Hardware Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 mini-ITX Motherboard Review

Arrh fair enough.

I wish our clientèle were more adventurous in regards to hardware than they currently are, which is that they aren't.



I look forward to your results Tom.

 

It will be from an entirely different point of view to the bit-tech review as what I will be trying is more down the lines of "just how badly can you treat this motherboard".

Performance is almost secondary to bulletproof reliability no matter what a customer decides to do with the machine.

- Pile books on and around the unit.
- Put it in a cupboard with no ventilation.
- Have no airflow due to ignored fan failure etc etc

End users are the biggest strain on hardware, not overlcocking enthusiasts!

 

QFT!

However, if these people didn't exist, I doubt I'd have my job now.

 

I would have to say the same.

They are the majority of PC users not the minority and what I would say are the driving force behind PC development.

All the BIOS overclocking features were not driven by overclockers, but people wanting to become overclockers.

Auto-reset to default BIOS tech was not brought on by overclockers (but welcomed), it was the end users RMA'ing motherboards for incorrect BIOS settings that sparked the development of this feature. Only later was it branded as an overclocking plus!

The history of our hobby is littered with examples of where the general consumer has spawned requirements that have benefited the enthusiast community.

It is only in the last year, maybe two where genuine high development cost enthusiast only products have appeared. Even then you can debate they are not true overclocking parts as they are the halo product in a range for use with the most expensive components around.

"back in the day" the fun of overclocking was taking mid-low range hardware to the speeds of the top end hardware and beyond. Not spending as much as possible initially to take the top end hardware a bit further.

I do feel overclocking had a bigger impact in the price V performance wars before the manufacturers all got behind the concept. I do look back fondly on overclocking in the NF7-S + Athlon Mobile 2500+ and before overclocking days but I do not wish for them to come back.

 

Again, QFT!

You've also described my first experiences in OC'ing - I spent years saving up and scourging the net for an XP-M 2500 and ended up with 2; a 2400+ and a 2500+. Built in my SN45G (again, using an nForce 2 chipset) I was well on my way. I used to leave the chassis on my windowsill with the cover off in winter so that I hit even higher timings. I'll have to look 'em out but I swear I have some CPU-Z screenshots of me at 2.6GHz

 

It still is and it's what we actively promote! Gigabyte UD3R/UD2H's usually these days often take the crown.

We rarely ever do silly dick-swing OC articles or report on OC records because they offer nothing to the majority of our readers. Our most popular articles are often the "overclocking a CPU" ones that gives a how to walkthrough of the process and likely performance gains, and PC buyers guides. We've been trying to get an i3-530/G6950 out of Intel for ages to do an OC article there.

For Landy:
thermals: It gets quite hot: it's a small heatsink, but Intel PCH's can always take a bit of heat and still be happy.
quietness: There's a single, passive heatsink so it makes no noise.
simplicity: Can you build a PC? Then it's pretty simple.

 

One of the reasons I read Bit-Tech, its nice to know what Gulftown can do but the i3-530 is the better processor for the majority of people.

Agree on your OC guides, I always read them through to see if anything different has been done to how I would do it myself. Can help when something stops working after 100 overclocked systems have been built and I need to get the next 100 out the door and stable!

The PC buyer's guide does not captivate me personally, but I do recal reading them many years ago on a few other sites before I was in the industry. I think the fact its a buyers guide not a sellers guide is the reason I do not find them a good read. (Saying that its worth making sure that CCL have everything in-stock and well priced that is being recomended!)

Wish someone would do a proper £ V Performance roundup like THG used to do many moons ago, take the cheap chip and see what you can make it comparable to in one area (gaming).

4.00GHz i3 costing comparatively little taking it to a Core i7 930 at stock... if you have not looked at the resulting "real world" game performance I strongly suggest taking a peak!

 

As you mentioned before, but this is exactly my ethos when it comes to building a rig. It's something I've passed on to my friends and as it's the pretty much the opposite of what I do at work, it still makes it all the more interesting.

I'd love to be able to afford to change my hardware every 6 months or get to play with the latest things at work, but unfortunately that's not how it goes (for me).

 

I built a rig based on the i3-530 and the Gigabyte H55M-UD2H and went through the guide here on how to overclock.

I couldn't believe how easy it was and I was left stood there looking at the figures on the screen saying it was now running at 4.1 GHz but it didn't bust into flames and explode!

I think I'll up the anti with the build of a i7-930 + Gigabyte X58A-UD3R and see what I can't see happening unless I look at a screen showing numbers that say it's worked.

However, this mini itx board is very nice. Maybe with an i3-530, H50 cooler, PCI-E angle adapter and a full sized ATi 5770 a nice custom build case could look nice and flat like an xbox360 under the TV but be a hell of alot more useful.

 

I have this board installed in a SG05 with 2 x 2 gigs of G-Skill Ripjaws, i7 860, an intel 80 G2 SSD and an XFX 5770 video card. I have previously installed the same components on 2 DFI p55 itx boards and they worked very well save for the usb would not work with my wireless adapter. I believe I have narrowed that issue down to a chipset and BIOS conflict. The problem is that DFI will not admit it is an issue AND the Lan-Party product line is EOL. So that is why the move to Gigabyte. I must say the BIOS on the H55n-usb3 is leaps and bounds above any I have seen on any other itx board including the Zotac 775 board I used before the DFI and the Gigabyte. I am aware that my choice in CPU limits my overclock, but turbo-boost works and I have up to 2.93 so far with no problems. Sorry for the long rant.

I did want to say thank you for the review as I read it to help me make my decision about buying the board. I am curious however why you only showed tests on one game (crysis) in the review? I usually see results for more games than I care to see.

I have not seen any issues with heat, but because I am using the SG05 with the stock PSU, I have not tried to overclock too far at this time. I want to get the ST45SF when it comes out. Again thanks for the review.

 

On the topic of Silverstone cases, I've got an SG07 coming this afternoon that I'm fitting this board into
Review soon!

 

Just have new build of SG06, H55N with 2 x 2 gigs of G-Skill Ripjaws, i3 530, PowerColor 5770 video card. Have problem boot up, won't get to POST screen, every turned on for abou 18 seconds and then reboot, and then on for 18 seconds, ....

I have disconnected most components, just the board + CPU + RAM, or even just board + CPU, try a bigger Power supply (500W), same behaviour.

Any suggestion?
Thanks!

 

@Skyline: Take the board out and try it there.

Also go into your memory timings and try to increase the tRTL: apparently this helps with Ripjaws as the SPD has it set too tight on a few specifications. It's usually an issue with Asus motherboards, but it could be here too.

If you cant get there quick enough, try upping the voltage: just hit 1.64 on the keypad (odd numbers confuse Gigabyte boards) - that should work quicker.

 

Bindi - everyone else - I'm looking a combination of mITX/Palit GTX 460 1GB Sonic Platinum/Lian Li PC-Q07 for a really tiny pocket rocket* for general day-to-day use (including occasional video-editing) and gaming. The Palit 460 is 19cm long - just short enough to fit in the small Q07 with a little modding to the Q07's rather poor half-height PCI-slot to accomodate the double-height 'card. I reckon a modified mATX PSU (Silverstone's ST45SF) could be fitted into ducting to free up space for a respectable CPU cooler, too. Alternatively, I could use Silverstone's own SG05 and just put up with a low-profile cooler, but either way, this leaves one question;

Which mITX motherboard/CPU combination?

1. P55 & Core i5 750: Nobody appears to like the DFI MI P55-T36 very much, and that's the only P55 mITX I know of. Even if I'm not overclocking, the board has been noted for instability and poor power hardware.
2. H55 & Clarkdale: Sticking like with like (as in, not putting the Lynnfield i5 750 into a Clarkdale-designed 'board) I can choose between the Zotac H55ITX-A-E and the Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3, and the Core i3 530 and Pentium G6950. The Gigabyte is reckoned to be the better overclocker, which with such lowly CPUs is important, but also noted to be crap for gaming due to some sort of PCI-slot problem. The Zotac's apparently good, but doesn't have the Gigabyte's impressive build quality or hardware.

That leaves me stuck between a good quad core stuck to an unreliable motherboard, or need-to-be-thrashed dual cores stuck to a slow motherboard or a fast motherboard that's no good for gaming! So, I want to buy an mITX chassis with a GTX 460. What mITX motherboard/CPU combination should I buy? And why?



*The Q08's merely 'small', 'pocket rocket' here defined as 'chassis capable of containing 1x optical drive, 1x 3.5" & 1x 2.5" HDDs, and ATi 5770 or better'.

 

@PureSilver - For a case suggestion, if you are prepared to wait, you could go for the Lian Li PC-Q11, (W) 200mm x (H) 326mm x (D) 260mm and dual-slot PCI-E capable. I believe the release date will be end of August or early September.

 

Thanks, looks like it solves one of the PC-Q07's biggest problems (the graphics card slot) but doesn't touch the gargantuan f***up that is how little space there is between the mobo and the PSU in which to fit a cooler (damn you Lian Li!). If I were to take it, I'd still need a mobo and CPU, though - ideas?

 

I would probably not buy the DFI board due to the fact that DFI left the motherboard business, so support is going to be scarce.

For the H55 ITX boards, the simplest way I could make a decision on the purchase is if you need the WiFi, go with Zotac, otherwise opt for Gigabyte. Tbh, I think those Clarkdale cpus will still do a decent job for gaming for quite a while.

 

Can anybody recommend a good, low profile, quiet hsf for this motherboard?

 

What case are you installing it in?

 

@Puresilver: What bad stuff have you heard about gaming performance with discrete graphics card on this board? Could you post some links? I'm really interested in building a mini-itx gaming machine and was looking at this board, either an i3 or i5 depending on cash, a 5770 and a lian-li PC-Q08B and 4gb ram.

@crazyceo: I dont think you can fit a corsair H50 on this board with out modding the back plate of the H50. supposedly it crushes some of the components on the back of the board. Although some people have managed to get round it by using some plastic washers to lift the backplate away from the board and avoiding contact with the components.