GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3 Motherboard

  

GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3 (rev 1.0) Features:

• Intel Core i7/Core i5/ Core i3 support
• On/off charge support
• USB 3.0 Support
• 3x USB Power Boost
• Ultra Durable 3
• 2oz Copper PCB
• Smart 6
• Dynamic Energy Saver 2
• Cloud OC
• Hotkey OC
• HDMI
• AutoGreen
• DualBIOS
• Norton Internet Security
• Qualified for Windows 7
• ErP Lot 6 Support

Part Number	H55N-USB3
Manufacturer	GIGABYTE
Chipset	H55 Express
North Bridge	N/A
Socket	LGA-1156
Memory	DDR3 1333/1066
Processor Types	Core i7, Core i5, Core i3
Number of CPUs	1
QPI	Up to 4.8GT/second
Memory Type	DDR3
Memory Channels	Dual
Maximum Memory	8GB
External Graphics	PCI Express x16 2.0 x1
IGP	Intel GMA HD
SCSI	None
SATA	3.0 GB/s
RAID	N/A
LAN	10/100/1000
Firewire	N/A
USB	USB 2.0
BIOS	AMIBIOS
Form Factor	mATX

   The GIGABYTE H55N-USB3 motherboard is based upon Intel’s H55 Express chipset. Intel moved the PCI Express controller from the Northbridge to the CPU, meaning that there is no need for a Northbridge on the motherboard as previous chipsets had. The Clarkdale CPUs which are the new 32nm CPUs with integrated graphics on the chipset are fully supported by the H55 chipset as are the Core i7-8xx and 7xx CPUs. 

   The GMA HD is a modified version of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator from previous motherboard chipsets like the G45 and G35 chipsets that preceded the H55. One issue with the launch of Intel chipsets with the LGA-1156 interface was there was no integrated solution to go along with it, meaning everyone needed a discrete graphics card to use the P55 chipset with the new CPUs. For most enthusiasts external graphics is a must. For most business users and HTPC users which this board is targeted towards, this was an issue.

   USB 3.0 is the new standard for the Universal Serial Bus that was introduced into computer motherboards last year. USB has 10x the bandwidth of that provided by 2.0 at 5 Gigabits/second of bandwidth. This also provides 900 micro Amps of power to devices compared to the 500 micro Amps on USB 2.0. GIGABYTE goes three steps further by providing 3x the power to USB 3.0 devices at 2700 micro Amps. One side benefit of this is the ability to Fast Charge USB devices like the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 takes up to 4 hours to charge on a regular motherboard with USB 2.0. On motherboards with the 3x Power the iPhone 4 takes 2 hours and 55 minutes which is a huge improvement over regular USB charging of the iPhone.

   Smart 6 is a series of utilities that are3 designed to work with your new motherboard to give you more control of the system. They consist of Smart QuickBoot, Smart DualBIOS, Smart QuickBoost, Smart Recorder, Smart Recovery and Smart TimeLock. Quick Boot allows you to boot your computer in a few seconds instead of the up to a minute it takes a regular computer. GIGABYTE pioneered the idea of a second BIOS taking over for the first one if it fails Smart DualBIOS acts like a personal memo taker also keeping important numbers safe. Smart QuickBoost gives you one-click overclocking. Smart Recorder monitors your system activity, and when it was turned on/off. It also records when large amounts of data have been copied from your PC. Smart Recovery works much like Windows System Restore but with more functionality. It takes a “Snapshot” every day and makes a record of any added, deleted or modified files. Smart Recovery makes a copy of the changed file and saves it. You can use Smart Recovery to go back to an earlier version of a file like a Word document or presentation. You can set up the amount of space, and the time for the backup. Smart TimeLock allows you to keep a time limit on your computer so that your children don’t spend all day on it. 


   The board is designed to fit into a Home Theater PC designed to fit inside the smallest cases the board is fully featured as we shall see. Starting on the upper right hand corner of the board we find that GIGABYTE has located the 4-pin CPU Fan header here.

   The CPU area is a bit cramped for installation of after-market CPU coolers with memory installation. With the size of the board there really was no getting around it. I was able to install a Thermaltake cooler with no issue and was able to install the reference cooler without issue but installing the wider cooler may cause interference.

    The top of the board is where the SATA ports are located on this board. The board has four SATA ports which is sufficient for most users as the H55 Express chipset does not support RAID, requiring the motherboard manufacturer to add a separate RAID controller to support it. The 4-pin power connector is above the CPU area with the 24-pin power connector below the FP I/O which is below the SATA ports. The FP I/O is color coded and labeled with two USB headers next to them. 

   The bottom of the board is where GIGABYTE has decided to place the DIMM slots. The LGA-1156 CPUs support dual channel memory at up to 8GB of DDR memory supported by this board. Memory speeds of up to DDR3 1333 are natively supported by the Intel Core i3/i5 CPUs and the board supports Intel’s Extreme Memory Profiles. DDR3 1600MHz is also supported via overclocking as the memory controller is on the CPU for both Intel and AMD on their platforms. The next item of note is the video card slot which is located directly next to the CPU Socket hence the cramped nature of the CPU Socket area.

 

   The board has a single PCI Express x16 slot for an external graphics card. Note that the Radeon HD 4870 we use for testing overlaps both the PCI Express slot but also the motherboard in terms of length. The card also overlaps the board on the side so if you buy a case designed for this sized board you might run into a small issue. As this board is meant for the HTPC and small server crowd, these people will not likely install a dual-slot video card, or a long one like a HD 5870 or HD 5970. The board design is perfect for the target markets as the I/O is a fully featured one. 

    GIGABYTE uses a Realtek ALC892 sound card on their H55N-USB3 motherboard. This is the latest iteration of sound card from the makers of quality onboard sound. The ALC892 supports Intel’s High Definition Audio standard with support for 2/4/5.1/7.1 speaker systems and supports S/PDIF Out. The rear I/O has a combination PS/2 Mouse or Keyboard port in case you have one of those legacy devices, 4 USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an external SATA port, a S/PDIF Out port, a LAN jack, and six audio jacks for the onboard audio. There are also the video connections for an HDMI port, A DVI port and a VGA port. This should allow you to connect your new motherboard to the most popular monitors or HDTV connections.