6 - The layout

When we tilt the camera we stumble into the SATA and PATA ports with above it passively cooled the MCP chipset (Southbridge). Only four SATA ports, I find that a bit on the shy side, but this is an NVIDIA specced feature.

It's a little hard to spot but the grey'ish block just below the MCP is a diagnostic LED. This is a debug LED that displays "port 80" codes using two seven-segment displays. It was added for quick troubleshooting. I think that over 150 debug codes can be displayed. So if your CMOS malfunctions, or your memory has an issue, you grab your manual and seek up the error code. Now you know where to look and how to fix it.

Loving this, a small micro-switch to reset your CMOS fast and efficient. No more frustration with moving jumpers.

Here we have micro switches to reset and/or power up/down the PC. A tweakers necessity during his everlasting quest to overclock the memory and processor. A little bigger than usual, I like that. They are easy to reach, press and look at. And why am I saying that ? Look at the next photo.

These switches are embedded over a LED, displaying power on and your HD activity.

Last photo then; 2 x PCIe x16 Graphics expansion slots, 1 x PCIe x1, 3 x PCI 32-bit with support for PCI 2.1