Layout & Features II
Here we see the ATX back panel connectors. From left to right we have 2 PS/2 ports, 2 USB 1.1 ports, parallel and 2 serial ports, the 1000/100/10 LAN port and finally the audio jacks. This is the first motherboard to include an onboard Gigabit LAN port. Gigabit LAN cards usually cost around £50, so this is a real bonus for users who want to create a faster network at home or work. Using a very cheap twisted pair cable and 2 systems based around this motherboard you can easily setup a very fast link between the two, with maximum transfer speeds exceeding that of the hard drives themselves.
Unlike ABIT's MAX series, ASUS decided to keep the legacy parallel and serial ports and in doing so meant that the extra firewire ports and digital audio I/O are supplied on seperate brackets. The firewire bracket also has the smaller format connector which may be useful with some devices that are supplied with this type of cable.
