Previously, we had taken into consideration the Asus Gaming Hardware 2010,Crosshair IV Extreme Review. This time we bring to you again an Asus motherboard which is a small Intel board for those who don’t need the hardcore features of the ROG Maximus III Gene. Asus P7H55D-M EVO is an ideal candidate for a small and quiet PC, available at £101.00 (Inc of VAT). It sports Intel’s new H55 chipset that supports the company’s new CPUs with incorporated graphics and even supports USB 3.0.
Talking about the basics, it fits socket LGA 1156 processors including pin-compatible Core i7, Core i5, Core i3 and new Pentium CPUs. If you want one of the high-end Bloomfield Core i7s with triple channel memory support you’ll still need to opt for an X58 board like the EVGA E760 X58 SLI Classified or upcoming Asus Rampage III Gene.
In the meantime the P7H55D-M EVO’s integrated graphics outputs, as the actual graphics chip is embedded in these ‘low-end’ CPUs and not the board itself, only works with the newer dual-core Core i3 or Core i5 600-series Clarkdale processors. It’s all very confusing, however, and badly distinguished on Intel’s part, but having a read through our Intel Core i5 661 review should help to clarify things.
Asus includes a very sparse bundle with this board; just the bare minimum of a driver CD, two black SATA cables, black EIDE cables, the I/O plate and pin header extenders are provided. The latter addition does make plugging in all those fiddly case cables so much easier, and is something we wish all motherboard makers would include as standard.
Visually, the P7H55D-M EVO is dressed in the blend of grey and blues on a black-and-brown PCB that we’ve come to know and love from Asus’ midrange. Overall we’d say the MSI P55-GD65 still wins out in the looks department, but the P7H55D-M EVO is definitely an attractive board, especially with its distinctive metal VRM cooling blocks around the CPU. Despite their height there should be plenty of clearance for almost any type of cooler.
However, due to the extra I/O video ports it’s a tad more restricted than on P55-based boards – but everything is still very accessible. Thankfully there are no ruins such as a floppy drive connectors taking up priceless space either. The only nod to older components is the eight-pin ATX power socket which will take the plugs of older power supplies and has a plastic placeholder casing four holes if you’re using a newer PSU.
Finally, USB 3.0 is an certain highlight of the board and makes a lot of sense on a model loosely aimed at a home theatre setup, as it allows super-fast access to external storage for quickly transferring large files such as DVD-rips. Of course that storage will need to be compatible with the new standard, so you’ll want something like the Buffalo DriveStation HD-HXU3.
Tags: asus motherboard, Asus P7H55D, Asus P7H55D-M EVO, crosshair, driver cd, gaming hardware, graphics chip, h55, Integrated Graphics, intel board, motherboard makers, pentium cpus