The article mentions that the layout of the motherboard is excellent however I do see one possible issue. On Page 4 look at the 2nd PCI-Ex16 slot and then imagine a long 8800GTX in that slot. Now imagine where the cooler on that thing will be positioned and you will noticed it could potentially block a few of those 2nd level SATA connections. Was this tested to see if it does or does not block SATA connections with a long graphics card?

Excuse me, but i can't find the reason for having 8 usb ports on the real panel and ONLY ONE LAN port. It is far more useful to have 2 LAN ports instead of having 8 usb ports. Besides if you want more USB ports you can always install an extra bracket.
A! not to mention that they use, as far as i know, the inferior Realtek chip instead of a good Marvell chip.

A short step away from ideal ? I beg to differ...

- Article should note that a big graphics card shootout is due this summer
- Gigabyte has upgraded and downgraded the heatpipes in different versions of this line of boards
- A nice feature is onboard SPDIF header (to tie in to HDMI out VGA cards)
- One flaw: the green IDE plug points out, not up, making it hard to plug in an IDE-SATA adapter board.

The only other minus on Gigabyte boards, at least with every BIOS I've seen to date, no adjustment for GTL levels, which is useful for overclocking Quads.

Ok ...
Here we go ...
Perfect...
The whole idea of pipes is not perfect.
It is beautiful, it is working when boar installed vertically (CPU up).
But if you have BTX case, the efficiency lost. and you can not replace only one (lets say NB) you have to replace them all as they are connected with pipes. I have this little problem on P5N32-E SLI inside Enermax C-718.
Another "perfect" issue is this4 little capacitors between memory slots and 1 beside (between memory and power connectors).
I have OCZ Reaper X kit and the do have problem with anything raised above slot plastic close to it. It just prevents to stick them in.
And the very big "perfect" issue, is Lack of Command Rate control.
This does have huge performance difference from my personal experience.
The board is not cheap, so probably there are a lot of better choices for same or little more money.
The good point for Gigabyte (compared to Asus) is Optical SPDIF on mainstream and low end boards. This does matter for HTPC build.

Nice picture quality (some other sites look like they use a mobile phone camera) but otherwise a so-so review. The reviewer came across sounding juvenile and/or a bit like a Gigabyte fanboy, unfortunately, and without looking at the author's name it was readily apparent that this was unlikely written by the xbitlabs veterans like Oleg or Ilya - despite having a good number of motherboard reviews on this site under his belt. Some more objective professionalism, without hyperbolic praises that aren't substantiated or at least elaborated on, would greatly help! :)

So perhaps one small step for XBL is one giant leap for mankind?

Hi
Thank you for the review, whilst this board has some draw backs albeit minimal, i have decided to, because of this review purchase one.
Keep up the great work.

Regards
Mark , NSW Australia

I have other opinion:
meaning:
a short BIG step from ideal as a matter of fact, sorry to say
I have test it, and everything is ok, on ''default settings''
but, as soon as you start to play with the o/c options, it is a mess.....
and after 2 days of play with those options, and 1.000 of different settings, the board does not boot up any more :(......
I have tried everything, but all of it was in wain......the board does not boot up anymore......
so.......kind of a BIG step away from ideal......
and I did have it so many hopes with this board
because I use to have from gigabyte many motherboards on many sockets, but this one is the second one (after a 939 one) wich is not up to the expectations......
a friend of mine has the P35-DS3P version from them and that one works perfect......
I thought to buy a better model, but I have nothing but warranty problems......
sorry if my english is not THAT good......

Fantastic, but where can you buy it?