a motherboard on the retail shelf now called the AI7 which boasts above all things: a BIOS vDIMM setting of 3.2 which, from I hear from reliable sources, WORKS! Right along with the vTT voltage being right where it should. Since ABIT still has pictures of the IC7-MAX3 plastered all over their webpage, I presume that means they haven't turned a blind-eye to the board in hopes that it will all go away. The AI7is an -865 based board which leads me to think to keep the MAX3 as a flagship line product, they will have to release a REVISION "2" board.

Regarding the board that we have, right here - right now, I see only a marginal overclocker. We've reviewed other motherboards here at ClubOC that have been able to handle a 280MHz+ overclock at a ratio of 1:1, yet the IC7-MAX3 starts to have issues beyond 266MHz. If this board/memory/CPU combination were the only board I've seen and heard stop at 266, I could call it "my problem" but its not. Plenty of stories rotate around the MAX3 loosing stability above 266MHz FSB at 1:1 with Chipset induced Memtest errors and unstable Windows performance. Since running at stock/default levels is not the goal, nor the intent of many (if any) ClubOC readers, I would have to say look elsewhere than the IC7-MAX3 for a hard hitting Overclocking board. In summary, for what the board does -- it does very well. However there are just too many limitations and too many open ended issues to go into this board with Extreme Overclocking as your goal.

Club Overclocker Rating

Innovation:
9.0 out of 10

Performance:
6.0 out of 10

Quality:
5.0 out of 10

Stability:
7.0 out of 10

Overclocking:
6.0 out of 10

Software Pack:
9.0 out of 10

Value:
6.0 out of 10

Overall Rating 6.5

Ratings: I feel the OTES system is an outstanding idea and motherboard implementation! With direct MOSFET cooling, voltage issues SHOULD have been totally out of mind. The Performance of this board is no better than many of the other motherboards we have seen, and in fact is a little worse because other boards can run 280 1:1 With the intended purchase being a board that can hit 3.2 volts reliably, the board fails to perform, which leads to Quality! ABIT releasing a board with a defective vDIMM and vTT circuit is (in my own opinion) unacceptable. There were a very large number of sales that totally hinged upon the boards ability to accurately deliver a solid voltage rail above and beyond "spec" for sheer overclocking power. The board, in its straight out of the box form, fails to deliver. Stability is a matter of perspective, because what the board was able to achieve. Overclocking; Being able to run 1:1 at 266 is good, but certainly not great. Being able to run at 286 with a 5:4 divider is also good! However, the memory circuits on this board simply do not allow much in the line of intolerant RAM. Regarding the software pack; the inclusion of some of useful DVD software and the Secure IDE is a positive step forward. Even though the SecureIDE will probably be under-used as most people are going the way of Serial ATA hard drives, and the Secure IDE only works on a Parallel IDE device. Value: The current retail price of $197.99 (NewEgg.com @ 6 December 2003) is very competitive with other -875 boards that are aimed at the enthusiast market, but with the inherent issues that this board has, I would have to say that the price is very steep.
 
UnrealCpu said:
Dude my m64 cap is gone on my ic7-max 3 the board runs great

bought it dec 3

Dude, glad you arent having an issue! However you are also running a 15x multiplier at 243mhz using DDR533 ram at 1:1. It is doubtful that you would have had to raise your vdimm above it's stock setting, since your ram is rated at 266 - CL 2.5-4-4-7.

The folks that have been having an issue with the MAX3 are using low mulitplier 12 - 13 with low latency BH5 chips that require over 3.0 vdimm to get 225-230 CL 2-2-2-6.

To support the performance community motherboards have to work well with a variety of multipliers and ram modules. The fact is that this board will not deliver maximum performance using the most popular multipliers and ram chips unless the user performs major surgery on the board and voids it's warranty.

The point is that if you are building a new system using a 3.0/3.2 chip and PC4000/ PC4200 ram you should consider the MAX3 since it offers a great selection of options. If you are planning a system based upon a 2.4/2.6 and/or BH5 ram you might be better off getting a ASUS P4C800E and doing the Vdimm grabber mod.
 
I can personally attest to the P4C800 dlx/E, did Vdimm mod for both and they were rock steady at 3.2volts vdimm with BH-5 chips. I'm still waiting to see how my MAX3 will do in my Vapo PE.

I'm hopeing that i won't need to go above 2.9 vdimm for my A-Data, but only time will tell.
 
This is correct. I've one of the first boards and you ought to see what happens @ 2.9v on the memory, all I can say is WOW !!! How did this get past all the reviews ?

In all fairness to Abit, they'll give us some kinda answer as to how they'll treat the VTT issue (which can't be fixed by any software btw) by mid Jan.

Rumor has it we're screwed with no revision and a MAX4 (64bit) will quietly take it's place. I have a bad feeling about this, but I must first give Abit an opportunity to help out on a very expensive board that's flawed. We'll see....
 
spclwpns said:
This is correct. I've one of the first boards and you ought to see what happens @ 2.9v on the memory, all I can say is WOW !!! How did this get past all the reviews ?

Perhaps they spent too much time waxing poetic about the box that it came in??? ;)

Seriously though, the MAX3 issues only show up when the ram you are using forces you to raise vdimm in order for you to raise the FSB high enough to max out the CPU. Most of the sites do not try to O/C the board with a variety of processors (i.e. different multipliers) or memory modules. I have yet to see a hardware site go though and validate each specification/ feature that the manufacturer provides. It would be a very time consuming process requiring test equipment and skills that are beyond the ability most of the review sites.

What we really need is a Consumers Report type of independant lab to test, evaluate and rate PC components and systems. :-/
 
I'm about to purchase the IC-7 Max3 after having problems with my Rev2 Asus P4C800-E board. After reading this review I don't know what to do. All I want to do is get a stable 3.6GHz out of my 3.0 CPU, nothing heavy. Do you think this board is going to do this or should I take gamble and order another P4C800-E again?
 
djt said:
I'm about to purchase the IC-7 Max3 after having problems with my Rev2 Asus P4C800-E board. After reading this review I don't know what to do. All I want to do is get a stable 3.6GHz out of my 3.0 CPU, nothing heavy. Do you think this board is going to do this or should I take gamble and order another P4C800-E again?

In the process of bringing up a P4C800-E delux with a 3.2c and 2x512 Muskin PC3500 level II and a 9800XT - will let you know how it works, once I get all my RAID issues squared away and WinXP working!
 
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