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Date |
: Jan 22nd, 2002 |
| Category |
: Motherboards |
| Manufacturer |
: DFI |
| Author |
: Jin-Wei Tioh |
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The highlight of the AK76-SN is simply how ordinary it is - the traditional brown PCB color, the lack of integrated audio (or any OEM-ish features for that matter). Its dimensions are a humbler 12" x 8.7" (HxW), which makes this an easy fit into any case. Component placement is good but not perfect. The ATX power supply header sits close to the right edge of the motherboard, behind the CPU socket. The significance? The power supply cables would potentially hang above the CPU, thereby obstructing airflow to the heatsink/fan unit. This is one of the most common mistakes that have been committed by many manufacturers. It would definitely be better if DFI had followed the layout the AOpen AK77 Plus by placing the ATX power header next to the DIMM slots.
The DIMM slots are postion towards the far left of the motherboard, a good call on DFI's part due to the slots being less than a quarter inch above the AGP slot. Thus, DIMM installation becomes a non-issue with most AGP cards in the market, barring the Voodoo5, a full-length device.
DFI decided to integrate only 2 USB ports, including an additional header (but not the necessary bracket) to provide another 2 USB ports. The second USB header is placed toward the bottom of the motherboard, parallel to the PCI slots, an ideal arrangement for case modders and those with cases having lower-front USB ports, such as the SkyHawk aluminum line. As done on most motherboards, the front panel connectors are placed in the lower-left corner of the motherboard, ensuring that the cables do not get in the way of any expansion slots.
The IDE and floppy connectors are mounted in between and parallel to the PCI slots. While being a little further from the storage devices that we'd like, it is still a very acceptable arrangement. Every single slot on the AK76-SN is able to accommodate a full-length card, a commendable layout achievement on DFI's part.
The only other fault in the AK76-SN's layout is capacitor placement. The 6 3300uF units could definitely have been shifted about half an inch away from the CPU socket, since they currently get in the way of larger heatsinks such as the Swiftech MC462A. To DFI's credit, they did follow the "no mount zone" specified by AMD, allowing enabling the usage of heatsink/fan units which use the 4-lug mounting system, such as the Zalman CNPS5000 and the aft-forementioned Swiftech MC462A.
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