Biostar TA690G - Board Layout
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It's time to look at the actual motherboard. This is a smaller motherboard than we're used to, so some things will get squeezed into tight spaces or may not even be put on the motherboard.
Around the CPU socket, it gets pretty crowded. Some of the bigger aftermarket coolers will have problems with this motherboard. I would highly recommend sticking with the stock cooler, or a smaller aftermarket cooler with this motherboard.
Next we have four DDR2 slots; this is rare in mATX motherboards. Typically we find only two slots for RAM on mATX motherboards, as two slots are usually enough for typical users and it saves room for other components. We find the 24-pin PSU connector, the floppy and HDD connectors up here too.
Moving down we find four SATA ports. It's not a lot, as you would find on an ATX motherboard, but it should do well for what you want. Surprisingly, we have power and reset buttons. They are really handy when running your motherboard out of the case, but for this board I feel they're really not needed.
We have two PCI slots, a PCI-Express, and a 16x PCI Express slot for graphics cards. For gamers like me, this makes it possible to make a semi-portable computer with a high end graphics card in it.
The back is loaded with ports: two PS2 ports, S-Video, HDMI, VGA, DVI, four USB ports, RJ-45, and audio jacks.
With a lower power draw, Biostar can get away with a 4 pin connector for the ATX power connector instead of your typical 8 pin connector. None of the components near the CPU are heatsinked. This could become an issue if things heat up and you want to overclock.
Next: Overclocking >>
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