ABIT IC7-G (875P): Challenging the Overclocking Throne

ABIT IC7-G: Board Layout

The IC7-G's layout in general is quite good. We had only a few complaints to point out here.

One of the layout decisions we see with the IC7-G is the placement of the ATX (20-pin) connector. Though it's correctly positioned on the right-hand side of the motherboard, it isn't up high enough on the PCB. If you're using a standard PSU, placing the ATX connector here will mean that the thick wires will obstruct the installation/uninstallation of the CPU HSF, memory modules, and any other components that you may decide to modify or uninstall in that area. The severity of this issue might not be too bad depending on the size of your case and the particular PSU you're using.

Even though the ATX connector isn't placed in exactly the perfect location, the ATX12V connector is located just where we like it to be; on the right-hand side of the motherboard and towards the top. This location prevents the ATX12V cable from running directly over the CPU HSF, and so you don't have to unhook the ATX12V line to uninstall your HSF. Of course, higher quality PSUs have extra long ATX12V and ATX cables, so this won't be an issue with these particular PSUs. Still, the vast majority of users have standard PSUs.

Probably one of the worst issues with the IC7-G's layout is the placement of the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors.

Not only are they placed in the not so ideal position below the midsection of the PCB, but they are placed horizontally to the motherboard. We have two issues with this location. Firstly, it makes it much more difficult for standard IDE cables to reach to the highest bays of a large-sized ATX case. Secondly, it forces you to twist your IDE cables (assuming you're not using rounded IDE cables) in such a way that it will undoubtedly cross paths with your ATX cable, causing clutter and all kind of organizational mayhem. The Floppy connector complicates things further; it is positioned above the ATX connector, which will certainly cause case organization issues as it'll be difficult to neatly route your Floppy cable to your Floppy drive. All in all, this part of the motherboard is laid out very poorly.

ABIT decided to add an active North Bridge heatsink to cool the 875P MCH. This cooling solution is made up of a dark green plastic exterior and fan and is mounted on top of an aluminum heatsink. This type of cooling will be adequate for any average high-end desktop user, and most overclockers should be quite pleased with this active solution, though some hardcore overclockers will modify this heatsink to something a bit more potent. The biggest drawback to an active cooling setup like this is the noise generated by the fan, which could easily be avoided by simply using a large heatsink ala ASUS.

While there is space between the DIMM connectors and the AGP slot, there is very little room for movement. The DIMM connectors are just barely able to extend all the way down while not touching our GeForce4 Ti4600. We know what a hassle it can be to uninstall a video card if only want to install or uninstall memory. Those of you that frequently upgrade and maintain your hardware know how annoying cramped DIMM connector space can be, or any cramped space for that matter.

We like the way the USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 FireWire headers are placed on the IC7-G. There are two USB 2.0 headers located just below and to the right of the 2nd PCI slot. There are also two IEEE 1394 FireWire headers located just below and to the right of the 3rd PCI slot. The bracket ABIT bundles with their IC7-G in fact integrates two USB 2.0 ports and two IEEE 1394 ports. This is nice, but we wonder why ABIT didn't include the final two USB 2.0 ports (for a total of eight) that the ICH5 South Bridge is able to support. Still, with this integrated USB 2.0/IEEE 1394 FireWire bracket, your chances of case clutter from this component are zero (depending on the PCI slot you choose to use of course).