Installation:
The first set of images shows the board configured with an Intel e8400 processor, an OCZ Technology Vendetta 2 CPU cooler, and a 2GB dual channel kit of Aeneon XTune DDR2 1142MHz. While the Vendetta 2 isn't the biggest cooler out there, it is quite large, and it fits nicely on the GF9300T-A. It clears the motherboard's heatsinks easily, doesn't come too close to the memory, and just barely reaches the top edge of the board. Given the layout and open area provided, component installation should be rather easy whether completed in or out of a computer case.
 
The next two images take a look at the base of the CPU cooler, in order to show just how much room there is.
 
Neither motherboard heatsink is even close to touching, even the closest memory slot is well clear of the CPU cooler's fan, and all of the power regulating circuitry on the board is out of the way.
The last set of images in this section show the same system with a 512MB Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD4870 graphics card installed. While the SATA header configuration may be odd, here we see that all of them are still available, despite having a large graphics card installed. That can't be said for many boards, where it isn't uncommon for two to four headers to be block when using a graphics card like this.
 
The above right image shows that while only one PCI slot is completely blocked, I would say that the use of two of them has been lost. The visible slot closest to the video card is just too close, and the back of any card would touch the video card's cooler and blind off the fan opening. Not a good idea! So, while you still have two fairly unpopular PCI-E x1 slots available on the other side, you now only have one PCI slot to use!
|
|
