ECS KN1 SLI Extreme Motherboard Review

Accessories

Like all other Extreme products the ECS KN1 SLI Extreme comes loaded with a great accessories package. First up are the tpical parts you expect in a box: two ATA133 ribbon cables, a floppy cable, four orange SATA cables, and a SATA power splitter. There are enough cables to make use of most of the onboard features. There is even a CAT5 cross-over cable!

The KN1 SLI includes a CAT5 crossover cable.

For users wanting to use SLI, there are two parts you need to install: the SLI bridge, and the retention bracket. The SLI bridge is self-explanatory, but the retention bracket is something I haven’t seen before. After you bridge the connectors between your SLI cards, you put the retention bracket in place to keep the bridge in place. I guess it’s possible that it can fall off, but I can’t see it happening unless you’re tossing your computer around.

SLI bridge and retention bracket.

Once again ECS has bundled a 3.5″ mounting bay for the USB/Firewire bracket. This allows you to use the same bracket on the front of your computer instead of running it to the back and taking up a precious slot.

USB 2.0 and Firewire bracket.

Bracket installs into a 3.5″ mounting frame
for some front-panel action!

Also included is the “Top-Hat Flash” device. This chip is essentially another BIOS that you can use to help restore a corrupted onboard BIOS. Just place the Top-Hat on top of the other chip, power on the computer, remove the Top-Hat, and then flash/restore your BIOS. Pretty simple procedure and makes it a lot easier to perform than the old hot-swap method.

The final unique accessory is a bracket with an external SATA port and is similar to the SATA bracket found on some Asus motherboards. The idea is to allow you to connect a SATA to your computer without having to open your case. But this part is a bit baffling – though it has a SATA connection for a data cable, it does not have a connection for power. So how do they expect you to actually turn a drive on without power?  Nice attempt by ECS, but the bracket needs a power source in order for be useful. 

The SATA bracket is a nice thought, but
useless without a power source.