Layout and features
Sapphire's mATX-sized board cools both the chipset bridges with passive heatsinks to keep things nice and quiet.
Layout is decent overall, but the memory slots are placed extremely close to the CPU socket, and the memory modules actually touched the installed AMD reference cooler during our testing.
The board's two 3-pin system fan-headers and single 4-pin CPU fan-header should be sufficient for the type of system it will be installed into.
The board makes use of an 8-pin CPU connector, which is unusual because a 4-pin would have likely sufficed, as on other RS780G-based boards. Those users running older PSUs without an 8-pin connector are left somewhat in the lurch.
Four DIMM slots can accommodate up to 8GiB of DDR2-1066 memory, although whether it's actually supported depends upon the CPU you use.
ATA and floppy connectors are bunched near the 24-pin ATX connector, making the area a little 'busy' in use, but it does mean all cabling can be arranged to keep access to the board relatively clear.
Six SATA2 ports are provided. The CMOS-clear jumper, to the left of the SATA ports, may be difficult to get to with cables for power and reset connected.
The PURE RS780G provides a single x16 PCIe 2.0 slot, along with twin PCI slots for expansion options using the older interface.
Rear connectivity is covered by both DVI and VGA outputs, keyboard and mouse PS/2 ports, four USB2.0, Ethernet and audio-out. The lack of FireWire or eSATA is unfortunate but understandable given the price-point of around £69.