Gigabyte Intros New H61M-USB3-B3 Motherboard

[btarunr]

Gigabyte rolled out its latest budget socket LGA1155 motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor, the GA-H61M-USB3-B3 rev. 2.0. This new board adds to the slim feature-set of Intel H61 with third-party SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 controllers. The CPU is powered by a 6-phase VRD12 compliant VRM, it is wired to just two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a legacy PCI, and two PCI-Express 2.0 x1.

All four of the chipset's SATA 3 Gb/s ports are internal (H61 lacks SATA 6 Gb/s). An additional Marvell 88SE9172 controller gives out two SATA 6 Gb/s ports with RAID 0/1/0+1 support. An Etron EJ168 controller gives out two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel. Gigabyte used a cost-effective Atheros AR8151 to handle gigabit Ethernet, while squeezing in the high-grade Realtek ALC889 HD audio codec to handle 6-channel audio. Display connectivity includes DVI, HDMI, and D-Sub. A number of USB 2.0 ports, and serial COM port (via header) make for the rest of the connectivity. The board is driven by dual AwardBIOS, with HybridEFI technology that lets it boot from >2 TB volumes. Pricing is unknown.

[FreedomEclipse]

No 6GB/s Sata, but at least you have a PCI-E 1x slot to put in a Highpoint Sata III expansion card.

though I would have prefered the white sata ports to be 6GB/s instead of raid but thats just me.

no doubt a budget board for a budget build for a man on a budget.

But still... Sata II SSDs are still pretty fast so its not like its a huge loss

[zsolt_93]

It has two white sataIII ports powered by marvell below the pci slots

[micropage7]

looks like low end board, looks very basic

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by zsolt_93

It has two white sataIII ports powered by marvell below the pci slots

I knew that!!!! I was just saying that users can put in a PCI-E 1x sata III controller card!! you have empty 1x slots you might aswell make use of them!

you could also get a PCI-E 1x soundcard too since your dual slot graphics card cooler will more or less obstruct the ONLY PCI slot on the board - they should have put that PCI slot right at the bottom instead.

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Ultra low end doesn't quite cover this thing.

[FreedomEclipse]

Originally Posted by [H]@RD5TUFF

Ultra low end doesn't quite cover this thing.

If HP was still in the business of building computers...

This mobo would no doubt be one of the top candidates to go into one of their machines.

Ive had to repair a fair few of them and even though the client might have payed over £600 for it. that doesnt didn't stop them cutting corners on what they gave you.

but thats business i suppose. Just because a car looks good on the outside. doesnt mean it aint a rust bucket on the inside.

[Kantastic]

Originally Posted by FreedomEclipse

If HP was still in the business of building computers...

This mobo would no doubt be one of the top candidates to go into one of their machines.

Ive had to repair a fair few of them and even though the client might have payed over £600 for it. that doesnt didn't stop them cutting corners on what they gave you..

Tell me about it! I remember paying $1200 for an HP Pavilion tower with an Athlon X2 4200+ with some craptastic Asus Nodusm3 motherboard that gave me nothing but headaches when I tried upgrading.

[Duckula]

The new reversion has two bridged SATA6.0Gbps ports and a HDMI port that my old Rev1.0 board does not have. It has a weaker VRM (3+1+1 phases, three phases for the CPU, one phase for the integrated GPU and one phase for the memory controller and stuff) compared to the previous versions(4+1+1 phrases) though. You can't overclock on a H61 board anyway, so it's ok.

[don1970]

Originally Posted by [H]@RD5TUFF

Ultra low end doesn't quite cover this thing.

I think that is the idea here. The board is a very easy way into SB. The lack of overclocking robustness is a non issue and it is likely a very reliable board. Gigabyte was definitely thinking by putting the two PCI-E x1 slots further down the board so that they are BOTH available and if you use a dual slot video card it only covers up the legacy PCI slot--not exactly a loss. The board further has a relatively decent on-board audio solution and is using all solid caps along with ferrite core chokes. Cut this board a break! It would likely make a fine basis for a non-overclocking basic computer build. Not all boards need to be $250 overclocking monsters to be worthy of attention. We all build PC's for friends and family where a board like this would be ideal. I am a FIRM believer that the more "crap" (some call them features...) a manufacturer solders onto a motherboard the more likely you are to have issues down the road. Sometimes the KISS principle reigns supreme.