When we move a little to the left we stumble into six SATA II ports. To the right of the SATA ports we see two micro-switches. these are power on/off and reset switches. I just love these subtle tiny details. To the left of the SATA ports you can see a POST diagnostic LED. It will retun a code, representing the status of the mainboard. If the mainboard is running fine it displays AA. Should there be a memory error it would report a different code. These codes can be dissected with the help of your manual.

Here we have the mainboard activated, and as you can see, AA - means okay. Well, that or an Alcoholics Anonymous share group reminder :)

So here's where I need to compliment ECS. Last time in our X48 review we gave them some negative remarks, which were totally deserved as their cooling method was not properly done.

With the X58 however we run into a way more advanced heatpipe design. This one is done right, properly mounted, copper and yes... working really well with excellent temperatures.

Along the bottom edge we can find several more headers for USB ports, serial, frontpanel and FireWire. Also the traditional CMOS clear jumpers are still present.