Gigabyte H55N-USB3 : Mini-ITX done the Gigabyte way...
by Rajinder Gill on June 15, 2010 7:49 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Gigabyte
- Mini ITX
Not a bad start from Gigabyte overall, barring a few glitches we found with current BIOS releases and a couple of very minor things in bundled software. The first BIOS glitch is the AHCI SATA optical drive time-out - the work around for this is easy enough and a patched BIOS that sorts the problem should soon be available. The second issue relates to the problems that surfaced when changing to multipliers between 23x and 25x on an i7-875K Lynnfield; which results in the board POSTing at speeds other than what you’ve actually set – it should be a quick fix.
Had these issues not have surfaced; we’d be conducting a silver or bronze award ceremony at this point. However, we’re still on a crusade to encourage vendors to perform a little more in-house testing before they release products to retail so we’re holding back. Out of the sixteen other boards we’ve reviewed this year, there was only one other we considered for an award (ASUS’s excellent M4A89GTD Pro), and we held back there too, because we had to suggest a BIOS fix. Consider what we’ve said here today a part-accolade for the H55N-USB3 - it missed out on an award by a whisker.
Other than those gripes, the H55N-USB3 is a smooth operator in every way. All of our plug-in peripherals work and overclocking/stability with Clarkdale processors is also excellent. The whole journey is made very easy by Gigabyte’s BIOS, needing very few changes to reach high bus speeds. That alone makes the H55N-USB3 the board to go for if you’ve got any kind of Clarkdale overclocking or underclocking in mind – the boards we’ve tested from ECS, DFI, Intel and Zotac don’t have the same level of options, finesse or control.
Headroom for overclocking Lynnfield processors isn’t going to set the world on fire, but is bang on-par with DFI’s P55 MI-T36. Both boards have similar limits in power delivery, so it’s going to come down to subjective preferences; either Gigabyte’s BIOS (assuming the multiplier issues cited above are fixed), and slightly higher memory speed possibilities, or DFI’s component layout which leaves more room for processor cooling.
Looking at things in a more discerning manner, there are a few things we’d liked to have seen Gigabyte do to really elevate the H55N-USB3; a cleaner under-socket area for aftermarket coolers, onboard WiFi, and perhaps the addition of the Dolby up-scaling package that Gigabyte bundles with their micro-ATX motherboards - as they’re essentially the same price as the H55N-USB3. The other reason we can think of that you might want to look past the H55N-USB3 is if you’re looking to run RAID – Intel’s DH57JG is the only out-of-box mini-ITX choice for socket 1156 at present.
Apart from that, when we focus on what each vendor is offering on their mini-ITX boards as a total package, we think there are far more reasons to choose the H55N-USB3 than to shirk it. On balance, this is the best mini-ITX board currently available for Clarkdale and certainly the one we’d go for – it’s a keeper.
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Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
I've just searched the web and found reports of TV tuner cards working with the Intel DH57JG with a Clarkdale CPU. Hope this helps shed a bit of light. I'll get some PCIe cards in to help out with testing this end too.I will contact Gigabyte for you first thing. Which motherboard is it?
Regards
Raja
ajp_anton - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Motherboard: ga-h55m-ud2hTuner: pxdtv 2300h
Doesn't really matter to me now, I sold it and went for AMD instead.
Khenke - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Was planing to build an ultra compact gaming rig (and build a case my self) with this moderboard an i5 750 and HD5850. My aim was to OC the 750 to 3.8GHz and use the H50 to cool it, but thanks to you guys I now know I have to wait until Asus releases a mini-itx card and do it right.But what would be nice is if you could test any other cooling on it that fit (so we know if any coolers at all fit), preferably low profile coolers as I want my case no thicker than 12cm :)
Thanks for en excellent review.
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
If you're willing to do a bit of DIY, you can trim the mount of the H50 down a bit to fit the hole. Not ideal I know. I'll see if Gigabyte have a list of low-profile coolers that will work (or if they'll put a list together) - any updates and I'll post back here.-Raja
forumator - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Nice, would be great to have that info, thanks Rajinder.Khenke - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Ah. Thanks Raja.Since I'm planing to make an all aluminum 19x27x12cm (inner size so add max 1cm for the material) case a little work on the H50 wont be much of a problem :)
But I am very interested in a list with low-profile coolers too, since I could slim it down 1cm then.. :)
The H50 was the solution for a very bad placed cpu socket.
Been hunting some info on compatible coolers but with no luck so far.
I so want to get my gaming rig in a backpack..
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Off the bat, anything push-pin will work. Not sure how many push pin type coolers there are that make any sense over the Intel cooler though.Anything with a screw clamp fitting will need to be assessed on a case by case basis, as there are also some SMT resistors and a couple of what look to be feedback compensation capacitors to the left of the hole (near the circled transistor). You really don't want to knock those off or damage them.
I'll ping GB in the morning and see if they want to put together a list for their homepage - I suspect a lot of people will appreciate the info. I only have a couple of old tower sinks and the H50 at hand, so I've either gotta scour around the web hoping I call it right, or enlist some help :)
-Raja
jaydee - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
I am glad you posted results from "AutoCAD 2010 x64—Cadalyst 2008" with both the IGP and the discrete video card. Is there any chance we can see this benchmark on video card reviews (Ryan)? I'd be really interested in seeing a comparison of 3D benchmarks as well as games across the video card spectrum.forumator - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
Would have liked more info on what aftermarket coolers will fit with a graphics card in the pcix slot...especially ones that would fit in a small case, this is a MITX board after alljaydee - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - link
I would think that'd be way more dependant on the case, than it would be the motherboard.