ECS H55H-I Review: Mini-ITX at a Sensible Price
by Rajinder Gill on May 6, 2010 6:59 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Testbed Setup Overclocking / Benchmark Testbed |
|
Processor |
1 x Intel i7 870 ES CPU |
CPU Voltage | Various |
Cooling | Intel air cooler, Heatkiller 3.0 waterblock, PA120.2 radiator and DDC ultra pump (with Petra top), 1/2 ID tubing for watercooling. |
Power Supply | Corsair HX950 |
Memory |
Corsair Dominator GT 8-8-8-24 2200MHz 4GB kit G.Skill Perfect Storm 8-8-8-24 2200MHz 4GB kit. |
Memory Settings | Various |
Video Cards | MSI 275 Lightning (stock clocks) |
Video Drivers | nVidia 195.62 WHQL |
Hard Drive |
Western Digital 7200RPM 1TB SATA 3/Gbps 32MB Buffer OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD |
Optical Drives | Plextor PX-B900A, Toshiba SD-H802A |
Case |
Open Test Bed - Dimastech Benching Station Lian-Li V2110 |
Operating System | Windows 7 64 bit |
. |
We utilized memory kits from Corsair and G.Skill to verify memory compatibility on our test boards. Our OS and primary applications are loaded on the OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD drive and our games operate off the WD Caviar Black 1TB drive. We did a clean install of the OS and applications for each motherboard. We used Intel's stock cooler for the stock comparison testing, while water-cooling via the superlative Heat Killer 3.0 water block was utilized for overclocking. For graphics duty, MSI’s GTX 275 Lighting GPU was used to provide performance comparisons between boards during gaming benchmarks.
For our test results we set up each board as closely as possible in regards to memory timings. Otherwise all other settings are left on auto. The P55 utilized 8GB of memory where possible, while the X58 platform contained 6GB. The P55 and X58 DDR3 timings were set to 7-7-7-20 1T at DDR3-1600 for the i7-920 and i7-870 processors at both stock and overclocked CPU settings.
We used DDR3-1333 6-6-6-18 1T timings for the i5-750 stock setup for all system benchmarks (non-gaming tests) as DDR3-1600 is not natively supported at a stock BCLK setting of 133. For our Clarkdale i5 661 and i3 540 CPU’s, we used 7-7-7-20 1N timings at DDR3-1333MHz with 8GB of memory (4GB on the Mini-ITX boards).
Power Consumption
Our power consumption testing utilizes the same batch of components under similar circumstances in a bid to monitor variances between idle and CPU load conditions. We install the vendor supplied power saving utilities on each board and enable power saving modes that don't involve any kind of underclocking or CPU core frequency modulation in order to run an apples to apples comparison.
ATX PSU switching losses are absent from our figures because we monitor power consumption directly at the DC rails of the PSU. These figures measure only the CPU, motherboard and memory DC power draw and exclude any other peripherals, such as cooling fans and hard drives etc. Actual AC power consumption for the motherboard will be anywhere from 15~40% higher than these figures depending upon the efficiency of your power supply.
There's no reason to choose one board over the other based upon the differences we're seeing here - a three watt difference under full-load is not worth worrying about.
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Rajinder Gill - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Not a typo - it's 30 amps per FET at CPU VID.MadMan007 - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Amps alone aren't a measure of power. A=current, W=power.ajbumass - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
"Much of what the ECS H55H-I can and cannot do bares a startling resemblance to Intel’s DH57JG."This should be "bears".
"The only major difference is that ECS are keeping a loose grip on the voltage reigns for Clarkdale processors at present, so you get more room to play with overclocking."
I think you mean "reins".
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Sorry, fixed!nubie - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
I have been waiting a long time.Finally and at last.
Only problem?
I have yet to see a decent case and PSU for one of these :(.
Well, except maybe a Shuttle K45 case and PSU. They have a slimline optical bay at the top, but no port for it in the front cover :S
jaydee - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Silverstone SG05/06, w/300W PSU?nubie - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Many thanks, I don't know how I missed that. I enjoy SPCR.Swivelguy2 - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Rajinder,Did you test if this board can run 2 digital displays (HDMI + DVI) from the IGP? There are reports that some H55 boards can only run 2 displays using one of them as analog, so I'm wondering if this one is similarly crippled.
Thanks for the review!
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Hi,Just checked for you quickly. No problems here. I'm using DVI out and HDMI out simultaneously and both displays are active.
-Raja
Swivelguy2 - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
Great, thanks!