Gigabyte SINXP1394 (SiS 655): More Dual Channel DDR for P4

Gigabyte SINXP1394: Board Layout

While the Gigabyte SINXP1394 certainly has a standard looking layout for an ATX motherboard, it has a rather unusual layout for a SiS 655 motherboard. Nonetheless, we were pleased (as always) with the way Gigabyte laid out this particular motherboard.

Let’s start out by looking at the positioning of the ATX (20-pin) connector. We see that Gigabyte places the ATX connector on the right-hand side of the motherboard, which is perfect because most users don’t have PSUs (Power Supply Unit) that have an extra long ATX cable. By positioning the ATX connector on the far right-hand side of the motherboard, the vast majority of PSU ATX cables won’t obstruct the installation/uninstallation of the CPU HSF, North Bridge HSF or any other components that you may decide to modify or uninstall in that general area.

Like most other P4 motherboards on the market, the ATX12V connector is located on the left-hand side of the motherboard near the I/O ports. This isn't the best location for the ATX12V connector, as the ATX12V cable will get in the way of uninstalling the CPU HSF. We’d like to see the ATX12V connector placed somewhere at the very top of the motherboard, whether it’s on the left or right portion of the motherboard doesn’t matter. The ATX12V is especially important since the vast majority of ATX12V cables that come attached to PSU’s are almost always exactly the same length, unlike ATX cables which can varry greatly in length.

We’re happy to see that Gigabyte continues to place the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors to the right of the DIMM slots as well as just above the midsection of the motherboard. We've experienced what a hassle it can be to have the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors placed on the lower portion of the motherboard. It makes it much more difficult for IDE cables to reach to the highest bays of a large-sized ATX case if the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors are placed below the mid-section of the motherboard.

Another good layout feature the Gigabyte SINXP1394 brings to the table is the placement of the DIMM connectors. A lot of motherboard makers are placing the DIMM connectors much too close to where the video card is usually installed. However, in the SINXP1394’s case this annoyance isn’t repeated. The DIMM connectors are far enough away from just about any video card you could imagine installing. We’ve always liked a good deal of room between DIMM connectors and the AGP slot because it doesn’t force us to uninstall the video card if we want to install or uninstall memory. Those of you that frequently upgrade and maintain your hardware know how annoying cramped DIMM connector space can be.

Thankfully the USB 2.0 headers are located at the very bottom of the motherboard. This is the best place to position the USB headers, as it has little chance of getting tangled up with any other wires or hardware components.