Question 1

Does this motherboard come with a heat-sync?

Accepted Answer

If you are talking about a heat sink for a CPU, then no.  There is a heat sink on the motherboard chipset.

Question 2

i am buying a intel mother board --what do I have to know ?

Accepted Answer

I always purchase Intel mother boards because they are generally well supported by operating systems.  I am very happy with this board but if you are running Linux, you will have to download and build the device driver code to support the Intel networking chip set on this mother board because it is pretty new (the code is available from Intel).

I am using Ubuntu and they do not yet have this version of the networking chip natively supported by their O/S. This means every time you update your system with a new kernel you have to run "make install" in the directory where you downloaded the Intel source code for the e1000e kernel driver. This single step recompiles the device driver and installs it.

The one other configuration change I made was to add the following two lines to /etc/network/interfaces:

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

Replace "eth1" with whatever "ifconfig -a" tells you your Ethernet interface is.

This change insures that when the machine is brought back from hibernation it refreshes its dhcp information.

I have not run Windows on this board so I cannot help there.

Question 3

Does this product come with a cpu and what kind of power connection does it need? Also, how many RAM slots?

Accepted Answer

No, this M/B does not come with a CPU.  It requires an Intel CPU designed for use in an LGA 1150 socket.  There are 4 memory slots on the board.  Adding memory in identical pairs results in dual-channel memory throughput.

Question 4

does it support windows 7 32 bit and Linux 32 bit OS ?

Accepted Answer

I put windows 7 32bit on one board and it is running fine but I do not use Linux.

Question 5

Is this good for gaming?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  It's fine.  There are very few applications that are limited by your motherboard.  As long as you don't need to do some extreme dual GPU setup, this motherboard is solid.

Question 6

How do you hook up a CD/DVD drive?

Accepted Answer

sata cable

Question 7

How do you attach device like disc readers and floppy disc drives to it?

Accepted Answer

because this motherboard supports the latest gen of intel processors you will not see a floppy port on it.
you will need an external usb floppy drive since they are practically non existent now a days also for a disc reader you will need a drive that connects via Sata

Question 8

Does this motherboard have an internal SPDIF Out that I can connect to a video card ?

Accepted Answer

Research before you ask type question...
Look in the specs, don't be lazy....
It clearly states: "Other Connectors: S/PDIF out header"
it is listed on the product description, also zoom in on the 3rd picture, it is in the bottom left corner, yellow header says SPDIF.

Questions & Answers