Board Layout
The lone PCI-E slot means that DFI needed to provide reasonable onboard sound and a desirable LAN solution. What you get is the Realtek ALC885 teamed up with Creative X-FI drivers and the Intel 82578DC for LAN duty.
Most of what you'll need is available on the rear I/O panel. You've got 6 USB connectors (one is eSATA combo), together with analog and digital audio outputs. There's also a CMOS clear switch available which comes in handy when OC recovery fails to work.
There are cutbacks in the VRM department. CPU VCC (VCore) is limited to 150W max on the current BIOS (future BIOSes will see OCP limited to around 90amps with a maximum VID of 1.40V). There is no cooling over any of the FETs either.
150w is just about enough to support a very mild overclock on a 750 CPU long term. 860/870 CPUs are probably best left near stock if you run heavy loads. Over-current protection should kick in if you push things a little too far, although we often find that it's better not to test the limits of OCP in the first place. DFI will be releasing BIOS shortly that limits OCP to around 110W, which is a smidgen above stock TDP - basically, you'll be limited to near stock operating frequency on all CPUs.
You get 3 SATA ports courtesy of the Intel P55 PCH. Front panel I/O for audio, USB, IrDA, and power are all placed above or to the right of the PCI-E slot together with the CMOS battery holder, allowing access to all connectors when the PCI-E slot is occupied. A hex post code display is placed to the right of the DIMM slots for debugging purposes.
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yacoub - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Is Gary Key still writing for Anandtech? I noticed he hasn't posted in a while and his email address @anandtech bounced the other day, though I've successfully emailed him there before and gotten responses.If he left, where did he go? His motherboard reviews were usually thorough, superb, and very much appreciated.
(Your review is fine, I am just wondering what happened to Gary Key.)
JarredWalton - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I can confirm that Gary left us to go work for someone else last month. I'm sure he'll still read the site, but his new job prevents him from writing for us now. We wish him the best, though!yacoub - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Ah okay, thanks for the update. I guess he's working for one of the companies who make products you guys review, not another news site? :)JarredWalton - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Yeah, I thinks it's okay for us to mention he's at ASUS now.yacoub - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Oh very cool! :)vol7ron - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I like to see more reviews of mini-ITX. Cases and boards.This is the year of the HTPC.
DigitalFreak - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Surprisingly enough, the price isn't bad. $134 @ Newegg.fr500 - Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - link
Hi anandDid you tell DFI about the reboot loop problem, S1 works fine but the GPU fan ramps up to 100% on S1 so it's unusable, and S3 has the aforementioned problem of random waking up and get stuck in a reboot loop.
S3 is VERY important on an HTPC board imho. S4 works too but it's still too slow for day to day usage.
If it can't be fixed guess I'll have to clock down to stock overclocking via software when gaming or get a passive cooled GTS250 instead of the current active cooled one.