Installation of the P3V4X was as simple as the Abit VT6X4. The board is nice and small and fits all ATX cases. The layout of the board has a few odds and ends that are confusing. For one thing, the placement of the floppy connector is very strange. It's located in front of two PCI slots, just above the speed jumpers. The jumpers themselves don't offer all the bus speed selection as the softmenu system and I really don't understand why anyone would want to use them. The two IDE connectors could have been place a little higher up. That would have made space for a floppy connector below.

While the P3V4X offer one more DIMM slot than the Abit VT6X4, that advantage is killed off if you use a large cooler like the Alpha P3125 or Global Win VOS32. Both of these coolers will eat into the first DIMM slot. There are three fan connectors. Two located at the top of the motherboard and one near the button for the intake case fan. The two top fan connectors are spread further apart than I like. It would have been better to put them next to each other like the Abit board.

Now this I like! Six PCI slots! That should handle all your future expansion needs. Although it's normal for today's motherboard, you should keep in mind that slot 3 and 6 share an IRQ and so do slot 4 and 5. Since most  PCI devices work fine on shared IRQs, this shouldn't be a problem. However, if you do run into some problems with PCI devices not working or locking up your comp, then the solution may be as simple as moving the device to a new PCI slot.

Next Page: How does it perform?

[Page 1] [Page 2] [Page 3] [Page 4] [Home]