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ABIT AN7 |
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µGuru Continued
Audio EQ:
This seems to be a fairly standard audio equaliser and surround-effects program. The nForce2 drivers from NVIDIA include an impressive console for the onboard sound, but this console is for the Realtek ALC658 so covers control of the digital input/output also. This program actually didn't install at first - it only showed up when I downloaded the lastest µGuru package from ABIT's website. ABIT say it can detect when you mis-cable your audio connections too. More info on the Realtek ALC658's functions are here on Realtek's site.
Fan EQ:
FanEQ lets you control your various system fans, including the NorthBridge fan, either manually or automatically based on a reference temperature. For example, you could control your CPU fan (provided it plugs into the appropriate 3-pin header) based upon the CPU temperature. As the temperature goes up, so does the fan speed, to keep heat under control. There are preset profiles for when to switch the fan speed to the higher rate, or you can set the threshhold yourself. Note that the NorthBridge fan speed and PWM (power circuitry) temperature are accessible with this program.
FlashMenu:
BIOS flashing through Windows is much more convenient than booting off a floppy or bootable CD. FlashMenu will access ABIT's website, find the latest BIOS for your motherboard and flash your motherboard with it, all with a single mouseclick. This is undeniably a nice feature, but it's strange to see it listed as a µGuru feature when many many ABIT motherboards are supported by FlashMenu, not just the µGuru-equipped ones. I use FlashMenu to keep my NF7-S v2.0 updated, for example.
BlackBox:
BlackBox can put together a report of information about your system and email it to ABIT. If your PC isn't booting this is obviously not going to help much, but it's presumably for if you're having problems with a particular driver or onboard feature, or some transient issue. Instead of having to look up all the details and versions yourself when asking ABIT for help, you can type a description of the problem, let BlackBox build a report and send it all off to ABIT, then wait for their reply.
Peeking at the Guru
I'm sure ABIT would prefer I didn't do this, but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. The µGuru chip has a shiny sticker on the top of it. During the whole course of testing, this sticker nagged at me. What does it cover? The µGuru manual describes it as "a fresh Microprocessor developed by ABIT engineers used only on ABIT motherboards." I couldn't resist the temptation. I removed the sticker.
 
A Winbond W83L950D lurks beneath. The first result when Googling is this PDF file, most of which I'll admit is well over my head, but basically it is indeed a microprocessor, with internal RAM, flash memory and a range of connections to the outside world. Note that this is different to the Winbond W83627HF hardware-monitoring chip that appears along the top edge of both the NF7-S and AN7, and is used on a huge number of other motherboards. The Winbond chip that ABIT call µGuru really is a new chip on the AN7 and does not appear on the NF7-S. I'm sure ABIT's claim of developing this chip are true - in that their engineers programmed the microprocessor and coded the software that talks to it. So, that's all good!
I approached µGuru assuming it was just a marketing gimmick. Reluctantly, I have come to admit that it does have the potential to be very useful. I think the software needs a little more polishing and improvement on the usability side of things, but that will hopefully come in time. The µGuru suite is a nice idea and an extension of ABIT's commitment to enthusiasts and overclockers.
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