GA-H55N-USB3

GIGABYTE mini-ITX pocket rocket H55N-USB3 turns out to be a monster overclocker, how is 5.25GHz on air cooling?

Yes that's right. I thought i'd strap on a desktop heatsink and dwarf this little board we call GIGABYTE H55N-USB3 and pair it up with a Core i5 655K Unlocked Intel CPU. Next thing I know I'm talking to myself, going a bit crazy at the sight in front of me with the CPU steadily climing 4.1GHz, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, ... 5.25GHz.........FAINT!

Spotted at Gigabyte's COMPUTEX 2010 booth was the GA-H55N-USB3, a mini-ITX motherboard designed to provide home theater PCs with enough power and a small profile. But the H55N elicits interest because of its generous provision of ports. You've got 2 USB 3.0 sockets complemented by five USB 2.0 ports. Rounding out this comprehensive line-up are eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet, six audio jacks, a PS/2 port, and S/PDIF.

On the video front, the H55N can output HDMI, DVI-I, and D-SUB signals—but only if one of those new Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 CPUs with integrated graphics are used. Alternatively users can also use the PCI Express x16 slot for discrete graphics, if they can find a way to fit everything into the usually small cases of the mini-ITX format.

The H55N has four SATA/300 ports for storage components, and two DDR3 1666 MHz DIMM sockets. This puts the maximum RAM at 8 GB. According to Gigabyte, the GA-H55N-USB3 costs around $130 depending on the retailer. It should hit the market right as you read this, or within this month at the latest.