View source for ASUS Pundit P6-P8H61E barebone

After a couple of years, it's time to upgrade the [[Asus Pundit P4 P5G41 barebone|previous hardware]]. We opted for a compact Asus barebone again, the [http://www.asus.com/Barebone_PC/P_Series_0811L/P6P8H61E/ Pundit P6-P8H61E] ([http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Barebone/P-P8H61E/A6359_P6_P8H61E_QSG.zip User's Guide]).

It's a socket 1155 system using the H61 chipset. Luckily, Intel has finally stopped crippling their SATA ports on purpose, and AHCI is supported for all three ports. The mainboard seems to be prepared to offer two SATA III ports, but neither the connectors nor the controller seems to be mounted in our version.

We've decided to use the space for the optical drive for a dual 2.5" hot swap disk drive carrier that allows us to quickly add or replace two 2.5" drives.

[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 back of case.jpg|400px|thumb|none|Photo of the back side of the Asus P6-P8H61E case, showing the two low-profile PCIe slots, the HDMI and VGA ports, four USB and gigabit Ethernet ports, the six sound in- and outputs, as well as the space for the optical SP-DIF and serial port connectors.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 side panel removed.jpg|400px|thumb|none|After removing the P6-P8H61E's side panel, the two drive carriers and the major part of the mainboard become visible.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 3.5" disk carrier folded up to receive disk.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The 3.5" hard disk drive carrier on the P6-P8H61E is secured by two flathead screws and folds up to receive a hard disk. The disk has to be installed upside down and secured through it's bottom mounting holes.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 5.25 carrier with screws loosened.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The 5.25" optical disk tray is secured with five countersunk screws and lifts out of the case.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 5.25 drive carrier has space for a 2.5 disk underneath.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The 5.25" drive carrier has tabs on it's underside to allow mounting a 2.5" disk. A 9.5mm disks fits in there without issues, but getting 12mm disk to slide in might be cumbersome.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 back of case with x16 and x1 PCIe slots on right and 3 SATA II ports on left.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The back of the system offers three SATA II ports as well as two low-profile PCIx slots (16x and 1x, respectively).]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 SATA II ports and serial header.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The P6-P8H61E mainboard has three populated SATA II connectors as well as a serial port header for a straight-through DB9 connector.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 optical drive door, with a dual 2.5 hot swap carrier installed instead.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The 5.25" optical drive is accessible through a door that would be pushed open by a drive's sled.]]
[[Image:ASUS P6-P8H61E S1155 front ports headphone and mic, two USB 3 and one SDHC card slot.jpg|400px|thumb|none|The front of the case features a small door hiding a headphone and a mic jack, two USB 3 ports and an SDHC-compatible SD-Card reader.]]