H67 – A Triumvirate of Tantalizing Technology
by Ian Cutress on March 27, 2011 6:25 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Sandy Bridge
- H67
Board Features
| Market Segment | Mainstream H67 |
| CPU Interface | LGA 1155 |
| CPU Support | I3/i5/i7 Sandy Bridge |
| Chipset | H67 |
| Base Clock Frequency | 100 MHz |
| DDR3 Memory Speed | 1333 MHz, CL9 9-9-24 |
| Core Voltage | 0.750 V to 1.795V in 0.005 V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Dependant on CPU |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.100 V to 2.400 V in 0.020 V increments |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T to 3T |
| Memory Slots |
Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM slots in dual-channel Regular unbuffered DD3 memory Up to 32GB total supported |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x4 slot (electrical) |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
2 x SATA 6 Gb/s ports (white) 3 x SATA 3 Gb/s ports (blue) 1 x eSATA 3 Gb/s port |
| Onboard |
2 x SATA 6 Gb/s ports 3 x SATA 3 Gb/s ports 2 x Fan Headers 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x Front Panel Audio Header 1 x S/PDIF Out Header 1 x Serial Port Header 5 x USB 2.0 headers supporting 10 USB 2.0 ports |
| Onboard LAN | Gigabit Ethernet, powered by the Realtek RTL8111E |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek® ALC892 7.1-Channel HD Audio |
| Power Connectors |
24-pin EATX Power connector 8-pin EATX 12V Power connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan connector (4-pin) 1 x System Fan connector (3-pin) 2 x USB 3.0 ports (blue) |
| I/O Panel |
4 x USB 2.0 Ports 1 x D-Sub 1 x HDMI Port 1 x DVI Port 1 x Display port 1 x RJ45 LAN connector 1 x Audio port (Line-in,4x Line-out, SPDIF out) 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port |
| BIOS | Dual BIOS system, F8 |
No Power/Reset buttons, no Debug LED, no dual gigabit Ethernet (like the ECS board), and a lack of fan headers, but we do have the Dual BIOS system which Gigabyte stick to every board.
In The Box
- 4 Locking SATA cables, 2 of them right angled
- Support CD
Not a lot comes with the H67MA-UD2H, which is a bit disappointing given what comes with the ASRock at a similar price point.
Software
As with the P67A-UD4 we have already reviewed, the software is pretty much the same, apart from minor adaptations for the H67 chipset. I found it mildly amusing that during the standard driver install on the disk, it quoted me 490 minutes for a full install – in reality it took less than five, but it brings me memories of the old Windows ‘time to finish’ function.
EasyTune6
The front screen on EasyTune this time gives the CPU data, as well as the Motherboard model and BIOS version. Previously we saw an ‘easy OC’ screen on EasyTune, and we do not get one here for GPU overclocking.
The more intricate overclocking screen for EasyTune is still present though – in Advance mode, we have options to adjust the BCLK and the Memory; however the memory is limited to the 1333 MHz divider, as per H67 specifications. Any changes to the BCLK require the ‘Set’ button to be pressed and a reboot. The voltage screen is essentially similar to the options you get in the BIOS.
Rather than keep all the OC options on one screen, or recreate them to make them all on one screen, the integrated GPU overclocking options are in the graphics section only. Another slider bar and this one goes all the way up to 3000 MHz in 1 MHz divisions.
The fan controls are straight forward, given that there is only one fan you can control.
Smart6
Smart6 is identical to previous versions so I will not repeat it here, but QuickBoost in this iteration does not do anything, as there is no CPU overclocking on this board.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
56 Comments
View All Comments
Roland00Address - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
No ahci means no trim for SSDs. Just pointing this out for while a gamer on a budget may not care about this feature, people who want a quicker machine for everday use or htpc and thus want a SSD would be better suited with H67.casteve - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
The H61 might not support AHCI...but TRIM can work in IDE mode.yzkbug - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
Any news on when Z68 is coming out?DominionSeraph - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
Any scrimping student with half a brain is going to get a console with a Gamefly subscription rather than blow $900 on a retarded i3 gaymen rig.With a PC you're stuck shelling out $60 apiece for unfinished tech demos and bad ports, only to be playing alone in your room. But you get 3 or 4 consoles on a floor and suddenly you have a glut of party-friendly games passing around.
$900 PC + $900 for 15 games, or $250 in console + extra controller, spending $350 for a couple games and a yearly subscription that gives 2/mo, plus borrowing is free, on a system that actually gives you the college experience? (Doesn't count the price of TV, but you're probably gonna have one of those anyway.)
And yes, it is $900+ for PC.
$680 for i3 2100/GTX 560/4GB/500GB
$150 for any monitor worth having
$60 for a decent mouse and keyboard.
$35 for student copy of Win7.
Dookie11 - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
Sorry about being poor and not being afford both.DominionSeraph - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
You don't have to apologize.bigboxes - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
Sorry to interrupt your flaming post, but if you think that console parties are not nerdy than you are still a virgin. I suggest you sell your gamer gear and get on with the real "college experience" that you are so in need of.omelet - Sunday, March 27, 2011 - link
Most people interested in PC gaming already have desktop computers at home, so you shouldn't include the cost of a monitor, hard drive, mouse, keyboard, speakers, operating system, or case in the cost of upgrading it to low tier gaming-capable. Also, while the i3 is not what a poorman gamer is going to get, let's assume it is for the sake of conversation on this article. You can get an i3 2100, an H61 motherboard, a GTX 460 768MB, and 4GB of DDR3 1333 RAM for $375 including shipping. I'm not counting the $45 in rebates, either, so that probably also covers the cost of a sufficient PSU over a generic 300W one. The build listed above is going to give significantly better performance than a 360 or PS3 at the resolutions the consoles put out. If you need the bigger screen, you can use the TV as a monitor. Plus you get to play games with a mouse and keyboard (or with a controller if that's your thing).There are plenty of games that are on PC and not on consoles. SC2, Civ5, and the vast majority of MMOs are among these titles. A lot of awesome older games, too, which don't even require modern gaming-tier hardware to run well. It's also true that consoles have a lot of games that aren't on PC, and the group gaming experience is different, but there are advantages to both types of gaming and the cost of entry into PC gaming is not at all as high as you're suggesting.
The effective cost of entry into PC gaming is really low for those people who need powerful computers for other reasons, or those who play older games or play on lower resolutions and graphics settings. It's also lower than I suggested for average Joe Blow, since he'd probably go with an AMD build that's ~$60 less expensive than the H61/i3 build.
Zoomer - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Quite the opposite, lol. It is definitely cheaper to stick with PC. Besides, there aren't very many games that are well suited for the console's HID.AssBall - Monday, March 28, 2011 - link
Not to mention how awesome an experience typing out and printing reports and presentations, running or coding technical software, checking mail or IMs, and browsing notes, whole classes, research, or entertainment on the internet on an XBOX is..... /sarcasmYou should have a computer for college anyway, a cheap gaming rig is the way to go, the console is just an expensive toy.