Intel D845PEBT2 Blue Mountain 2 (845PE): Intel's Enthusiast Board

Board Layout

The Intel D845PEBT2 was laid out very well; we had just a couple minor issues that we'd like to point out.

Thankfully, Intel places the ATX (20-pin) connector on the right side of the motherboard. It's located pretty high up on the right-hand side of the motherboard, almost high enough against the DIMM slots that it's in the perfect position. This way, the ATX cables aren't clogging the middle of your computer case. As is to be expected, the ATV12V line is placed near the I/O ports. This will force you to first unhook the ATX12V line before you can uninstall your HSF, which is simply a hassle.

Placement of the Primary/Secondary IDE connectors and Floppy connector is excellent; they're located at the center right-hand side of the motherboard, just high enough so that long video cards (like the Ti4600 we're using) are just a hair below the connectors. This type of layout greatly aids in the length you can stretch IDE cables to whatever drive you like. And of course, air flow in your case is improved.

The DIMM connector's placement is not so ideal though. Because the DIMM connectors are located so close to your video card (Ti4600 again), you're forced to uninstall your video card if you want to add more memory to the system. This is a very common problem, although you should be aware that this issue will vary depending on the length of your graphics card. For example, some Radeon 9700 cards are smaller than the Ti4600 we're using.

Most of the header placements are good as well. There are two FireWire headers located below the fifth PCI slot, which is a pretty good placement because it's at the bottom of the board, but also not so great a placement because they are so close to the PCI slots. Ideally, the two FireWire headers would be placed where the Serial ATA connectors are placed, at the very bottom right-hand corner of the motherboard. The single USB 2.0 header on the motherboard isn't placed very well, since it's more towards the middle portion of where the PCI slots are located. This can cause a major problem, since the wires of a USB bracket (just like with a FireWire bracket) will spread all over the place, enough to get tangled up with the video card. This will add more clutter and restrict air flow somewhat.