Asus vs Gigabyte Intel H67 Review
Introduction
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At last, the wait comes to an end and the LGA1155 “Sandy Bridge” Intel Core family are unveiled. Naturally no one wishes to invest in soon to be discontinued hardware and so it makes perfect sense to have waited up until now.Â
It is not entirely guaranteed that the new Intel Core family will prove to be a noticeably superior performer to an equivalent LGA1156 part as it depends on your personal needs. Clearly many of you will be flocking towards P67 motherboards and 2500K/2600K processors in light of recent overclocking results. This however leaves those with lesser computational needs in the dark. So the plot thickens; what exactly does LGA1155 have to offer for entry level and midrange consumers?
If it so happens that you’re after a more basic system with a bit more platform longevity than the outgoing LGA1156 family, then you are definitely in the right place.
Much like the situation with the outgoing i3/i5/i7 family, you will need to purchase a “H” series motherboard for Integrated Graphics support. Sadly a few of you might be left with a bit of a predicament. To be precise, the H67 chipset does not support processor overclocking at all. Yes, even if you purchase a “K” series processor with a H67 motherboard you are out of luck. If this is what you were after, click the back button on your browser now.
Despite the nature of this website, we are not one to make a final judgement on a product until it has been tested. So with ~£120 to spend, what Micro ATX motherboards are in store for you? Well we have two from Asus and Gigabyte; the P8H67M EVO and the H67MA-UD2H. To summarise these boards on paper, take a gander at our table.
| Motherboard Model | Asus P8H67-M EVO | Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H |
| Form Factor | mATX, 9.6″ x 9.6″ (30.5cm x 24.5cm) | mATX, 9.6″ x 9.6″ (30.5cm x 24.5cm) Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
| Processor Support |
Intel LGA1155 |
Intel LGA1155 Intel Pentium, Core i3, i5, i7 Processors |
| Chipset | Intel H67 | Intel H67 |
| Overclocking Support |
CPU – NO iGPU – YES |
CPU – NO iGPU – YES |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB 1333/1066 DDR3 | 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB 1333/1066 DDR3 |
| Expansion Slots |
2Â x PCIe 2.0 x16 |
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Multi-GPU Support | ATi CrossfireX Supported 16x (TOP) / 4x (BOTTOM) Mode |
 ATi CrossfireX Supported 16x (TOP) / 4x (BOTTOM) Mode  |
| Onboard Video | CPU Embedded GPU Supported | CPU Embedded GPU Supported |
| Storage | Intel H67 2 x SATA 6.0Gb/s 4 x SATA 6.0Gb/s Marvell SATA + IDE |
Intel H67 2 x SATA 6.0Gb/s 3 x SATA 3.0Gb/s 1 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s |
| LAN | Â Gigabit LAN | Gigabit LAN |
| Audio | Â Realtek ALC892 7.1 | Realtek ALC892 7.1 |
| USB | 12 x USB 2.0 (4 x Back, 8 x Internal) 2 x USB 3.0 REAR |
14 x USB 2.0 (4 x Rear, 10 x Internal) 2 x USB 3.0 REAR |
| Firewire | 2 x 1394a (1 x back, 1 x internal) | 2 x 1394a (1 x back, 1 x internal) |
| Video I/O | DVI, HDMI, VGA, Displayport | DVI, HDMI, VGA, Displayport |
Fancy a closer look? Please turn over.
