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Layout Considerations

The SINXP1394 is very full of features, and yet Gigabyte, as other companies, has strived to design the board with the user in mind. 5PCI slots make this task easier too, especially when it comes to fitting room between the AGP slot and the DIMM sockets. All the typical components are in good places, including the DIMM sockets and 2 of the 4 IDE connectors. These 2 IDE connectors and the FDD connector are higher up on the board - a convenient location for installation in tower cases.

As you can see from pictures, the DPS slot does cause the area around the CPU to be somewhat congested. With the DPS daughterboard installed, you will find there isn't much room to work around the CPU... I think most of you will be most comfortable removing the DPS when taking out the CPU. This is both an inconvenience and an annoyance.. although I must admit the DPS cooler looks really nice with its LED cooler... much nicer than most LEDs you see on motherboards coolers. On the flipside, you pay for this with having to endure more fan noise. The chipset cooler and DPS cooler noise is not signficant, but it can only add to the noise from the rest of the fans in your case.

BIOS and Overclocking Features

If you may recall, we lamented the draconian lack of overclocking features in the GNB (which by rights, is a workstation board whose targetted endusers should have no need for such features... but still!). The opposite is true here... the SINXP1394 is nothing if not fully featured in the BIOS and overclocking features.

The BIOS itself has a lot of features, but our focus on the overclocking sections will enlighten you to some extent what Gigabyte has done for the tweaking community:

Although not listed in our table, the board also has advanced memory timing features so you can tweak your memory to your heart's content. You might notice that we don't have multiplier settings listed, even though Gigabyte's official "specs" will mention multiplier, your overclocking is done through FSB changes.