Sapphire PC-A9RD580 Layout
While the layout is generally O.K., Sapphire using passive cooling everywhere, and only really making power connector placement mistakes with the 4-pin Molexes, the expansion slot layout is pretty shocking.
With the bottom PCI Express slot the primary one, even using just one dual-slot graphics card prevents you from adding anything into the PCI Conventional slot just below it. Erk.
Sapphire drop the Sil3132-powered SATA ports on the bottom edge of the board, making it somewhat difficult for tidy cable routing (especially with them horizontal), and after that there's really little to shout about, layout wise.
The target graphics hardware for an RD580 board has Sapphire looking a bit silly. The reason to choose Xpress 3200 is largely high-end Crossfire or overclocking, and the enthusiast looking for a board for those pursuits won't be happy with what the PC-A9RD580 provides.
Deary me. Note that the board requires 8-pin SSI (which you can make from P4 and P4+ if your PSU supplies it), too, rather than the usual 'P4' ATX12V connector.
We also note that there's no fan header near the I/O backplane for your chassis' exhaust fan. As for the colour, it's not to your author's taste but there seems to be a following of folks that think it rocks, so each to their own in that respect.
