The four 'click-connect' SATA II connectors positively lock each SATA cable into position, reducing the chance of loose cables down the road. The Intel ICH7 southbridge supports a single IDE channel (two IDE devices). Various USB and and front panel connectors occupy this corner of the Gigabyte GA-945PL-S3 motherboard. Neither USB2.0 bracket (in yellow) is included.

The 24-pin main ATX power connector is positioned just to the right of the DDR-2 memory slots. Up to 2GB of DDR2-533/400 memory can be installed on the GA-945PL-S3 motherboard. The CPU heatsink fan header is the 4-pin PWM type. Gigabyte colour coordinate the four DDR-2 DIMM slots to make it easier for you to setup dual channel DDR-2 memory in pairs.The 945PL Express chipset is cooled with a passive aluminum heatsink.

The LGA775 CPU heatsink and fan make use of a 4-pin Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) fan header that allows the motherboard BIOS to automatically scale fan speed to match heat load, so noise is kept to a minimum. The Intel 945PL chipset supports a 800/533MHz Front Side Bus, but 1066MHz FSB Core 2 Duo CPUs can be used - they just default to the 800MHz FSB and a lower clock speed. Not the ideal solution, but better than getting locked into buying a Pentium 4 or Pentium D CPU.

There is sufficient space next to the PCI Express x16 slot so a videocard can be installed with dual-slot heatsink, leaving two PCI express x1 connectors still useable. The CMOS battery and BIOS reset jumper are seen in the background.

Up next we'll be putting the Gigabyte GA-945PL-S3 motherboard through a couple rounds of gaming and office oriented benchmarks, but first PCSTATS we toss our hat into the overclocking ring and see where this motherboard takes us...