Board layout continued

     There are 6 SATA 3.0Gb/sec ports.  The ICH99R Southbridge controls these six SATA 3.0Gb/s ports.  The Intel Matrix Storage Technology supports RAID 0,1,5 and 10.

     The JMicron JMB363 chip controls a PATA port that supports 2 Ultra DMA 133/100/66 devices and 2 external SATA ports (SATA on-the-go).  It also supports SATA RAID 0, 1, JBOD.

     The I/O shield used is called the Q-shield.  It has no tabs, which make installation super easy.  The I/O panel is loaded too.  There are 6 USB ports, 2 wired LAN ports, 2 wireless LAN connectors, 2 eSATA ports, Firewire, S/PDIF and optical outs, a PS2 keyboard connector and all of the audia ports.

     The dual wireless is handled by AzureWave.  The card features 802.11n wireless and has a ton of features.  So many in fact, that it came with its own manual.  Since there are two antennae, you can use one as an access point or just use both of them together to get a transfer rate of up to 300Mbps.

Realtek gets the nod to handle the gigabit wired LAN duties.  The Gigabit LAN supports AI net2 and AI direct link.

Sound is handled by an Analog Devices, AD1988B chip.  The AD1988B supports:
- 7.1 surround sound plus Independent Headphones.
- Improved VOIP and speech recognition experience with microphone noise reduction, beam forming, and echo cancellation technologies.
- Realistic gaming experience with licensed EAX 1.0 and 2.0 from Creative Technology Ltd.
- Analog mixer supports recording and playback of signals from multiple sources.
- Advanced Power Management Modes

     The Firewire duties are handled by an LSI controller chip.  It supports the latest 1394a speeds and can auto configure data speeds to 100, 200, or 400 Mbps, transmitting both asynchronous and isochronous data packets.