The layout
Motherboards with lots of integrated components can sometimes run into PCB layout problems as engineers try to make the most of the real estate they're given.


Look, a motherboard without a garish PCB color!

After cramming a massive array of components onto its MAX motherboards, Abit doesn't have a problem populating the BD7II-RAID's PCB. The board is actually quite spacious considering the number of integrated components, and that's a good thing, because that leaves enough room for five 32-bit PCI slots.


Plenty of room for a GeForce4 Ti 4600 to stretch out

Having a spacious layout means that there's plenty of room extending beyond the AGP slot for longer GeForce4 Ti 4600 graphics cards. There's even enough room for you to add and remove memory from the DIMM slots while there's an AGP card installed—a rarity with Abit boards.


n+1: Abit's DIMM theory

Abit has an interesting theory when it comes to DIMM slots—they always seem to provide one more than everyone else, often in contravention of the chipset manufacturer's official specifications. Although Intel specifies two DIMM slots for its 845E chipset, Abit gives you one extra. Bonus.

One extra DIMM slot might not seem like a big deal, and really it's not. The maximum amount of memory that the BD7II-RAID supports is still 2GB, so that extra DIMM slot only facilitates using smaller (and sometimes less expensive) DIMMs to reach that limit. In testing, I was only able to get the third DIMM slot working with single-sided DIMMs; keep that in mind if you're thinking about filling all three slots.


The BD7II-RAID's wide-open socket

Like most Pentium 4 motherboards, there's plenty of room around the CPU socket for a heat sink retention system. Generally with Pentium 4 coolers, installing a heat sink is as easy as dropping it in, so there's no need to carefully bend back capacitors for retention clip clearance.


Booger or TIM? You decide

The BD7-II is based on Intel's Brookdale 845E chipset, not to be confused with the 845G. The 845E obviously lacks the integrated Intel graphics that put the 'G' in 845G, and there's at least one other important omission: DDR333 support. Although neither chipset officially supports DDR333, the 845G has the proper divisor to run memory at DDR333 speeds; the 845E doesn't. Unlike some motherboards based on Intel's 845G chipset, you won't be able to run the BD7II-RAID's memory at 166MHz without overclocking most other system components.

Then again, Abit ignores Intel's specification for two DIMM slots. Could they also thumb their nose at the 845E's lack of official DDR333 support?


Integrated Ethernet and audio spice up the port cluster

The BD7II-RAID's port cluster doesn't contain anything radical, but it's a full array of ports nonetheless. You'll remember from the spec sheet that the BD7II-RAID features six-channel audio, but there are only three audio jacks on the board. If you want to get your fix of front, rear, and subwoofer channels, a simple driver interface lets you switch the line-in and microphone ports to rear and subwoofer channels.

I do have to give integrated audio some credit for matured over the years, but development has largely lagged discrete audio offerings in both features and fidelity. The BD7II-RAID's onboard Realtek audio doesn't break this pattern, but you're going to need a good set of speakers to differentiate it from an SB Live!


Integrated Ethernet: wave of the future?

Abit's inclusion of onboard Ethernet deserves some special mention here, not because it's particularly revolutionary, but because I think it's about time motherboards give you an RJ-45 jack. With broadband approaching ubiquity, at least among the enthusiast community, onboard Ethernet is a no-brainer. There are some who find integrated Ethernet solutions unsuitable and prefer more expensive Ethernet offerings from the likes of Intel or 3Com, but I'd wager the vast majority of DIYers wouldn't hesitate to use the BD7II-RAID's integrated Realtek Ethernet.


ATA133 RAID, and a space saving battery mount

Abit has included the popular Highpoint 372 controller on the BD7II-RAID. The 372 doesn't offer four channels of ATA/133 IDE RAID goodness like its successor, the Highpoint 374, but it's still going to be plenty for most.

Curiously absent from the BD7II-RAID's PCB are the power/reset buttons and two-digit BIOS LED readout, both of which have seen action on a number of past Pentium 4 motherboards from Abit. There's certainly enough room on the PCB for these useful and undeniably cool features, but sadly, you'll have to go without this time around.