MSI H55M-ED55

MSI's H55M-ED55 is priced at around $134 and should be available to purchase shortly at various online retailers.

MSI H55M-ED55
Market Segment H55 General Use/HTPC
CPU Interface LGA-1156
CPU Support LGA-1156 i3/i5/i7 Series of Processors
Chipset Intel H55 Express Chipset
BCLK Speeds 100-600MHz in 1MHz increments
DDR3 Memory Speed 800, 1067, 1333 Frequency Ratios
QPI Frequency All supported mutlpier ratios available
Core Voltage Sock ~ +0.371V in 0.006V increments (max voltage around 1.48V)
CPU Vdroop Compensation No options for Vdroop
CPU Clock Multiplier Dependant on Processor, all available multipliers supported
DRAM Voltage DDR3 Auto, 0.906V ~ 1.898V in 0.006V ~ 0.007V increments (1.50V base)
DRAM Timing Control tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, + 16 Additional Timings
DRAM Command Rate Auto, 1N and 2N
PCH Voltage Auto, 0.451V ~ 1.953V in .005V increments, 1.05V Base
CPU VTT (Uncore) Voltage 0.47V ~ 2.038V in 0.006V increments
CPU PLL Voltage 1V ~ 2.4V in 0.05V increments, 1.80V Base
IGD VID 1.30V~1.4448V in 0.012V increments
Memory Slots Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots
Dual-Channel Configuration
Regular Unbuffered DDR3 Memory to 16GB Total
Expansion Slots 1X PCIe 2.0 16X Slot
1X PCIe 2.0 16X Slot (running at X4, 2.5GT/s)
1x PCIe X1 slot
1 X PCI slot
Onboard SATA/RAID 6x SATA 3.0GB/s (Support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug)
1x eSATA on Rear I/O
Onboard USB 2.0 12 USB 2.0 ports (6) I/O Panel, 6 via brackets
Onboard LAN 1X Realtek 8112L Gigabit LAN (PCI/eX1)
Onboard Audio Realtek ALC889 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Other Onboard Connectors 1X Parallel, 1X Serial, 1X CD In, 1X S/PDIF, 1X FP Audio, 1X 1394, 1X TPM, 1X Chassis Intrusion, 2X BCLK Buttons, 1X Power Button, 1X OC Genie Button
Power Connectors ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EPS 12V
I/O Panel 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
1 x RJ45
6 x USB 2.0/1.1
1 x Optical Toslink
1X DVI-D
1 x HDMI
1 x VGA/D-sub
6 Audio I/O jacks
Fan Headers 1 CPU + 3 Additional Headers
Fan Control Full temp/speed fan control for CPU header via BIOS or OS software
3 Step Chassis Fan Speed Control via BIOS/OS for two fan headers only
Package Contents 2X SATA cables, User Guide, 1 X Driver/software DVD, 1 X I/O Shield, 1X SATA Power Cable, 1X CrossFire Link Cable, 1X IDE Cable, 3X Easy Connector blocks for panel buttons
Board/BIOS Revisions Used Board Rev. 1.0
BIOS Files Used: A7635IMS.133 and all previous versions
Form Factor uATX (9.6 in. X 9.6 in.)
Warranty 3 year standard

MSI includes the Realtek ALC 889 HD audio codec, Realtek PCI-E RTL8111D Gigabit LAN, and full support for the Core i3/i5/i7 S1156 processor series. The accessories bundle is comprised of a rear I/O panel cover along with one IDE cable, two SATA cables, one SATA power cable, a CF bridge, an informative manual, quick installation guide, Winki Guide, and a software DVD that includes an HDD backup utility.

Of note in the software package is Winki. This is a Linux-based operating system similar to ASUS' ExpressGate. Unlike ExpressGate, you boot Winki off the DVD or off a USB thumb drive once it is set up. Winki includes Open Office, Photo Viewer, Instant Messaging, Web, and Skype functionality without booting into your primary OS. A quick overview of the bundled Control Center overclocking software is available here.

We've found that the revision of Control Center that ships with the H55M-ED55 has a few bugs that need attention. The main concern is misreporting of CPU PLL rail voltage, which ends up being set to 2.1V at random if you press the APPLY button after making changes to any of the other functions.


Selecting one of the overclock preset profiles in Control Center (the Cinema, Cooling, Default, and Game tabs at the top of the GUI) also results in the board either rebooting or locking up in the OS. Put simply, Control Center needs attention from MSI to bring it to an operational state. As it stands right now, we'd say you're better off not installing the software until the issues are fixed.

The Board


Board layout is generally good. Like the ASRock H55M-Pro, you get two full length x16 PCI-E slots to use for expansion purposes (there are no dual GPU configurations with Clarkdale though). Onboard power, BCLK, and OC genie buttons are provided for open test beds, although we think the BCLK buttons are a little out of place on this board given its 4-phase CPU PWM that is not suited for heavy overclocking. Over current protection should kick in at around 120 amps, so heavy load benchmarking at high processor frequencies is best avoided.

The heatsinks used for cooling do an adequate job of keeping things cool in light load conditions with minimal airflow. If you're overclocking though, be sure to install a fan in the vicinity of the heatsink to help keep things cool. The PCH heatsink does not have to dissipate a lot of heat so can be left passive without issue in normal usage conditions. On the CPU cooling front, most coolers should have no problems fitting in either orientation, provided the memory modules you use do not have tall heatspreaders when you use the primary DIMM slots.

SATA port placement is okay for the most part, although we're not sure why MSI opted to place two of the ports on the board rather than placing than at a right angle like the others. The only time this could become a problem (although an unlikely configuration) is if a user decides to run dual GPUs in the board with a Lynnfield processor, at which point access to these two ports becomes blocked. While we're on the subject of access, the CMOS battery is in a location where longer graphics cards in the primary PEG slot will hinder its removal, although you can still get to the CMOS jumper. Moving both to the lower edge of the board would have been a better location.

Overclocking


Like the other boards we're testing today, overclocking Clarkdale CPUs with BCLKs over 190MHz requires use of the 2:8 or 2:6 memory ratios. With 4GB plugged into the MSI H55M-ED55 1600MHz speeds are possible, requiring nothing more than setting the primary DRAM timings. S3 resume at these BCLK frequencies is also possible provided the system is fully stable. Move over to the 2:10 ratio and we get the same limits as we found on the ASUS P7H55D-M EVO model, falling short of achieving anything over 175BCLK (DDR3-1750MHz) fully stable. Both boards give up over 100MHz in maximum DDR3 frequency to the cheaper ASRock H55M-Pro which takes the same modules to DDR3-1880MHz with consummate ease.

If you want to run 8GB of memory you're limited to memory speeds around DDR3-1500MHz regardless of settings on the current BIOS releases. The ASUS P7H55D-M EVO manages to take the same kit over 1550MHz fully stable with tighter sub-timings and a higher QPI multiplier, while the ASRock is close behind if not more stable given its locked 24x QPI multiplier - provided you apply the loose tRFC needed on both boards at these frequencies.

A one touch automated overclocking preset is available via MSI's OC Genie button. Using this feature took our 661 CPU to a quick and easy 22X188 BCLK, providing a CPU speed of 4148MHz and a DRAM speed of DDR3-1508MHz @ 8-8-8-24 timings. Voltage increases are moderate, falling only slightly higher than what we'd have started off at ourselves. Stress testing revealed the overclock was stable too, so it's not a bad effort on MSI's part for 4GB overclocking. The same applies to 8GB configurations; you'll get exactly the same overclock and it appears the preset provides enough leeway to cater for 8GB while retaining stability. Don't write off automated overclocking if you're looking for an easy journey on this board.

BIOS

MSI's BIOS is fairly comprehensive offering granular control of voltages and a full gamut of DRAM timings within the Cell Menu. However, we've said this before and we'll say it again, the DRAM timing page needs refinement. If you open up the advanced DRAM timing menu, you're left to negotiate 11 timings on your own, making the whole process overly complex for many users. Get one of the settings wrong and you'll be greeted with a non-POST situation. OC recovery will kick in on the second reboot, though you're best advised to save a BIOS profile of safe settings to fall back on when this happens. You get four CMOS save banks for saving profiles, each of which can be named conveniently and reloaded at a later date.

The voltage ranges on offer are very granular, with plenty of room for tweaking. Strangely, you don't get any options for under-voltage of CPU Vcore, which is something you get on the other boards in this price range. It's not a complete deal breaker for us, but we know there are users out there that like to undervolt their CPUs in order to reduce heat; the MSI board does not cater for this currently.

BIOS flashing is made easy thanks to the built in M-Flash routine, so you don't have to rely on OS level software for this task. The only gripe we have is that the BIOS chip is soldered to the board. Should you end up with a corrupt BIOS, you've got no option but to send the whole board back to MSI for a fix unless you have an external flashing tool that can interface with the onboard BIOS header. The boards from ASRock and ASUS all have BIOS chips mounted in sockets, which can be swapped out without having to ship the whole board for BIOS recovery.

ASUS P7H57D-V EVO Overclocking – Dissent in the Ranks
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  • just4U - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Ever since I read about there being problems on the 1156 boards with certain sockets... I've been leary about buying any 1156 boards. I'd heard reports that it was happening even to those not overclocking and for me that's cause for concern. I look at all the offerings and wonder..

    Is it fixed? Which boards would be effected? I'd like more info on that before I even consider purchasing the i5/i3 etc. Perhaps Anand can include information on all this in part2 or 3?

    Thanks.
  • Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Hi,

    There have been no official updates from socket vendors/intel/board vendors as to the exact cause of socket burnouts we experienced on some fo the early 1156 boards. To date, it appears the majority of issues reported have been on boards that were manufactured pre September 2009.

    FWIW, all of the sample boards I've had for H55/H57 have arrived with Lotes sockets so far, although I'm not sure if that means vendors are not using Foxconn altogether. We have not seen any issues in testing thus far.

    regards
    Raja
  • just4U - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Yeah that's another thing that keeps me put off. Is I don't know which boards are using the Foxconn. Anyway thanks for the reply back.
  • thaze - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    I just received a Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 and an Intel Core i3-530.
    An interesting feature seemed to be the Dolby Home Theater (i.e. Dolby Digital live encoding). However its software is hard to find, there's no reference in the Gigabyte CD's main menu. I eventually found it at \utility\dolby\. Install went fine but the program is crashing when executed. Maybe someone could confirm the same problem running Win 7 x64.
  • thaze - Friday, February 5, 2010 - link

    "I've forwarded your problem to our HQ, and your problem is duplicated.
    A solution will be provided by HQ very soon.
    Please just wait for my further information later."
  • Rajinder Gill - Friday, February 5, 2010 - link

    Hi Thaze,

    Gigabyte messed up on this one, their engineers forgot to add the BIOS string to unlock the Dolby features on the H55/H57M-USB3 models. BIOS F3a beta (Jan 8 dated I think) was pulled a couple of days ago from their support page and is due to be replaced with an F4 BIOS fixing the problem.

    regards
    Raja
  • thaze - Saturday, February 6, 2010 - link

    Thanks again for the details. F4 is out now and I can finally use Dolby Home Theater. :)
  • Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Hi,

    Just testing the GB boards now, so will get back to you with an answer on this asap. I'm on Win 7 64 bit.

    regards
    Raja
  • Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Hi,

    It appears you are correct. I just installed the Dolby X64 package and when I try to run the software, it crashes.

    regards
    Raja
  • thaze - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link

    Thank you for your reply.
    I also sent a message to GB support yesterday, will inform about their statement here.

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