X-bit labs

ABIT NF7-S 2.0: The First Ever Mainboard for Athlon XP Processors With 400MHz FSB!

Category: Mainboards

by Anton Shilov

[ 03/25/2003 | 05:06 PM ]

ABIT Computer notified its customers over its forums here that its NF7-S mainboard revision 2.0 which went from the fab just days ago supports 400MHz EV-7 FSB for the new AMD Athlon XP processors reportedly due next month.

NF7-S mainboard was announced quite long ago, so, I will remind you its technical specifications:

• Supports Socket A Athlon XP processors with 200/266/333/400MHz FSB;
• NVIDIA nForce2 SPP chipset, including MCP2 I/O controller with Dolby Digital support;
• 3 DIMM slots for up to 3GB of PC2100, PC2700 or even DDR400 memory; Note that for dual-channel configurations you have to install a pair of identical memory modules;
• 5 PCI slots and 1 AGP 8x slot;
• 2-channel ATA-133/100/66/33 integrated controller;
• Two Serial ATA-150 ports;
• 10/100Mb/s Ethernet;
• 6 USB 2.0 ports;
• FireWire (IEEE1394);
• 6-channel NVIDIA audio solution with hardware Dolby Digital;
• Overclocking functions, including Vcore, Vmem and Vagp adjusting, FSB Setting and Multiplier Setting;
• ATX Form Factor.

The mainboard does not bring anything really new to us, except official support for the upcoming Athlon XP CPUs with 400MHz EV-6 PSB. We cannot state for sure, but it is possible that even present-generation nForce2-based solutions from ABIT are able to work with the forthcoming processors after BIOS re-flashing. There is also a possibility that the NF7-S 2.0 carries a new nForce2 North Bridge revision, as a result, all older products are not supposed to be really stable when 400MHz FSB is set.

Pricing and availability information was not touched upon.