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Board
Layout

The
layout of the board is pretty standard. The SATA ports have been
rotated to their sides. This eliminates any
clearance issues you may have with large video cards and SATA cables.
However, in smaller cases, it my cause problems some HDD cages.
Asus has included SATA cables with 90 degree connectors to help with any
clearance issues that may arise.

The
CPU socket area has good clearance. Be careful
installing your aftermarket heatsinks. The ones I tested fit just
fine, but some may have issues with the tons of heatpipes and fins.
This also gives you a nice look at Asus' 3rd generation, 8-phase power
design and low-profile, high-quality conductive polymer capacitors.
All-in-all the CPU area is a very clean setup.

To
help maximize the quality of voltage going to your DDR3, Asus has
implemented a 3-phase power design. This should help stabilize
your high performance DDR3 and minimize any droop to the memory.
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