The Basics:

Taking a look at the motherboard from above, I immediately noticed that there isn't a floppy connection! While this is a change, it should not be a big surprise, as floppy drive use has been slowly dying off. One other feature that immediately stood out was the passive heat sinks on the north bridge and south bridge chips. While an active heat sink might be preferred on an enthusiast level system that would be more likely to be overclocked, passive heat sinks will work without issues on mainstream installations.


Next I noticed that there are only six holes for mounting the motherboard into a case. This is common with mATX format motherboards, but in a standard ATX board I like to have mounting holes along the edge to support the pressure exerted while connecting SATA and IDE devices, or while installing memory.


Along the bottom left edge we find the usual connectors; four SATA II ports, and two USB 2.0 ports. In the far bottom left corner are the standard front panel switch/LED headers; keep the manual close as there are no markings on the motherboard to help identify the connections. There are also no fan connections in this area of the motherboard, and only two connections total.


In the other corner there is even less to see (below left image). There are three legacy PCI slots, one PCI-Express x16 2.0 slots, and two PCI-Express x1 slots. This board is not designed for SLI or CrossFire usage, so there is only one PCI-Express x16 slot. The dual PCI-Express x1 slots are a nice feature as there are network cards, sound cards, and TV tuners that can take advantage of them. Along this edge is also where the header for front panel headphone and microphone connections, CD audio input, and SPDIF output are located. Near the northbridge heat sink we find a 3-pin fan connector.


There is a large amount of space around the processor socket (above right image), which should allow you to install most coolers. The northbridge cooler should not pose any issues with CPU cooler installation, as it has a low profile design. The memory sockets could pose an issue with the extremely large coolers out there, but the good ones are configured to provide enough clearance over features such as these. Right above the memory sockets is another 3-pin fan connector, and this one is marked for use with a CPU fan.