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- Date:
- Sunday , March 21, 2010
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
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ASUS P7H57D-V EVO Motherboard Review
ASUS has yet another motherboard in its long list of LGA1156 based boards. This one is based on Intel's latest chipset, the H57 Express. The target market for this board is a little different than what we typically look at here at [H]ardOCP. After evaluating this board I can truly call it a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Introduction
Let's face it, unless you are completely new to the do it yourself computer market, ASUS needs no introduction. They are one of the largest OEM motherboard makers on Earth and are the largest maker of motherboards for the enthusiast and do it yourself markets. Here lately ASUS has been crafting boards for every conceivable target market. The P7H57D-V EVO is a bit different than what we are used to seeing here as it has onboard video, and doesn't weigh 5 pounds thanks to massive heat sinks and an endless sea of power phases. No, not this time. ASUS decided to play things a bit differently with this one. This board is designed for a more mainstream audience and isn't built up to be an excessive powerhouse with 48 phase power or anything like that.
At first glance the ASUS P7H57D-V EVO appears to be a solid yet mostly unremarkable motherboard. It has a modest number of power phases, (12 to be exact) and there are no elaborate cooling solutions, tons of PCI-Express x16 slots, or tons of memory slots. On the surface, it looks just like every other ASUS P55 Express chipset based board. However this board utilizes Intel's latest H57 chipset which is designed to work with Intel's "Clarkdale" Core i3 5xx and Core i5 6xx CPUs. These CPUs have built in GPUs. So there isn't really any graphics hardware integrated into the board aside from a slightly different chipset and physical video output connections in the form of DVI and VGA outputs. If that didn't allow for a robust enough package, ASUS integrated USB 3.0 and SATA 6G support into the P7H57D-V EVO. Granted this doesn't count for much today as peripherals that can use either of these two features are few and far between. Support for these two features is still not native to the chipset. Support for these features are provided by a PCI-Express x4 bridge chip. The Marvell 9123 bridge chip to be exact. SATA 6G support comes from the Marvell 88SE6111 chip and USB 3.0 support comes from an NEC USB 3.0 host controller supporting two ports.
Crossfire/CrossfireX/SLI/Quad-SLI multi-GPU solutions are supported, but only with LGA1156 CPUs that do not have integrated graphics solutions. This is spelled out very clearly on ASUS' website, but it is not clear on the motherboard box. Audio is provided by an 8-channel Azalia codec. The board supports 6 SATA 3G ports, 2 SATA 6G ports, 2 eSATA ports, 1 PATA/EIDE port, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, and IEEE1394a. The list of features doesn't stop there. ASUS' Express Gate feature is supported, as is their Fan Xpert technology, Crashfree BIOS 3, Stack Cool 3, CPU Level Up, TurboV EVO, CPU Level Up, T.Probe, ASUS EPU, and Auto Tuning. Some features like "Fan Xpert" are little more than clever names for rather common place features. Others are not. Stack Cool 3 for example refers to extra layers of material which are designed to keep the area around the CPU socket cooler. Other boards out there use similar, but slightly different techniques to accomplish the same thing. ASUS' Express Gate is an example of a feature that is truly unique to ASUS boards. This feature allows for internet connectivity and some basic system functionality through a proprietary OS embedded into the system board.
Following industry trends, the P7H57D-V EVO only requires a few components to create a fully functional machine. The required components are: LGA1156 CPU, DDR 3 memory, power supply, drives and a video card. With a Core i3 5xx or Core i5 6xx series CPU, a video card is not required. ASUS Integrated the following components into the P7H57D-V EVO; 6 SATA 3G ports, 1 eSATA port, 2 SATA 6G ports, 8 USB 2.2/1.1 ports (4 ports on the backplane, and 4 ports available via 2 headers supporting 2 ports each), 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 IEEE1394 ports (1 via header, 1 via backplane), 1 gigabit Ethernet port, six-mini headphone jacks, 1 optical output, 1 PS/2 keyboard port. 1 D-SUB (VGA) port, 1 HDMI port, and 1 DVI port.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Specifications Overview:
Packaging
Packaging is run of the mill. The board is secured for shipping inside a cardboard box with foam on the bottom, in an anti-static bag. The board is also held in place by folded cardboard in a specific shape to keep it from moving. The board arrived in perfect condition. Inside the box we have a user's manual, SATA cables, IDE cable, rear I/O bracket, SLI bridge, Q-Connectors, I/O shield, and a driver's disk. Our board didn't come with the driver disk as it was an earlier sample.
Board Layout
The layout of the P7H57D-V EVO is outstanding. I really have almost nothing to complain about. Slots and header placement are well thought out. Right angled SATA headers were used for the most part. ASUS also chose their new style memory slots which allow for memory installation when a larger video card is installed. All polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors were used with the P7H57D-V EVO. PCB revision 1.03GX was used for testing.
The CPU socket area is without any major flaws or obstructions. I was able to test fit a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT without any problems. MOSFET heat sinks have a fairly low profile which helps.
The P7H57D-V EVO has four DIMM slots that have locking tabs on the right side of the board only. The memory modules are inserted into the left side at an angle, and rotated down. At which point they can be locked down in a more traditional fashion. These have the benefit of making installation easier when a video card is installed as you only have to manipulate locking tabs on one side of the slot. 16GB of RAM is supported at speeds of up to DDR3 2133MHz through overclocking.
Like the P55 Express chipset before it, the H57 is a unified design. The features of the north and south bridges that are not integrated into the CPU are built into one chip. It resides where the south bridge traditionally is located on older designs. The blue right angled SATA ports are SATA 3G ports integrated into the H57 chipset. The white ports along the left side (or bottom edge depending on how you look at it) of the board are the SATA 6G ports which are actually connected to the Marvell 88SE6111 controller. The cooling system for the chipset is nothing more than a flat aluminum heat sink with a pretty cover on it. The design is low profile so it doesn't block the installation of graphics cards or other longer peripheral cards in either PCI-Express x16 slot.
The P7H57D-V EVO has an excellent slot configuration. There is a PCI-Express x1 slot at the top which isn't blocked by anything. The PCI-Express x16 slots are also clear of obstructions. In any supported graphics card configuration there are always at least one legacy PCI slot and one PCI-Express x1 slot left over. In a multi-GPU configuration each PCI-Express slot operates with 8 lanes of bandwidth. Basically ASUS did their homework here and made things ideal for almost everyone who would use this board.
The P7H57D-V EVO's back plane is rather crowded. It is chock-full of features. 1 PS/2 keyboard port, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 eSATA port, 1 IEEE1394a port, 1 RJ-45 LAN port, 1 optical out, 6 mini-stereo jacks for audio output, 1 D-SUB or VGA connector, a DVI port and finally an HDMI port.