Abit IC 7 MAX 3

Crosshairs

Crosshairs

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Feb 3, 2004
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Anyone have this board ????...Im thinking about getting one, and I have read good stuff, but Im looking for reviews from real users........

I will be using it with a 3.2 Prescott, and Corsair PC 3500...

Im not a major overclocker, but I do like to mess around with it a little...

Im not looking to go Socket 775 or PCIE anytime soon, so I want a board that will work with my current hardware.
 
Very nice board. I did not like the stock NB fan... too loud. Overclocks very well. BTW where did you find one?
 
slickmitch said:
Very nice board. I did not like the stock NB fan... too loud. Overclocks very well. BTW where did you find one?
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Well , I havent yet.....Online stores dont seem to have any...Im still looking :)
 
the max3 is a rare board, discontinued quickly i just use the zalman nb heat sink with a custom mounting for the nb
 
ryuji said:
the max3 is a rare board, discontinued quickly i just use the zalman nb heat sink with a custom mounting for the nb
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HMMM..I guess thats why Im having trouble finding one......Why did they discontinue it????
It figures, I want one and cant get it :(
 
everyone wanted it, and abit didnt have enogh elite binned canterwood chips i guess
 
Never heard why, mabye its the one with the most bad caps? Also forgot to mention the MaxIII does not overclock as well as the Max II. The II has a stable lock over 300mhz :D
But you said a little ocing :p
 
is that why all the fsb records are on max3's
the lock is stable past 300mhz and beyond on all ic7s
 
Crosshairs said:
HMMM..I guess thats why Im having trouble finding one......Why did they discontinue it????
It figures, I want one and cant get it :(
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Because it's an expensive board based on an obsolete chipset and socket, I guess.

I have one of them. It's a very nice board indeed, but the OTES cooling is overkill. The NB fan is really noisy. I have to oil it every month or so. Other than that it's very nice, but I suggest you to get a cheaper board. I don't think the OTES system helps the cooling a bit.
 
Supasso said:
Because it's an expensive board based on an obsolete chipset and socket, I guess.

I have one of them. It's a very nice board indeed, but the OTES cooling is overkill. The NB fan is really noisy. I have to oil it every month or so. Other than that it's very nice, but I suggest you to get a cheaper board. I don't think the OTES system helps the cooling a bit.
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it does for me :D
without the otes(i dont use the abit fan, never had it to use) my mosfets reach and maybe exceed 65C, with the otes it doesnt go past 45C, but i suppose feeding a prescott 1.56v is never easy on the mosfets :p
all the abit ic7 style nb fans suck, dont use them
 
Supasso said:
Because it's an expensive board based on an obsolete chipset and socket, I guess.

I
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Yeah, I understand this part....its just that for my use, I dont really need to go the Socket 775 route just yet...But I have the itch to mess around with my rig.... Im currently using a 3.06/533 @ 3.45
I have the 3.2 just sitting here, but my board wont take it.

I have read a lot of good stuff about the Max 3 so I wanted to try and dig one up :)
 
watch the fs/t forums, people are switching to a64s/pci-e nowdays, so s478 p4 stuff is cheep cheep :D
 
Crosshairs said:
Anyone have this board ????...Im thinking about getting one, and I have read good stuff, but Im looking for reviews from real users........

I will be using it with a 3.2 Prescott, and Corsair PC 3500...

Im not a major overclocker, but I do like to mess around with it a little...

Im not looking to go Socket 775 or PCIE anytime soon, so I want a board that will work with my current hardware.
Click to expand...

Be careful with the Prescott. Trust me. They run hotter than norman and if you want to OC it can be an issue.
 
icehokplyr said:
Be careful with the Prescott. Trust me. They run hotter than norman and if you want to OC it can be an issue.
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unless you got water cooling :p
 
I just sold my max3 to a friend for $200. Shesh, i only paid $175 18 months ago so I'm thrilled.

Its a great board, very stable. I was able to get my northwood 2.8 up to 3.5 with a Zalman 7000 series copper cooler. Like others my northbridge fan went out but since I wasn't overclocking it then I just unplugged the fan and ran the motherboard without it for the next year. Never had a problem at stock speeds.

BTW, i thought the otes fan was actually very quiet considering how fast it turns and how much air it moves.

If you are looking for one now I'd suggest ebay, I've seen lots and lots there, many NIB.
 
I'll be parting with mine in the future too (sometime after R520 comes out) because I will be going the way of PCI-Express. Hopefully, I too, will be able to command a large sum of money for what may be one of the best mottherboards Abit has ever produced, even with the few minor gripes such as the NB fan. I must have been lucky, because I've never had to replace mine.
 
Forgot to mention another thing - the onboard sound really sucks. It's so noisy. You can hear the harddisk activities everytime it's working,
 
Supasso said:
Forgot to mention another thing - the onboard sound really sucks. It's so noisy. You can hear the harddisk activities everytime it's working,
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I never use onboard sound :)
 
me either, sb live was better then even soundstorm imo nevermind you actualy get more fps in games using a soundblaster compared to onboard
 
I just sold my IC7-Max 3 and it payed for my Asus A8N-SLI Premium. I got that board right went it came out and used it for 2 years. I got a 90% return on the sale. Not bad at all.

Excellent board though, it was well worth the price.
 
brom42 said:
I just sold my IC7-Max 3 and it payed for my Asus A8N-SLI Premium. I got that board right went it came out and used it for 2 years. I got a 90% return on the sale. Not bad at all.

Excellent board though, it was well worth the price.
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That exactly what I did. 'cept i got the deluxe and spend a bit more on something I would get a benefit from, a fast video card.
 
i have this board with a northwood 3.0 @ 3.4. it IS a great board. i did MUCHO research before i bought it and was very happy with it. the north bridge fan died after about 8 months. that was easy enough to replace. personally i liked the OTES. i never used the on board sound so that was not an issue. i would highly reccomend it if you can find one. i just got a whole new rig, so i will be selling my current stuff soon. i used CORSAIR XMS PC3200 4X256 RAM and it worked great! it is a real easy over clocker with adequate cooling. good luck on finding one (not sarcasm)!

Athlon 64 X2 4400@ 2.6
Asus A8N-SLI Prem
BFG 7800GTX OC
2X 1 gig Crucial Ballistix PC 4000
Silverstone ZEUS 650 Watt PSU (SLI/SATA ready)
WD Raptor 74 Gb
WD Caviar 200 Gb SATA II (storage)
Plextor SATA DVD burner +/-R
SONY DVD-ROM
AUDIGY 2 Zs
ThermalTake SHARK Case
Zalman 7700Cu 120mm/ Arctic Ceramique
 
jervonics said:
i have this board with a northwood 3.0 @ 3.4. it IS a great board. i did MUCHO research before i bought it and was very happy with it. the north bridge fan died after about 8 months. that was easy enough to replace. personally i liked the OTES. i never used the on board sound so that was not an issue. i would highly reccomend it if you can find one.i just got a whole new rig, so i will be selling my current stuff soon.
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SELL IT TO ME NOW!!!!!!!! :)
 
i might just do that. i have a clan member that is looking to buy my whole rig. but if he doesnt give me something concrete in the next week, im sure we can arrange something.
 
jervonics said:
i might just do that. i have a clan member that is looking to buy my whole rig. but if he doesnt give me something concrete in the next week, im sure we can arrange something.
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Let me know.....Im lookin at a few on E-Bay...
 
I have one of these boards and its ba. I have raid setup on 3 and 4 which are SI chipset. I had to do this because my plextor 716a wont work on the intel chipset on sata 1 and 2. its got green leds on it. hehe i didnt know that when i bought it. see sig for all other details plugged into it.
 
jervonics said:
i can let you know something by friday. hope that is early enough for you.
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Please do...Im looking forward to hearing from you
Thanks
 
i have this board, taking this 2.6C northwood up to 3.8 to 4(screencapped) without a hitch.. el ridiculoso.. haha. GREAT board, but put it in water :). Good luck finding one to clock high.

flip
 
I have this board with a 2.4c @3.0 daily and as high as ~3.4-3.5 for testing. It has been awesome. The OTES fan went out so I ordered a new one from abit for like 6 bucks and 3 days later it was back to normal. And i too will be selling my system as soon as Geil gets my new memory back to me from RMA(Ultra platinum ddr500). The voltage is broke on the Max3 though it won't go above 2.8-2.9 with any kind of stability. Maybe thats why they stopped.
 
I have onein my main rig. Typing this from my little notebook because the MAX3 literally caught in fire this morning :(

i LET THE SMOKE OUT!!!! I've been running a 2.4C @ 3.3 Ghz for about a year or so on this board. The NB, P4, and GPU have been on water since I got the board, and never had a problem until this morning when I noticed the machine was off.

I turned it on, went into the bathroom while it boots up, thennoticed a smell. went to the office and the machine wasn't booting but all the lights were on and there was this fishy smell. Then a little fire.

I'm really super bummed. I think maybe I got some bad caps on this board. Starting a query in another thread.. hopefully Abit will fix it for me, and it didnt' fry my p4.
 
Supasso said:
Forgot to mention another thing - the onboard sound really sucks. It's so noisy. You can hear the harddisk activities everytime it's working,
Click to expand...


I've never exp. this issue. And haven't seen anyone else mention this. Is this documented any where? Or could it be a problem with your paticular setup.
 
BeernuT said:
I've never exp. this issue. And haven't seen anyone else mention this. Is this documented any where? Or could it be a problem with your paticular setup.
Click to expand...
I think perhaps no one mentioned this because everyone expects the onboard sound to be crap. By the way, I have heard a lot of people saying that onboard sounds "in general" suck.

Anyways, it's possible that my board in particular is badly shielded. YMMV.
 
Astroman said:
I have onein my main rig. Typing this from my little notebook because the MAX3 literally caught in fire this morning :(

i LET THE SMOKE OUT!!!! I've been running a 2.4C @ 3.3 Ghz for about a year or so on this board. The NB, P4, and GPU have been on water since I got the board, and never had a problem until this morning when I noticed the machine was off.

I turned it on, went into the bathroom while it boots up, thennoticed a smell. went to the office and the machine wasn't booting but all the lights were on and there was this fishy smell. Then a little fire.

I'm really super bummed. I think maybe I got some bad caps on this board. Starting a query in another thread.. hopefully Abit will fix it for me, and it didnt' fry my p4.
Click to expand...


SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've got a 3.0 that's been at 3.75 on water for ABOUT A YEAR NOW TOO!!
Dammit. Well, I'm headed out to Target to get a portable fire extinguisher....just in case.

I hope Abit can do something for you, but I doubt they're gonna have one of these in their RMA channel.

Did you have the vDimm and droop mod stuff done to it, or all stock?
 
Supasso said:
I think perhaps no one mentioned this because everyone expects the onboard sound to be crap. By the way, I have heard a lot of people saying that onboard sounds "in general" suck.

Anyways, it's possible that my board in particular is badly shielded. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I can't really say my onboard sound sucks..............................


But then again, I've never enabled it........ (Audigy Gamer w/ Audigy 2 drivers) :D :D
 
I concur. The onboard sound is lousy. You can hear every hard drive access through your speakers.

I just used a sb live with mine. Worked fine.
 
Astroman said:
I have onein my main rig. Typing this from my little notebook because the MAX3 literally caught in fire this morning :(

i LET THE SMOKE OUT!!!! I've been running a 2.4C @ 3.3 Ghz for about a year or so on this board. The NB, P4, and GPU have been on water since I got the board, and never had a problem until this morning when I noticed the machine was off.

I turned it on, went into the bathroom while it boots up, thennoticed a smell. went to the office and the machine wasn't booting but all the lights were on and there was this fishy smell. Then a little fire.

I'm really super bummed. I think maybe I got some bad caps on this board. Starting a query in another thread.. hopefully Abit will fix it for me, and it didnt' fry my p4.
Click to expand...
im thinking wc leak you sure its the mb and not the psu?
 
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