|
|||||||||
 |
Abit NI8-SLI Motherboard Review :: Layout and Bundle
The location of the floppy drive connector on the board is in one of the worst places it could possibly be on a motherboard, on the far left hand side of the board, under the PCI slot #2. This positioning of the floppy drive connector, means you need to have a long floppy drive cable on large cases. In my test station, the floppy drive cable rested on the SATA cables and the power cable for the 6800GT we use in our test station.  Board Layout  South Bridge Other that that little bugger of a problem, the layout is pretty good. The location of the ATX power connector is in an optimal position. The 4-pin connector is above the CPU. This position is not optimal, as the cable went over the CPU cooler. If you have a huge CPU cooler like the Gigabyte 3D Rocket cooler you'll need to route the power cable around the CPU cooler.  USB headers  Jumper tabs ABIT decided to cool the South Bridge with a passive heat sink. The placement of the USB headers is on the bottom of the board, allowing easy access to a USB bracket. One especially good point of this board is ABIT includes tabs for the jumpers. Many board manufacturers include jumpers that are a pain to remove, but on ABIT's board you simply pull off the tab and it's off.  LED  System Connections One feature becoming more prevalent on motherboards today is a LED display. The NI8-SLI board comes with a LED that displays a series of numbers. If your computer fails to boot with a A0 error, for example that means the likely cause is there is a CPU problem. A reading of FF means the system will likely POST and be on its merry way. I had an A0 error, but after clearing the CMOS, the system booted without a problem. Package Content
ABIT includes a minimalist bundle with their NI8-SLI board, for the most part. While I would prefer that the company include 2 IDE cables for the IDE controller, the inclusion of all necessary SATA cables is more important, as the vast majority of hard disk drives sold today are SATA. Another thing I would have liked to have seen is the inclusion of a USB bracket.  SATA Cables  IDE Cable  Manuals  Drivers  Back Plate  SLI Connector  SLI Bracket  SLI Card As far as included software goes the NI8-SLI comes with a floppy disc for installing SATA drivers on a fresh install of Windows, a driver CD with the drivers required for operation, and ABIT's uGuru utility. Many motherboard manufacturers to include antivirus software or hard drive partitioning software, as these are useful for new motherboard purchasers.  OCGuru  OCGuru  OCGuru  OCGuru The AudioMax card replaces the sound jacks on the back panel I/O of the board. The ALC850 chip is on the card itself, allowing the user to add a audio card with no problem of disabling it in the BIOS beforehand. The NI8-SLI has a dedicated slot for the AUDIOMAX card. This is necessitated by the inclusion of the QTES cooling system. Discuss This Article
|
|
|||||||
