EPoX EP-AT690G Pro Motherboard Review - More exploring
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Now with the chipsets out of the way, let's take a look at a few more landmarks.
Just behind the South Bridge are the drive connectors. This board has only 1 IDE connection and 4 SATA connections.
Here's a shot of the I/O expansion slots, which include three PCI, two 1x PCIE, and one 16x PCIE. At the very left of the third PCIE slot, you can make out the three USB headers (one blue, one yellow, and one black). Each one provides 2 USB ports, for a total of 6 possible expansions.
Right next to the AM2 slot are the DDR2 DIMM slots. These are color coded for dual channel operation, and can support up to 16GB of RAM.
Here's a pic of the CPU finding its home. In this case, it's an AMD 64 X2 3800+. Not a shabby CPU, to say the least.
With the CPU in place, we then install the 1GB kit of DDR2 RAM from Patriot. Above is a pic of the RAM and CPU installed, with the CPU fan in place.
Remember earlier when I mentioned the placement of the ATX power socket? Take a look at the picture above. Yes, the case is turned upside down, but I did that to illustrate my point. The ATX cable harness hangs down, nearly touching the CPU fan during normal operations. It covers nearly 40% of the fan's surface, when gravity has its way. THEN, if I try and bend it a little, to move it away from the CPU cooling fan, it blocks the 120mm case fan at the back of this case (which happens to be a Raidmax Ninja case; review coming soon). I have always found this location for the ATX socket irritating at best.
Now I didn't say I wasn't able to creatively solve the issue. Using a zip cord, I created a loop around the power harness and pulled it to the side. Using this method, the cable is not only completely out of the way of both fans, but when the computer is completely assembled, the insides will look even cleaner.
Next: How About the BIOS? >>
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