october 26 2010 review by silentpcreview

This mobo is a good choice for a multipurpose or gaming machine, but is less so for a system that needs to stay on for long periods of time like a server. The H55N also suffers from the same unusual high power draw the reviewers encountered on a Zotac H55-ITX when Intel GMA graphics are put on full load. The options available in the BIOS were a surprise, this mini-ITX board has a wide range of frequency and voltage settings.

Compared To:

Intel DH55TC and DH57JG, Asus P7H55D-M EVO, Zotac H55-ITX-C-E.

Test Setup:

• Computer Case : Thermalright MUX-120
• CPU : Intel Core i5-661
• HDD : WD Scorpio Blue 500GB
• Memory : Corsair XMS3 2x2GB DDR3-1600MHz
• Optical Drive : Asus BC-1205PT Blu-ray
• OS : Windows 7 Ultimate x64
• PSU : Seasonic SS-400ET

Benchmark Software: CPU-Z, CPUBurn, Prime95, FurMark stability test, H.264/x264, SpeedFan.

september 30 2010 review by xbitlabs

This mobo has been cleverly designed and has nearly all the functionality of a full-size mainboard. It supports quad-core CPUs and offers advanced BIOS options.

Overclocking:

An Intel Core i3-540 CPU was OCed from its default 3.07GHz clock speed to 4.4 GHz.

Compared To:

Intel DH57JG and Zotac H55-ITX WiFi.

Benchmarks:

3D Mark Vantage, 7zip, Cinebench, Far Cry 2, Fritz Chess Bench, Power Consumption, Resident Evil V, SuperPi, USB 3.0 Performance, x264 HD.

Test Setup:

• CPU : Intel Core i3-540
• CPU cooler : Scythe Samurai ZZ SCSMZ-2000
• HDD : Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS
• Memory : 4GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Blade Series OCZ3B1600LV2GK 1600 MHz
• optical drive : DVD RW Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7173A
• PSU : OCZ GameXStream OCZGXS700 700W
• Video Card : HIS HD 5850 H585F1GDG 1024 MB

august 20 2010 review by techgage

Conclusion:

The reviewer had tested the H55M-USB3 a while ago and he was impressed with the features and overclocking potential, with the H55N-USB3, this has once again been accomplished. With a mainboard like this, building a Home Theatre PC with huge potential couldn't be easier.

Overclocking:

A Core i5-661 was OCed @ 4.25GHz, vCore @ 1.3v. This board uses 6 phases dedicated to the CPU.

Benchmarks:

PC Mark Vantage, Adobe Lightroom, 3ds Max 2010, TMPGEnc XPress, Blu-ray Playback, ATTO, 7-Zip, Sandra, CoD: Modern Warfare 2, Crysis Warhead, 3D Mark Vantage, Power Consumption.

Compared to:

• ASUS P7H55D-M EVO
• Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3
• Intel DH55TC

Test Setup:

• CPU : Intel Core i5-661
• CPU Cooler : Thermalright MUX-120
• IGP : Intel HD Graphics
• Memory : 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Corsair XMS3 DHX
• Monitor : Gateway XHD3000
• OS : Windows 7 Ultimate x64
• PSU : Corsair HX1000W
• SSD : Intel X-25M 160GB
• Video Card : ASUS Radeon HD 5850 1GB

august 9 2010 review by pro-clockers

Conclusion:

This mobo offers you almost everything a full-sized motherboard does, the PCIe 2.0 x16 slot has enough bandwidth for high-end graphic cards, and you'll be able to use the Core i5 and i7. Even the new Super Speed USB3 is included. The overclocking ability of this board was spectacular. A Core i5 was taken to astronomical levels. Unfortunately there's no onboard Wi-Fi.

Overclocking:

With the vCore voltage @ 1.35v and memory @ 1.64v, the reviewers reached 4482MHz with a Core i5 655K.

Benchmarks:

PCMark Vantage, 3DMark Vantage, SiSoftware Sandra Lite, SuperPI, treet Fighter IV, HD Tune USB3.

Test Setup:

• Memory: 2x2GB OCZ DDR3 1600MHz
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5750
• Hard Drive: Hitachi 1TB
• PSU: Thermaltake Tough Power XT 850
• CPU Cooler: Scythe Yasya
• OS: Windows 7 x64

Compared to:

This mainboard was not compared to another board.

july 15 2010 review by benchmarkreviews

Conclusion:

The performance of the GIGABYTE H55N-USB3 motherboard was outstanding. This mobo is an excellent solution for a media center with a cheap processor like the Pentium G6950. This board could even be used as a budget gaming PC, paired with a Core i5 and an ATI HD5850 or an NVIDIA GTX 465. Additional PCI/PCI-e cards cannot be used with this board. It didn't only perform better than the other mini iTX mobos in the majority of the tests, but also has very good overclocking capabilities not seen with the other manufacturers.

Construction quality is very good, but the overall PCB design was not so good, front panel cables as well as the 24-pin ATX connector are difficult to connect to this mainboard. The reviewer struggled with 3 different cases and all of them had problems to reach certain parts of the motherboard with the standard cables. Also, it would be nice to see a wireless network adapter since that's the only feature Gigabyte didn't include when compared with the competition.

Overclocking:

The maximum CPU frequency was 4.2GHz for a Core i3 530 with the vCore at 1.35v using an Intel stock cooler.

Benchmarks:

Lavalys EVEREST Ultimate, PC Mark Vantage, CINEBENCH x64 R11.5, Passmark Performance Test, Street Fighter IV, Power DVD 10 Full HD 1080p H.264 playback, Power Consumption.

Compared to:

ASRock HM55-HT, ASRock AMCP7A-ION, ECS H55H-I.

Test Setup:

• RAM: 2X2GB G.Skill ECO DDR3 1333MHz
• IGP: Intel GMA HD
• HDD: OCZ Agility MLC SSD OCZSSD2-1AGT120G