As usual, the bottom edge of the motherboard is crowded with the additional headers for external connectors. The onboard SP/DIF, USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394b (Firewire) and chassis front panel connections. As far as the retail bundle, the 8I945P will ship with an rear bracket that will have two standard USB 2.0 ports and two IEEE 1394b ports; one of standard size the other a mini.  Additionally, there are are also three internal cooling fan headers; two 3-pin and one 4-pin for the CPU.

     The back panel of the motherboard is also packed with the standard assortment of connectors. The legacy PS/2 keybaord, PS/2  mouse, LPT parallel port and 9-pin serial port are all present. Neighbors to the opical and coaxial SP/DIF ports, four USB 2.0/1.1 ports, the 10/100/1000 Base-T RJ-45 port and the audio inputs outputs. While the audio connectors may be color coded, the controller/driver is very adaptable and can easily be customized.

     Here we can see a crop of the audio control panel that assigns inputs/outputs to the various jacks. When a device is plugged into a jack, you can select just how to use it. By pressing the play button on the middle/bottom of the speaker arrangement window, you can instantly test the setup to make sure it is functioning properly. If you only need to test one speaker, that can by done by clicking directly on that speaker's picture representation in the window to send a quick test tone.

     Most will agree that installing the CPU into the LGA775 socket can be a hair raising experience, but there is one good thing does come out of the Socket-T arrangement. There is plenty of space around the socket thanks to Intel making the stock heatsink fairly large and the method used to secure it to the motherboard. A bolt-through-board method of heatsink retention is by far superior, in terms of strength and heatsink/processor bonding ability. However, the obvious drawback is that if you want to change the heatsink or processor then removing the motherboard from the enclosure is about the only way to get it done. Still, third party manufacturers have flooded the market with quality heatsinks.