New moboard BE7-RAID or IT7?

[wumeeks]

Recently ordered a soyo px400 dragon ultra platinum...and it is one major piece of crap...returning it and stickin with abit..anyway i've narrowed it down to 2 different boards:

IT7
BE7-RAID

which one do you guys think i should get?
I hear good things about the it7..extra raid ports are cool...at the same time I hear good things bout the 845PE chipset....i currently have a abit bd7II board and it works great! it doesn't offer the 4:5 ratio ability though..kinda want that..suggestions?

=========
Abit BD7II-RAID, [email protected], 512 ddr (266@315mhz)
ati 9700 Pro, SB audigy, 2 IBM 40gig Raid-0 setup running WinXP pro, blahblahblah

 

[Renwick]

Hi wumeeks!

I think there's no point upgrading from a BD7II to a BE7. The IT7 is a bit different question, if you need the extra features such IEEE1394, 4 channel RAID, then go for the IT7, or consider upgrading your system with an IEEE1394/RAID controller card.

regards

R.

 

[wumeeks]

Ah but I'm not upgrading. I need 2 pc's. Returning that Soyo piece of @#$@ back to the vendor...Anyhow, I'm leaning toward the BE7-RAID board cus it is already set to take pc2700, and will be easier to set up in bios to take higher frequency ram? (i know you can set the it7 to accept pc2700 at 333 mhz if ur FSB is fast enough..i think..heh) anyway I have a couple days to decide!!

 

[svenrune]

I would go for IT7 2.v2

 

[Bash]

be7

hi
i just built a p4 2,53 on the abit be7 board with 4:5 ratio and its great i got the 2.53 too 2.94 on air and stable with standard volts

worth a purchase

bash

 

[batboy]

What is the difference between the BE7 and the IT7 Max2 that will justify an extra $43? Ok, the IT7 Max2 does have IEEE1394, and a more advanced RAID, plus I think serial ATA, but am I missing something? What about overclocking ability? The both use the PE chipset.

I was going to get a granite bay, but now I'm thinking maybe IT7 Max2, but don't want to spend extra if the BE7 is the exactly same, but without a few of the bells and whistles. I have nothing that runs on firewire right now and don't need LAN. The serial ATA harddrives are not really faster yet, so I'll probably keep my old drives for a few more months.

What's this about the RAM? Can't you run the IT7 Max2 at 3:4 memory settings if I have good DDR PC3200? Help!

EDIT: I've been looking around and looks like the IT7 Max2 supports hyperthreading too. I found this review...

http://active-hardware.com/english/reviews/mainboard/it7-max2.htm

 

[batboy]

Looks the IT7 Max2 some cool PCI settings and plenty of RAM settings. Here is a quote from a review:

The PCI bus ratio can also altered to any of the following values: Clock/3, Clock/4, or fixed values of 33Mhz, 37Mhz or 44Mhz

Next we have the ability to adjust the memory bus frequency-to-CPU bus ratio, which can be set to 1:1, 3:4, or SPD ("Serial Presence Detect"), which allows the system to determine a proper frequency automatically. When the FSB is operating at 133MHz, for example, the memory bus frequency value is determined by multiplying the FSB value by 1.33, thus obtaining the operating frequency of DDR333 memory.

 

[wumeeks]

Hmm I was goin to just go for the BE7 myself, but now I'm thinkin bout gettin the p4pe from ASUS..heheh..and now granite bay boards...oooo...too many decisions. I dunno if you really should upgrade from th7-II to be7, cus they really the exact same thing cept the different chipset which has the extra mem divider of 4:5 which is kinda cool. Just my opinion though...you can get the 3:4 divider with just BD7 board that I have and it will run DDR 333 at correct speed if you play around with the settings.
Anyway good luck!
=======================
ABIT BD7-II RAID
[email protected] Pentium 4 Northwood
2 IBM 40 gigers RAID-0 WinXP Pro
ATI 9700Pro
SB Audigy
TDK 48x16x48x Burner
Sony 16x DVD-ROM

 

[wumeeks]

ah wups I messed up. TH7 has rambus and is a lot diff from BE7 -bangs head on desk- It's too early in the morning

 

[batboy]

My old TH7-II has been a good mobo (but OMG, it's almost a year old and I'm getting the upgrade shakes), guess I'm just in the mood to upgrade as a Christmas present to myself. Been thinking of trying DDR and see if I can squeeze more out of my 2.66 CPU. My theory is the mobo is holding me back. My backup rig is a P-III 700@1050, but I have a chance to sell it, so if that happens, I'll shuffle the TH7-II RDRAM system with my old 2.0a into the backup mode, if I decide to get the new IT7 Max2 (which I'm leaning towards now) or maybe perhaps the Asus granite bay (decisions, decisions). Got money burning a hole in my pocket, hehehe.

 

[crotale]

Don't forget the first IT7...
no SATA... but 2 channel IDE instead...
I guess this board is cheaper than the IT72 too...

Who need official support for PC2700? This board rocks when it comes to high FSB. And as far as I know... The IT7 will have a HT enabled BIOS comming..? Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[Dexx]

The IT7-2 is the 'Rolls Royce' of 845PE boards from Abit.
If you can afford it - get it. If you are on a tight budget,
get the BE7, or even a BD7-2. Ive read that the fsb
on the BE7 tops out between 165 - 170MHz.
Jim

 

[Mike360000]

Huuum,
About the BD7, getting it to run off a 3:4 divider.
Can a person take a P4 533 cpu and drop it in the BD7 and start oc'ing it at 133 fsb speed? I say this because the 533 fsb cpu won't have a 400 fsb.

Cheers,
Mike