Review : Abit IT7 Max 2 (Intel i845E)

ABIT has gone an extra mile to protect the IT7 Max 2 Max from transportation damage - it comes in an additional plastic housing, different to the cheaper ABIT boards. This hard cover prevents damage to the precious board much better than the usual cardboard box. This detail is not unimportant because of the IT7’s standing battery. Unfortunately our previously tested BD7-II that also has the standing battery and is shipped in the regular cardboard box arrived with a broken-off battery. The layout of the IT7 Max 2 is without flaw: the space around the socket is sufficient to accommodate even the biggest sinks, the ATX and the additional 4-power-connector are located at the best possible places, the DIMM sockets are not hindering the installation of the video card, the IDE, RAID and floppy connectors are all well within reach