1x VGA, 1x RJ-45 LAN (Gigabit Ethernet), PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard ports, and multiple USB 2.0 ports. Front Panel Pinout (F_PANEL)

To boot from SATA, set “SATA Mode” to IDE. Then whisper “thank you” to the chipset.

The manual began the way all hardware manuals begin: safety warnings and the usual cautions about static electricity and power. Lin skimmed those, smiling at the tiny pictograms: a hand with a lightning bolt, a computer with a crossed-out teacup. Then came the specifications: the Intel socket type, supported chipsets, memory speed and capacity, the northbridge and southbridge, the arrangement of PCI and PCIe slots. The language was crisp and mechanical. Yet within those cold facts Lin read lifelines. The board supported DDR3 memory in two slots — a modest capacity, but it meant a path to more speed. The manual’s annotated diagram labeled jumpers, headers, the front-panel connector in a tidy grid. For anyone building a machine, that grid is less a box of screws and wires than a skeleton: a place to attach the little gestures that make a computer human.

Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium, and Celeron processors (LGA 775 socket) with a front-side bus (FSB) up to