GIGABYTE APPARENTLY decided that it was high time to show off a couple of its upcoming H55 and H57 motherboards. In the past this was usually done by “leaking” the images to a tech site or two, but it seems like with all this social media stuff going, Gigabyte simply posted them to its own Facebook group.
We’re not sure if everyone is happy about the use of social media for this, as at least a handful of publications have lost their status as being sources for “leaks” of upcoming motherboards. Still, it’s a new way for technology companies to potentially be able to communicate more directly with end users and that alone is something of a novel idea. We can’t knock Gigabyte for trying something new and it goes to show that social media can be used for something.
So what about the motherboards then? Well, first up we have the GA-H55-UD3H which is a full size ATX motherboard based on Intel’s upcoming H55 chipset. The board has a rather unusual slot layout with a single x1 PCI express slot, a x16 PCI Express slot, four PCI slots and then another x16 PCI Express slot at the bottom. The bottom x16 slot is only x4 electrically and considering the wide split between the two slots, this board is unlikely to support any kind of dual graphics card action.
In terms of connectivity you get a single PS/2, eight USB 2.0 ports, a D-sub, DVI and HDMI port, optical S/PDIF, six audio jacks for 7.1-channel audio and a Gigabit Ethernet port around the back. The board also has six SATA connectors, a single IDE and floppy drive port and two headers that will add four more USB 2.0 ports. This should be a fairly entry level board in Gigabyte’s line-up, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see any higher-end versions with the H55 chipset.
Next up is the little brother of the GA-H55-UD3H, namely the GA-H55M-S2H which is a micro ATX board. As such it features two x16 PCI Express slot and two PCI slots. As with the GA-H55-UD3H, the secondary x16 PCI Express is limited to x4 bandwidth. This board also offers an identical rear port layout and the same connectivity options. The only real difference apart from its size is that it only has two DDR3 memory slots. There will also be a version of this board called the GA-H55M-UD2H which adds Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable features.
Finally we have the GA-H57M-USB3 which is a slightly different beast, although this is also a micro ATX motherboard. As the model name suggests, this board is based on the H57 chipset and Gigabyte has also added a USB 3.0 controller to it. It has the same slot layout as the GA-H55M-S2H and it features a similar rear port layout, but with the addition of a DisplayPort, the two USB 3.0 ports, a FireWire port and an eSATA/USB combo port, although four USB 2.0 ports have been removed to make space for the additional ports.
The GA-H57M-USB3 also has an additional SATA controller that adds two SATA ports for a total of seven. There are also four headers for an additional eight USB 2.0 ports as well as headers for a FireWire and serial port. This board also has four DDR3 memory slots. All three boards should be available at the launch of Intel’s upcoming Core i5 600-series and Core i3 processors which are expected to launch on January 3rd.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
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