6309 Design/Layout

Motherboard Layout

One of the first things that grabbed our attention when glancing over the 6309 is the location of the motherboard battery. Rather than place it in its traditional location, (near the South Bridge to the right of the PCI/ISA slots) MSI chose to relocate it to the other side of motherboard, to the left of the PCI slots.

Not only did MSI move the battery, they also chose to raise it vertically and place it in a black plastic holder rather than mount it flush with the motherboard. Nestled between PCI slots three and four; in our spacing tests the battery didn't get in the way of any of our PCI components.

We only noted the location because it's a bit different, but due to space constraints with the motherboard design we understand MSI's decision to mount the battery differently. As you see in the picture below, the optional Creative CT5880 audio chip is normally located right above the system battery. Our evaluation unit didn't ship with this feature however.

System battery. Note the cutout for optional sound

More on the design

Although the DIMM sockets are nearby, the 6309's use of the Socket 370 form factor eliminates any spacing issues between the CPU and DIMM sockets. This was a frequent problem for many FC-PGA Coppermine users who installed Slockets in their BX motherboards.

The 6309 ships with two fan headers - one located at the top of the motherboard between the socket interface and ATX power connector and another at the foot of the motherboard to the right of the fourth PCI slot. The CPU fan header in nestled right next to the Socket 370 interface, a bit too close in our opinion.

The 694X North Bridge and Socket 370 interface

Another important cost cutting feature is the lack of a heatsink on the Apollo Pro133A North Bridge. Motherboards based on the older Apollo Pro133 and BX chipsets used a heatsink to keep the North Bridge cool. With the Apollo Pro133A on our 6309, this isn't the case.