abit IN9 32X-MAX (NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI)
Expansion options
abit IN9 32X-MAX supports 8 SerialATA-II lines. Of them, 6 lines are supported by the south bridge MCP55PXE. The matching connectors are colored black, positioned near the south bridge, with 4 of them orientated in parallel to the board's plane, and 2 - perpendicularly.
Also, the board uses an additional Sil3132 RAID controller made by Silicon Image. This chip provided support for another 2 SerialATA II channels. Both the ports are brought to the rear panel, near this chip.
Therefore, as many as 10 hard disks can be plugged in to N9 32X-MAX: 8 disks through the SerialATA II, with 2 more through the ParallelATA.
Then, on the board there are two Gigabit LAN controllers 88E1116 made by Marvell:
The board supports ten USB 2.0 ports, four of which are positioned on the rear panel, with 6 more plugged in via plates (the board comes bundled with one plate for 2 ports). Besides, the board offers support for the Firewire bus. To this end, there is an additional TSB43AB22A controller made by Texas Instruments. Therefore, the board offers support for two IEEE1394 ports: both are optional and plugged in with a bracket (available in the bundle).
The last thing to dwell on is the integrated audio - High Definition Audio. ALC888 chip is used as the codec, which supports output to 8 channels.
The board's rear panel looks like this:
You can notice see the complete lack of LPT and COM ports. That is a mandatory condition of the MAX concept with which abit (that time - Abit) made its debut four years ago. On the other hand, there is an optical SP-DIF output and input on the panel, as well as a switch to clear the BIOS settings.
Traditionally, a jumpers layout diagram:
Of the additional features, we note above all the 7-stage POST indicator.
It does a simple job - to display the code of the current operation (initialization of a block or a device) during the initial system boot-up. If some problem comes up, the user can detect it by the code taken from the manual.
On the board, there are Power-on and Reset buttons which will definitely praised by computer enthusiasts. There is also a real gift for enthusiasts - an additional uGuru chip.
It is meant for doing such jobs like extended monitoring, power management, and control of the fans' rotational speeds. It also closely interacts with the the uGuru utility that allows the user to control the mentioned features from within Windows. Finally, it allows storing up to 5 independent BIOS setting profiles in the memory.
We also note that IN9 32X-MAX supports plugging in a special uGuru Panel.
That is a rather multifunctional device that allows bringing two USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire port, an ear-phone output, and a microphone input over to the front panel of the housing. Besides, there is a special button to reset the BIOS settings. It is protected with a special plastic lid against accidental pressing.
On the panel, there is also a small screen where the information of the current CPU clock speed, rotational speed of the fans, voltage levels, PCI Express bus speed is displayed. The current time and temperature in the premises is also displayed.
With the buttons the user can adjust the brightness of the screen as well as amend the settings (e.g. overclock the system through raising the FSB speed). Besides, the screen may show ideograms which signal arrival of new mail, receiving an MSN message, or exceeding a temperature limit.
That is all fine, but the uGuru Panel is not part of the package bundle (despite the board's price over 280$), and you almost can't make it available anywhere in the retail!
Another amusing feature of abit IN9 32X-MAX is in a number of blue LEDs installed on the reverse side of the board.
The may light up or not light, they may also light up in various sequences which can be defined from within the BIOS:
By the way, it's high time we talked about the BIOS settings in more detail.
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