Athlon64 Motherboards: First Look at Chaintech, FIC, and MSI

FIC K8-800T: Packaging & Board Layout

FIC packages the K8-800T in their new black AMD box.

Basic layout of the board is good, with plenty of room around the CPU socket and a large passive heatsink on the VIA K8T800 Northbridge. The DIMM slots clear the AGP slot so memory changes and upgrades are painless. Our only complaint is the floppy connector at the lower bottom of the board, which is a difficult location in some cases. We also prefer the IDE connectors on the right edge of the board above midline (right of the DIMM slots) in most board designs. There must be a reason for the IDE slots to be scattered across the lower right behind the IDE/AGP slots, but it certainly is not for the convenience of the end-user.

FIC included brackets for Digital I/O with both Optical in and out connectors. Also included were brackets for 2 Firewire ports and 2 additional USB 2.0 ports. 4 USB ports are already included on the rear IO connections.

Rear IO provides 2 PS2 ports, 2 serial ports, 4 USB 2.0, onboard LAN, and audio outputs for the onboard Realtek ALC655 audio.