• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Mini ITX suggestion

B

bigddybn

Supreme [H]ardness
2FA
Joined
Nov 21, 2006
Messages
8,067
Looking to add a small rig to the stable. Would prefer either an i5-750 or possible the i7-860. Can someone suggest one of the Mini ITX boards? They all seem to be buggy little shits.

The DFI P55 seems to have USB issues along with a buggy BIOS.

The Zotac H55 has broken turbo boost and the 16x slot is limited.

The Intel H57 doesn't seem to support the quads at all and lacks wifi.

Is there another board I'm missing?
 
I Dont think there is a problem with the 1156 quads in the h57. Just they do not support the on-board graphics since that is a feature built into the clarksdale CPU's. For that reason they wont make the supported CPU list as technically not all features will work. But if your looking for a quad then your probably not going to be using the on-board graphics anywho..

The only real thing it lacks is WiFi.. But look at the issues people are having with zotac in general & that DFI Board.. IMHO if deciding between them then the Intel is a no Brainier even without WiFi. But that being said I wouldn't use the Wifi Anyways & You could always mount an external USB header inside of the case & then use a USB 802.11n & give you the same abilities + then you could upgrade to the next technology Wifi at will instead of being stuck.
 
ok yea, but read the 4th review.. he lists an i7 so thats a quad as well..


Per Toms
Of course, you also get the I/O normally found in a southbridge. H55 offers 12 USB 2.0 ports, six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and six lanes of 2.5 GT/s PCI Express 2.0, while H57 serves up 14 USB 2.0 ports, six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and eight lanes of 2.5 GT/s PCI Express 2.0 connectivity. Both offer four legacy PCI slots, too.

From there, the two chipset are identical, except that H57 offers Intel Rapid Storage Technology 9.5—follow-up to what was once called Intel’s Matrix storage technology with software RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10.
Click to expand...

& if you look at the specs for the other 2 I cant even find a supported CPU list for the zotac & the DFI doesn't list the i3's..
 
Last edited:
bigddybn said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813121401

3rd review worried me. No wifi is hardly a deal breaker but would have been nice.
Click to expand...

It should work just fine. If you have difficulties with handling RMAs i'd go Intel, otherwise the dealbreaker is IGP or not IGP, if you plan to use the IGP Zotac H55 is way to go, otherwise DFI MI P55-T36 is my recommendation.

All of them seem to have issues but the intel one.

DFI MI P55-T36:
- USB WiFi issues
- S3 suspend problems when over 150BLCK (seems fixed in the latest BIOS)

Zotac H55-ITX
- CPU placement
- PCIe x16 slot for GPU only? why is that? some user have had success using it for TV tuners though.
- Turbo boost is supposedly fixed now, check this review
- Limited overclocking (not an issue)

Intel DH57JG
- CPU placement
- Limited overclocking (not an issue)

Quads should work fine, should be an isolated issue
 
fr500 said:
It should work just fine. If you have difficulties with handling RMAs i'd go Intel, otherwise the dealbreaker is IGP or not IGP, if you plan to use the IGP Zotac H55 is way to go, otherwise DFI MI P55-T36 is my recommendation.

All of them seem to have issues but the intel one.

DFI MI P55-T36:
- USB WiFi issues
- S3 suspend problems when over 150BLCK (seems fixed in the latest BIOS)

Zotac H55-ITX
- CPU placement
- PCIe x16 slot for GPU only? why is that? some user have had success using it for TV tuners though.
- Turbo boost is supposedly fixed now, check this review
- Limited overclocking (not an issue)

Intel DH57JG
- CPU placement
- Limited overclocking (not an issue)

Quads should work fine, should be an isolated issue
Click to expand...

Thats about freeking Biased to say that "the intel" has issues with CPU placement... Here is a thread with pretty pictures showing that the CPU placement is no closer to the PCI then the Zotac (it also shows an ECS).. What it comes down to is that the x55's all suck for CPU placement when the board is squished onto a MiniITX..

To date I know of a total of 5 boards that could be compared for this being the Intel, Zotac, DFI, ECS & Gigabyte.. Not on a single one of them could you use a large cooler that is centered on the CPU. In all cases it would have to have the bulk of the cooler going towards the top of the board. The only real difference in the CPU placement being that the Intel & Gigabyte the CPU is about 10mm farther to the left of the board towards the memory as the memory slots are right at the edge of the board instead of having a gap between them like the ECS or having the ATX power connector next to them like the Zotac or the DFI..

When choosing between them I think it simply comes down to what you want. I Think that pretty much everyone will agree that the intel while the most stable is the most vanilla about extra features. Although it is a little cheaper.. So its a matter of are you going to gain any features (be it wifi or the ability to maybe squeeze a few more MHZ OC) to deal with the quirks of the others.
 
The CPU placement makes a huge difference when trying to add a cooler. The intel and Zotac both have this wrong. fr500 did a good job with the comparisons although the wifi issues aren't really related to the board itself but probably more the chipset...and it only seems to be with Windows 7. I've had several people email me using USB wifi on the DFI board.

Bottom line, the DFI is not perfect but your best choice right now.
 
bastage said:
Thats about freeking Biased to say that "the intel" has issues with CPU placement... Here is a thread with pretty pictures showing that the CPU placement is no closer to the PCI then the Zotac (it also shows an ECS).. What it comes down to is that the x55's all suck for CPU placement when the board is squished onto a MiniITX..

To date I know of a total of 5 boards that could be compared for this being the Intel, Zotac, DFI, ECS & Gigabyte.. Not on a single one of them could you use a large cooler that is centered on the CPU. In all cases it would have to have the bulk of the cooler going towards the top of the board. The only real difference in the CPU placement being that the Intel & Gigabyte the CPU is about 10mm farther to the left of the board towards the memory as the memory slots are right at the edge of the board instead of having a gap between them like the ECS or having the ATX power connector next to them like the Zotac or the DFI..

When choosing between them I think it simply comes down to what you want. I Think that pretty much everyone will agree that the intel while the most stable is the most vanilla about extra features. Although it is a little cheaper.. So its a matter of are you going to gain any features (be it wifi or the ability to maybe squeeze a few more MHZ OC) to deal with the quirks of the others.
Click to expand...

Gee... I'm just trying to help the OP, I just summarized my point of view and it's clearly stated below that the Zotac H55 has poor CPU socket placement.
 
fr500 said:
Gee... I'm just trying to help the OP, I just summarized my point of view and it's clearly stated below that the Zotac H55 has poor CPU socket placement.
Click to expand...

ok I must be nuts.. I appoligise if I came across abrasive this morning, but I was wrong on more then 1 account.

1st I didn't realize CPU placement was listed as a con for zotac.. 2nd I pulled up pics of all 5 boards & I for some reason though that CPU placement was in the same general region for all of them.. Just shows I shouldn't post before I have had my morning cup of Coffee..
 
I'm currently looking into replacing the defective motherboard in my HP Slimline s3400t.

Which of these boards would be best for this? :confused:
 
ABCXYZ said:
I'm currently looking into replacing the defective motherboard in my HP Slimline s3400t.

Which of these boards would be best for this? :confused:
Click to expand...

Probably best asked in the HP Slimline thread.. I personally would have no clue as to whats in the HP & most people wont unless they actually have one..
 
could someone just explain me what's the main problem on the Zotac H55 and the cpu socket position? I actually don't know too much about problems on this type of motherboards because i've never used ITX form factor
 
the problem with the CPU socket on the h55 & h57 boards is that it is very close to the PCI slot. So you cant use a large cooler like the big shurken in a slimline case to keep things cool..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top