Size is one of the primary assets of the 7ZM. At 9.6x8.3," even the smallest mini-towers will be able to accommodate the microATX board. Of course, the downside to such a compact package is a lack of expandability. Sporting a 1xAGP/3xPCI/1xAMR configuration, buyers sacrifice the luxury of dropping in extra PCI cards down the road.

Considering Gigabyte did not have very much room to work with, component layout on the 7ZM is well thought out. The ATX power connector is in the upper right corner of the board - right where we like to see it. IDE and floppy drive connectors are stacked in the traditional manner and there are no capacitors in close proximity to the Socket A interface.

Gigabyte's 7ZM comes equipped with a Wake-On-LAN, Wake-on-Ring, and infrared module header built onto the board. Three fan headers are also included for your cooling pleasure. For the purpose of monitoring the fans' RPM, system voltages and CPU temperatures, the 7ZM makes use of VIA's 686A South Bridge, which offers integrated hardware monitoring.

At the moment it seems as though every consumer Intel platform is capped at a 512MB limit for memory, making the 1.5GB limit of the 7ZM quite attractive. If you plan to add more than 512MB, make sure and buy quality RAM to avoid any potential problems the VIA chipset may encounter.

Computer enthusiasts know that there are a variety of ways to deliver an audio package. Optimally, an add-in card like a Sound Blaster Live! is used, offering the best sound quality and the option for an easy switch if a better card were to be released. Motherboard manufacturers also have the option to integrate a dedicated audio processor, such as Creative Labs' CT5880 (basically a PCI 128). This is the route Gigabyte chose for their GA-7ZX, but possibly because the 7ZM does not have as much room, they may have decided to use an Analog Devices AD1881A codec for onboard sound. Most performance enthusiasts (or anyone wishing to take advantage of the EAX/A3D technologies) will want to upgrade their audio solution.