In the back of the I/O connectors, we can locate the PTN3360DBS enhanced performance HDMI/DVI level shifter with active DDC buffer:

We were used to seeing the LAN controller near the edge of the left side of the PCB but now it was shifted a little inwards because the lower left area has been mostly allocated for the audio interface:

The Hi-Fi capacitors, Hi-Fi resistors, Hi-Fi Pre AMP, Hi-Fi Power, and Hi-Fi Ground have been implemented in order to have a highly enhanced audio quality:

The Realtek ALC898 8 Channel Blu-ray Audio controller comes with an aluminum cover for a better isolation:

On the bottom side of the PCB, starting from the left, we have the SPDIF OUT header, the CIR header, the COM1, one system fan header, two USB 2.0 headers and one F_Panel header. The Frontal Panel header is color coded for an easier identification:

Next, we have a Reset button and Power button, both with LEDs (the Reset LED functions as a HDD activity LED), a JLN2, JCOMS1 and J1 jumper, along with the diagnostic LED 2-digit display. The display also shows the CPU temperature after the system has booted up:

Between the last two PCI-Express x16 slots we will find the CMOS battery:

The SuperIO chip on this board is an ITE IT8728F:

The board comes with 2x PCI-Express x16 slots (first two on top), the last x16 being x4 electrical, along with 3x PCI-Express x1 slots:

On the right side of the board we’ll find 6 SATA ports along with one USB 3.0 header: