GIGABYTE H55M-USB3 Motherboard Review @ [H]

Nice review. I remember when the mATX i5/i7 boards first came out there was serious concern over the long-term reliability of their CPU VRMs with overclocked CPUs, especially 4c/8t i7s. A number of sites had blown VRMs with those CPUs, at least when overclocked. I don't think you guys tested with one of those...reliability with 2c/4t or 4c/4t CPUs is nice but is there any chance of testing or followup with one of the higher-end CPUs?
 
Seeing those BIOS options makes me kinda regret buying my Asus P7H55D-M Evo, which is rather sparse in that department. Still hit 220MHz bclk (and 4400MHz QPI) stable at only 1.20Vtt with my i3-540, but it would be great to have more control.

Another solid review guys! :cool:
 
Gigabyte seems to be making one great board after another. I would not hesitate to buy one, no matter the socket.
 
Hey just a heads up, these low end Gigabyte boards are awful for water cooling. It might work fine in an open test bed platform but you'll kill them pretty fast inside a closed case. I killed two of them before I decided to get a mobo with a better warranty.

When overclocking on water you absolutely need heatsinks on the VRM and direct airflow.
 
RVWinkle said:
Hey just a heads up, these low end Gigabyte boards are awful for water cooling. It might work fine in an open test bed platform but you'll kill them pretty fast inside a closed case. I killed two of them before I decided to get a mobo with a better warranty.

When overclocking on water you absolutely need heatsinks on the VRM and direct airflow.
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Yeah, I would not suggest that either. Then again spending hundreds on cooling for a less than $100 mobo seems kind of odd and I never figured on that happening.
 
Gigabyte seems to be making a lot of nice boards lately and I've been wanting to upgrade to an i7 in my uATX system. So this board seems great. But I had some horrible problems with Gigabyte's RMA team years ago (two RMAs on different products and never actually getting a functional part back) and haven't bought one of their products since. Has anyone used their RMA recently to assuage my fears so that I can buy this? (This kind of thing makes me pine for the days of [H] RMA/technical support investigations)
 
RVWinkle said:
My RMA went smoothly but it meant I didn't have a computer for 3 weeks.
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same, they have decent service but their system is a clusterfuck. however reliable and curteous they may be, ending up with a doa or defect means you will be in rma land for who knows how long while they sort it out, with basically no feedback. never failed to get a reply for info or replacement tho, so you can count on that much.
 
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