Intel Core i5-661 and H55/57 Motherboard Roundup

- 4th Jan 2010

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Final Words and Conclusion

Core i5-661 and H55/H57
It is hard not to be impressed by Intel’s latest CPU/GPU and Chipset launch. They have taken the already very impressive Core range of processors, created a high performing dual core model and added to it an integrated graphics chip which improves significantly on the previous generation.

Performance in single threaded applications is excellent, always being close to the far more expensive i7-975 and although the two cores with Hyper-Threading can’t quite match 4 true cores in processors such as the i5-750 the performance is always desirable, especially given the estimated price of the new CPU.

As far as the graphics aspect goes, for Intel’s first attempt at combining the CPU and GPU on a desktop chip the overall experience was very positive. Image quality was very good and performance impressive. An average of 83 frames per second in Counter-Strike Source should be more than enough for any casual gamer. Although we experienced a bug with PowerDVD we expect this to be resolved soon and from that point on the i5-661 and H55/57 should make a great basis for a media or productivity system, especially considering the good thermal performance and chipset feature set.

Gigabyte P55A-UD3R
In creating this review we subjected the P55A-UD3R to a lot of testing as it was the board used to obtain the i5-750 and i7-870 results. Throughout the testing the board provided complete stability and excellent performance in all tasks.

This excellent performance is backed up by a great set of features. Firstly this is one of the few boards which supports USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s. Even better than that though is its ability to support RAID on the SATA 6GB/s ports, something which a number of boards fail to do.

CPU and memory support is also great with the ability to use the entire Core i5/i7 CPU range and DDR3 to over 2000MHz, modules permitting.

We also have a great amount of connectivity options on the back panel and all of the standard Gigabyte features such as a hugely customisable BIOS and useful tools like Q-Flash which make maintaining the board very easy. It is also worth noting that Gigabyte have been prompt in sending us firmware updates for the controllers on their board, something we haven’t seen from other manufacturers.

Summary
A feature packed high performance board which is one of the most complete products we have tested to date and it is priced perfectly too.

Available from MicroDirect £120

Available from NewEgg $150

H55 Boards
As often happens when we group test a selection of motherboards, especially on a launch day article, there are clear differences between each product and it is easy to see the market segment which each board is aimed at.

Starting with ECS we have a board which looks to provide users with a solid H55 platform at a low cost (RRP $79). In doing this ECS do loose some features such as HDMI and support for 4 memory sticks however given the market this board is aimed at we are sure this won’t be a big issue. After all, it’s still possible to use a DVI to HDMI cable for connection to a HDTV. If we could improve one aspect of the H55H-M it would be a simple change of PCB colour to give the board a little extra flair but overall it is a decent entry level H55 product.

Intel, as always, has gone out to create a fully featured board which aims to do so with complete stability. We are happy to report that they have achieved both of these goals. The DH55TC offers us everything we would expect from an H55 based motherboard, including onboard HDMI and does so while providing performance which is comparable to the rest of the boards in this roundup. Also worth mentioning is that the board offered complete stability and we expect this to continue as we have yet to have an Intel branded motherboard fail on us. Finally, as always, we need to praise the BIOS update procedure that Intel use. ExpressBIOS is the most user friendly BIOS update process available.

Next up we have Asus who are the only manufacturer in this roundup to go for a full ATX board and in doing so they have been able to pack a huge amount of features into the product. For starters we have VGA, DVI and HDMI. Then there is the ability to use CrossFire or SLI if desired and then they have some great features such as automatic overclocking, EZ-Flash (simple BIOS updates from USB) and for those who want quick access to basic functionality there is the Express Gate OS. Performance is also very good but the two standout aspects of the board would have to be the inclusion of SATA 6GB/s and USB 3.0 which combine with the already impressive features to make this a board well worth consideration for a Clarkdale based system… we just wish Asus would include RAID support on all of their SATA 6GB/s range.

Finally we have MSI who always give us good build quality which in this case also includes a redesigned heatpipe for enhanced cooling performance; ideal for HTPCs. MSI also took a similar approach to Asus and packed a huge amount of features into their H57M-ED65 but do so on the m-ATX form factor. This means that it is possible to build a flexible, high performance system in a small chassis. It even supports CrossFire or SLI if needed. MSI provide similar features to the other major manufacturers by including tools such as M-Flash and a Linux based OS for quick access to functionality. It would have been nice to see MSI add USB 3.0 or SATA 6GB/s to the board but we appreciate those are features which most consumers in the integrated graphics market will see as an extravagance rather than a necessity. That group of consumers is far more likely to get value from MSI’s on the fly and auto overclocking functionality.

ECS H55H-M (RRP: $79)