For the SATA question, yeah the 3 top SATA connectors i believe are covered when using a dual slot card in the 2nd pci-e slot, and yeah you can use L shaped connectors in those to solve the problem. That's what other people have said, i'll be testing it myself when my 2 4870x2's come though there's no reason to believe they won't - i can even see without the card in that there will be space for it
Thanks for the response. The reason I asked is because with my Expert board, I had a GX2 card and it blocked the first 2 SATA headers and I could not get a 90 degree cable to fit into the header with that GX2 card. I do not want to make the same mistake again.

If you're only using one card it'll be in the top slot right? So no problem.
I believe that the 16x slots are the middle red slot and the bottom blue slot. The white slot (very top slot) is only 4x. Using the red looks like it may not be so bad with a larger card, but using the bottm blue slot looks like it would block the bottom 3 SATA headers.

Please let me know how you make out with the 2 4870's.

Thanks.