Chaintech ZNF3-250 Motherboard Review - Motherboard Layout
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Starting from the top, we have the ZIF socket to place the 754-pin Athlon 64 processor. (AMD should once again be applauded for this socket design. There is no longer any worry about there being sufficient space around the socket for various coolers. Any aftermarket waterblock or heatsink meant for this socket will fit on fine, which couldn't always be said for socket A). The line of capacitors is fairly close by but shouldn't be a problem.
To the left of the socket there’s the "RadEX" cooling system. To the right of the socket are the DIMM slots, and as usual they will interfere with any video card longer than a Radeon 8500. [Author’s note: It's a pet peeve, but since hardly any motherboard design avoids this nowadays, I've just learned to suck it up.]
Moving further to the right, both the IDE and ATX connectors are well placed along the edge. Much like the
Soyo CK8, there seems to be a missing IDE connector beside the well placed floppy port. (I can't explain it, but it's worth mentioning.) The floppy connector is well placed because for those with a tall case, every inch that port is above the bottom of the case matters. As can be seen in the image below, in this same area is the nForce3 250 chip, as well as the Firewire, SATA, and I/O controllers. You can also see all four SATA 150 connectors, the front panel pins on the bottom right, and the CNR slot for the audio daughter card.
Above the CNR slot are five PCI slots. Hidden around there are the connectors for the CBOX3. Installing that device means users aren't going to have an incredibly clean setup as far as wires are concerned. With all the stuff on this board though, there isn't a lot of real estate to put them anywhere else.
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