Features & Layout
Features
Contrary to what the small bundle might indicate the GA-7T600 1394 has a nice range of features included; this in part because of the wide range of integrated features that come with the KT600 chipset itself. As mentioned in our introduction the KT600 has integrated RAID 0,1 with it's SATA controller. Also featured are AGP 8X, 10/100 LAN, Six-Trac (six channel) audio using AC 97' and up to 8 USB 2.0 ports. In addition to this as the model number indicates, 1394 IEEE Firewire is included.
As you can see above 4 USB 2.0 port are on the I/O panel itself, and another 4 are available from the board. The integrated audio ports shown above come with an auto sensing feature that will determine the output based on the jack inserted; no more fumbling to see the color codes in the dark.
Layout
The over all layout of the GA-7T600 ok but there are some issues. As you can see below the capacitors seem placed very well and away from the CPU socket but if you notice at the top left corner of the CPU socket there is one capcitor that's quite close. While this didn't hamper our standard CPU cooler I can't help feeling a larger heatsink such as a Volcano series or Aeroflow might be tight.
The IDE & SATA connectors are placed well on the board as are the USB/IEEE pinouts. However, a few more points of contention are the close proximity of the floppy and ATX power inputs and as with most boards these days the tight AGP/DIMM slots. Some also might not like that there are no holes around the CPU socket for certain types of mounting.
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