The layout
Integrating the AT7 MAX's wealth of on-board peripherals into a coherent and usable PCB layout is no picnic. How did Abit handle the daunting task?

Lots of everything except PCI slots

Quite well, I think. Integrated peripherals and PCI slots compete for PCB space on the AT7, and Abit only manages to squeeze in three PCI slots. Considering you have LAN, audio, RAID, and Firewire on-board, only three PCI slots might not be that much of a limitation for some. TV tuner/video capture and SCSI cards immediately come to mind for what may vie for the three available slots, though some may want to also replace integrated peripherals like RAID and audio with their own PCI solutions.

4 DIMM slots: an Abit indulgence

Typical of Abit motherboards, you'll find four DIMM slots on the AT7. With unregistered memory, you can load in 3GB of PC1600 or PC2100 memory or 2GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM. Paying the price premium for registered DDR ups the max memory to 3.5GB for PC1600 and PC2100, and to 3GB for PC2700 DDR SDRAM.

As great as four DIMM slots are, they do come with baggage. Limited PCB real estate leaves Abit no choice but to place the DIMM slots close to the AGP port, so you'll have to remove your AGP card to swap memory.

You shouldn't have a problem fitting larger heat sinks on the AT7 MAX

As usual, Abit leaves plenty of room around the CPU socket for larger heat sink/fan combinations, and they've also supported the four-hole mounting standard. Interestingly enough, Abit also warns against the use of heat sink clips with only one contact point.

Sound advice from Abit

Shhh, don't tell Abit, but I used a mounting clip with a one-hole fix plate. If you swap heat sinks in and out regularly, clips with multiple contact points make a lot of sense. Personally, I'm just really careful when I use a one-hole mounting clip.

Break out the Voodoo5 5500!

It's time to dust off that Voodoo5 5500, because the AT7 supports older 3.3V AGP cards. That such a forward-looking motherboard remains compatible with an older standard is ironic, but it's certainly not a problem.