Choosing the Best H55/H57 Motherboard, Part 2
by Rajinder Gill on February 22, 2010 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte H57M-USB3
The H57M-USB3 hits the nail on the head for pricing at $120; let's take a look at the feature set.
| Gigabyte H57M-USB3 | |
| 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 multipier ratios available |
| Core Voltage | 0.5V ~ 1.90V in 0.00625V increments |
| CPU Vdroop Compensation | AUTO, Disabled and Enabled |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Dependant on Processor, all available multipliers supported |
| DRAM Voltage DDR3 | Auto, 1.30V ~ 2.60V in 0.02V increments (1.50V base) |
| DRAM Timing Control | tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, + 10 Additional Timings |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T, 2T and 3T |
| PCH Voltage | Auto, 0.95V ~ 1.50V in .1V ~ 0.02V increments, 1.05V Base |
| CPU VTT (Uncore) Voltage | 1.05V ~ 1.49V in 0.05V ~ 0.02V increments |
| CPU PLL Voltage | 1.6V ~ 2.54V in 0.1V ~ 0.02V increments, 1.80V Base |
| IGD VID | 0.2V~1.68V in 0.05V ~ 0.012V increments |
| Memory Slots | Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered DDR3 Memory to 16GB Total |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 Slot 1 x PCIe x16 Slot (running at x4) 2 x PCI slots |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 5 x SATA 3.0GB/s (Support RAID 0,1,5,10, NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug) 1 x eSATA on Rear I/O Gigabyte SATA 2 chip: 1 x IDE, 2 x SATA 3Gb/s (RAID 0, 1 and JBOD) |
| Onboard USB 2.0/3.0 | 14 USB 2.0 ports (6) I/O Panel (one SATA combo), 8 via brackets 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (NEC D720200F1) |
| Onboard LAN | 1 x Realtek 8111D Gigabit LAN (PCI-E x1) |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC889 - 7.1 Channel HD Audio (Dolby Home Theatre support). |
| Other Onboard Connectors | 1 x COM, 1 x S/PDIF In, 1 x S/PDIF Out, 1 x FP Audio, 1 x FP connector, 1 x 1394, 1 x FDD |
| Power Connectors | ATX 24-pin, 8-pin EPS 12V |
| I/O Panel | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse 1 x RJ45 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (NEC D720200F1) 1 x 1394 1 x eSATA (Intel PCH) 1 x Optical Toslink 1 x DVI-D 1 x HDMI 1 x VGA/D-sub 6 Audio I/O jacks |
| Fan Headers | 1 CPU + 1 Additional Header (Both 4 Pin) |
| Fan Control | Full temp/speed fan control for CPU header via OS software No independant control for system fan header (auto controlled according to system temp) |
| Package Contents | 2 x SATA cables, 3 x User Guides, 1 x Driver/software DVD, 1 x I/O Shield |
| Board/BIOS Revisions Used | Board Rev: 1.0 BIOS Files Used: F2, F3a |
| Form Factor | uATX (9.6 in. x 9.6 in.) |
| Warranty | 3 year standard |
Before we continue, it's worth a mention that the current F4 release BIOS has an issue with our PIONEER DVD drive. The board will not boot from a CD/DVD if we select AHCI mode for the SATA ports in the BIOS. This issue was also found on the H55M-USB3 motherboard but was fixed in the F4/F5 release BIOS files at our behest. It's probably a 5 minute fix for the H57 board on Gigabyte's part, but it should have been patched without request when the red flag was raised on the H55 model. In its current state, this makes installing an OS with AHCI mode active a pain. We managed to work around the problem by selecting IDE mode for our Windows 7 install and then modifying the registry after installation to enable AHCI drivers—something most users won't want to do. Gigabyte need to fix this fast.
Package contents, bundled software and board layout are identical to Gigabyte's H55M-USB3; the only real change here is the H57 chipset adding RAID support and bolstering the lowest PEG slot to x4 link width. We'll cover the differences on this page but refer you back to the H55M-USB3 section for software, board layout and BIOS overview.
Overclocking
4GB overclocking results are identical to Gigabyte's H55M-USB3 model:
8GB configurations don't fare as well however and seem to fall around 148BCLK for stability when using the 2:10 memory ratio with a QPI link frequency in the region of 3.3GHz. We're not sure on the root cause of this, but suffice it to say that the BIOS needs some work for 8GB memory configurations using the 2:10 divider. Gigabyte's H55M-USB board takes the same modules to 155BClk (DDR3-1550MHz), while ASUS' H55/H57 EVO models manage DDR3-1600 speeds using a higher QPI ratio.
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ltcommanderdata - Tuesday, April 6, 2010 - link
I don't know if you are still monitoring this article's comments, but I was wondering if you have any idea if the latest Gigabyte H57M-USB3 F5 BIOS fixes the AHCI problems you were reporting? I am looking for a mATX motherboard with USB 3.0 and this motherboard with it's PCIe x4 slot that could be useful for a future USB 3.0/6Gps SATA expansion card seems like a good option if it's niggling issues have been worked out.RadMos - Wednesday, April 28, 2010 - link
The ECS H55H-V1.0, convince me. It has the best price and everything I need. A PC for my wife, is economic and profitable MB. It is not behind the other more expensive solutions. I just have to choose the correct CPU.hq5 - Friday, April 30, 2010 - link
How to modify the registry after installation to enable AHCI drivers on Gigabyte H57M-USB3 ?thx
taipeidman - Monday, June 14, 2010 - link
Hi Rajinder,Do you know the difference between the two fabrication revisions?
As a solution provider, I'm in direct contact with Gigabyte sales in my region.
They tell me:
"We have an unique power design of USB port to charge iphone/ipad from S1 to S5 mode. Rev. 2.0 one improves the convenience. But I ensure there is no difference of functions.
Please consider this a running change."
however, as a hardware Engineer, I see 1.0 -> 2.0 as a major revision increment, as opposed of 1.0 ->1.1.
If you look at the pictures of the GA-H57-USB3 rev1 and rev2 you can see a different IC (upper left of picture) installed on the boards between the revisions.
rev1 - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/products/product-page.a...
- http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/fileupload/product/2/33...
rev2 - http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/products/product-page.a...
- http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/fileupload/product/2/34...
I'm asking here, if anyone knows...
I don't have the board in hand yet and the sales tells me he will supply a rev1 board.
This is why I'm asking
any thoughts?
if you still have the GA-H57M-USB3 on hand what revision do you have and can you tell me the
chip part number (just under the "Designed in Taiwan" on the upper left of the picture)
Taipeidman...
willsonjone - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
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willsonjone - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - link
HELLO