Hardware Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Review

This is the Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H, a media-orientated version of of the GA-P55M-UD2 which is one of the best budget Lynnfield overclockers on the market. We find out if the addition of Core i3 on-board graphics support effects the awesomeness of the board.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2010/01/28/gigabyte-ga-h55m-ud2h-review/1

 

Small but capable board..I was thinking of changing camps from AMD because of i3.. does this board supports Raid compared to h57 chipset?

 

Mod: Fixed, thanks.

 

Are there any benefits for changing lanes from AMD to Intel. I mean is it worth it price and performance wise?
For example the configurations below. Both quad cores, 4GB memory and "same" Gigabyte motherboard layouts.

AMD:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition € 131,99
Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 € 102,30
OCZ Platinum Low Voltage OCZ3P1333LV4GK € 92,30
Total: € 326,59

Intel:
Intel Core i5 750 € 157,04
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 € 88,10
OCZ Gold Low Voltage OCZ3G1333LV4GK € 89,90
Total: € 335,04

I think both are very competing setups hardware wise. But which one has more positive options in the performance department for: Gaming, video editing and such.

 

Sorry... something else too. On the HDD and USB performance page. Top graph... SATA Performance. You have the same board listed twice (one with (P55) and the other with (Gigabyte) with different results and are missing the ASUS board).

 

One is for the Gigabyte SATA connectors and one is for the P55 SATA connectors on the P55-UD2.

I'll try and find the Asus results now.

 

Ahh ok... I get ya.

 

How does it cope with 500 and 600 series?

So far I've had 660 @ 4.5GHz on ASUS P7H55M-Pro, 660 @ 4GHz on MSI P55M E33 (old school DIP switch style). I struggled a bit with the Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H, no joy at all with 750, OK with 540 @ 3.7GHz.

 

Ok, I'm probably nit picking here but I just have to take issue with what I feel is a poor choice of words: "The rear I/O area has a decent selection of ports for a budget motherboard." Decent? Really? What the heck more do you want back there? The rear I/O isn't decent, it's all inclusive for a micro-ATX board. Maybe another LAN port? No, not necessary. More USB ports? Who the hell plugs more than 6 USB items into the REAR of their PC? And with the USB expansion connectors, you can add another bracket to the rear of the case, OR, add them to the front which is a far more suitable location for plug and play ports. More eSATA ports? Many have made the case that eSATA isn't really worth the PCB it occupies, one seems enough to me. Maybe it's just a difference in interpretation as to how you're using the word decent here but I really think that something along the lines of "The rear I/O area has a STRONG selection of ports for a budget motherboard." or good or heck, at the budget level, even great would fit in my opinion.

As always, good review, I liked reading it and I'm probably just griping about something that no one cares about but eh, that's just me.

 

Mod: Fixed, many thanks.

 

Ive more than 6 USB ports used >.>

Mouse
Keyboard (mobo doesn't seem to like me using the ps/2 even tho theres one for mouse and one for keyboards)
speakers (hurrah for dell speakers)
printer
web cam
usb cable for camera
usb thing for wireless controller
usb card reader
usb blue tooth

I know, I don't need to use half of those but it is very easy to just keep adding =p

TBH I only found out what eSATA was a few months ago. Is their actually any point to it? I don't know anything that uses it.

 

There's 12 USB ports including the pin-outs inside.

eSATA is used by plenty of external hard drives as well

 

Bindi don't encourage me, Ill probally actively try to use those extra ports
/looks in argos for cup warmer and other crap

meh, don't use external HDD's so Im ok there lol. The GF's dad has about six tho. Nasty habit of buying a new one and duplicating data multiple times then going out and buying another lol. His all seem to be USB tho.

 

But that's part of my point. First off, there's 12, not 6, just 6 on the rear. And most people would think that 6 on the rear and an additional 6 that can be placed ANYWHERE (including far more accessible and convenient locations) are FAR more than enough. In addition, eSata all depends on your personal preference, but please name me a micro-ATX board with more than one eSATA that has the rest of the compliment in the rear I/O that this board does. Not to mention the fact that with a simple multi-use front panel insert, you can have 1 or 2 more eSATA ports, more firewire, USB, audio ports, a card reader, etc. for cheap. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's very very good and far more than decent. Again, it's just my opinion...until i convert you to the dark side!!!

 

Is your point about having ports on back of the PC? In honesty thats where Id rather have them, at least to plug in things I normally keep plugged in. I donno about anyone else but 2 ports on the front is more than enough. I don't need more than 2 ports on the front unless its for something like a pen drive which im gonna be pulling out and taking with me somewhere. Even then I just use an extension lead thing to the back of the PC and attached it to my desk with tape, saves me bending down

 

I agree with the poor wording re: the "decent" selection of ports. I didn't even know what a Displayport *WAS* until I bought this board. It has more ports than I know what to do with. If you want more than 6 USB ports, as pointed out there are 12 rear USB with pinouts if you need them. I honestly don't know what other ports could be put back there. SPDIF *input* is all I can think of. I looked at several other boards. Some boards today don't even offer IDE or PCI, and this board supports 2 of each, which is nice, since I don't have to throw out my old DVD and CD drives, and can easily back up my old IDE hard drive. (Although Win7 doesn't support most of my old PCI devices, but that's a software problem).

Overall very good review, except it doesn't look like you tested the onboard graphics, which was really the main reason I bought this board (which you also admit in your review).

 

I am running this motherboard and I am well pleased with it. It is my 6th Gigabyte board in a row and all have been rock solid. I am turning into a bit of a Gigabyte fanboy, How sad is that. I have stopped using Asus boards given all the hassle the last one gave me. The only thing that could be improved is that the memory slots, the VRM's and capacitors are located very close to the CPU socket. I am using a Titan Fenrir heatsink and as a result the first memory slot is not accessable. This heatsink is massive in every dimension so please check carefully before buying one. I am however uncertain about memory settings, I have 1600Mhz memory. As standard by SPD this is set as 1333 (made up of a base clock of 133 and the maximum possible multiplier of 10). the only way I can see to get 1600Mhz is to overclock by setting a base clock of 160. This gives a CPU speed of 3.2 Ghz. The computer runs perfectly at this setting and temperatures are low so I am tempted to stay with this. I am however totally baffled as to how to get 1600Mhz memory to run at that speed and still retain a standard CPU speed. What if I had 2200 Mhz memory, I doubt a 220 base clock would be achievable, I would have to seriously reduce the CPU multiplier. Does anyone know the answer.
I know this is a bit off subject but I am unhappy withe new design arctic cooling freezer pro. I has a vey poor plastic universal mount that shrouds the vrm's trapping warm air and does not fit flat to the motherboard once the heatsink is tightened down. On top of that the fan on mine did not work. I would recommend that people find an alternative to this.

 

This is a standard CPU limitation, not motherboard. ALL memory defaults to SPD 1333 to guarantee a POST as a failsafe method, then you can manually overclock the system, or use Intel XMP settings if your memory has it.

What CPU do you use? Can you change the System Memory Multiplier:



If it works at 3.2GHz, overclock it some more!

If you're using a Lynnfield CPU, see our memory performance article for more details on the effects of memory performance (i.e. it doesn't really matter):

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2009/11/02/intel-lynnfield-memory-performance-analysis/1

 

Lot's of H55 and P55 boards don't support a 1600MHz divider, fortunately most Clarkdales will overclock to 160MHz base clock without mush hassle on a stock cooler. So yeah, OC it some more.

 

I'd strongly suggest that it's the CPU, not the motherboard. Same with Core i5 750 only having 6/8/10x multi's while i7 860/870 have 12x too.

This is something I'll confirm in the next few days