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- Date:
- Monday , May 03, 2010
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
GIGABYTE H55M-USB3 Motherboard Review
GIGABYTE's newest Micro- ATX release, the H55M-USB3, packs a good mix of features and performance in a small package. Will this mighty might be able to hang with the big boys though?
BIOS
GIGABYTE decided to pair the H55M-USB3 board with a Phoenix AWARD based BIOS. Version F6 of the BIOS is shown below. Note that all screens show the advanced options, which become visible after keying in the Ctrl-F1 command from the top level menu. (We think it is idiotic to still hide these features.)
The MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) menu houses the board's performance related settings in a series of submenus. The top level menu contains various information on the current BIOS version, board bus and device frequencies, voltages, and temperatures.
The M.I.T. Current Status submenu contains system information type data, with bus and device speeds broken down on a per core basis for the CPU and a per channel basis for the in use memory modules.
The Advanced Frequency Settings submenu contains settings for controlling the board bus and device speeds. The CPU Clock Ratio setting configures the CPU base multiplier, with a MAX+1 multiplier configurable through this setting without the need for enabling the Intel Turbo Mode setting. The CPU speed is determined by multiplying the CPU Clock Ratio and BCLK Frequency(Mhz) settings. The QPI Clock Ratio configures the QuickPath Interconnect bus speed through the use of multipliers, with a maximum multiplier setting of x36 available. The actual speed of the QuickPath Interconnect bus can be found by multiplying the QPI Clock Ratio and BCLK Frequency(MHz) settings. Note that the CPU, QuickPath Interconnect bus and Uncore bus speeds are shown as display settings underneath their respective multiplier settings. The Uncore frequency cannot be configured unfortunately. The board's Base Clock frequency is set via the BCLK Frequency(MHz) option, with a 600MHz maximum speed setting. The Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P) setting controls BIOS assisted advanced memory controller configuration. The listed XMP profiles set memory speed, timing, and voltage settings automatically based on preconfigured manufacturer recommended operating parameters. The system memory speed is determined by the multiplier setting housed in the System Memory Multiplier (SPD) setting with a 10x multiplier allowable. The memory speed is shown as a display only setting beneath the setting, with the speed itself obtained by multiplying the System Memory Multiplier (SPD) and BCLK Frequency(MHz) settings. The PCI Express bus frequency can be set to a maximum speed of 150MHz via the setting with the same name.
The Advanced CPU Core Features submenu houses the internal CPU settings, including: Intel Turbo Boost, CPU core disabling, enhanced Halt state support, Intel C-state support, CPU Thermal Monitor support, and Intel SpeedStep (CPU EIST Function). Enabling the Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech. setting forces the CPU to a MAX+1 multiplier setting, regardless of the value set for the CPU Clock Ratio setting in the MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) menu.
The Advanced Memory Settings submenu contains a series of options and submenus for configuring the board memory related settings. The Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P) setting controls BIOS assisted advanced memory controller configuration. The listed XMP profiles set memory speed, timing, and voltage settings automatically based on preconfigured manufacturer recommended operating parameters. The system memory speed is determined by the multiplier setting housed in the System Memory Multiplier (SPD) setting with a 10x multiplier allowable. The memory speed is shown as a display only setting beneath the setting, with the speed itself obtained by multiplying the System Memory Multiplier (SPD) and BCLK Frequency(MHz) settings. The Performance Enhance option configures internal memory controller related performance settings, with the Extreme option giving the highest performance. Setting the DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) option to Expert enables user configuration of the memory timing settings. The channel interleaving and bank interleaving settings are the only two memory timing related settings available in this top level menu. The other memory timing settings are housed in channel specific submenus.
The base memory timing settings are configured through the channel specific Channel A/B Timing Settings submenus. The folowing memory timing settings are configurable via this submenu: CAS latency; RAS to CAS delay (tRCD); RAS precharge delay (tRP); active to precharge delay (tRAS); row cycle delay (tRC); RAS to RAS delay (tRRD); write to read delay (tWTR); write recovery delay (tWR); write latency (tWL); row refresh cycle delay (tRFC); read to precharge delay (tRTP); four activate window delay (tFAW); command rate; back to back CAS delay (B2B CAS Delay); and round trip latency.
The inter-module timing settings are configured via the channel specific Channel A/B Turnaround settings submenu, with the following available: read to read delay and write to write delay. Note that these settings are broken down in to three categories: different DIMM modules; same memory chip placement between modules (On the Same Rank); and different memory chip placement between modules (Different Ranks).
The board's voltage settings are contained within the Advanced Voltage Settings submenu. The Load-Line Calibration setting controls the level of the BIOS’s oversight of the CPU vDroop voltage with the option of enable or disable only. The CPU Vcore option sets the CPU base voltage, with a 1.90V maximum. The QPI voltage, set via the QPI/Vtt Voltage setting, can be maxed at 1.49V. The H55 chipset voltage is configured using the PCH Core setting, with a 1.50V maximum. The CPU PLLsetting controls the power supplied to the CPU power regulation circuitry, with a 2.54V maximum. The DRAM Voltage setting, used for the system memory voltage, can be set to a 2.60V ceiling. The memory termination voltage has a maximum setting of 1.705V. The channel specific data and address reference voltages can be set to a 2.06V maximum each.
The Miscellaneous Settings submenu contains CPU specific settings for Isochronous support and Virtualization Technology support.
The Advance BIOS Features menu contains all system initialization and boot related settings, including those related to boot device access order. The Hard Drive Boot Priority submenu lists the system boot device access order, with properly detected USB 2.0 devices listed as viable devices from the pull down menu.
The Integrated Peripherals menu houses the configuration options for the board's integrated devices, including the onboard USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, the Realtek LAN controller, the H55 SATA controller, the GIGABYTE RAID controller, and the Realtek HD audio controller. While the H55 chipset does not support RAID, the H55's SATA 2 and e-SATA ports can be configured for standalone IDE or AHCI operation through the PCH SATA Control Mode setting. The GIGABYTE controller is enabled using the Onboard SATA/IDE Device setting. The controller's operating mode is configured though the Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode setting. The GIGABTE RAID boot BIOS shows with this option set to RAID/IDE. Note that only the GIGABYTE controller's SATA 2 ports are RAID enabled.
The PCI Health Status menu displays real-time statistics on all BIOS monitored fan speeds, system temperatures, and board voltages. Temperature based dynamic control can be configured for the CPU fan header as well.
The Q-Flash utility runs when the F8 function key is pressed. This utility allows for direct BIOS updating and archiving. The current BIOS can be archived to a named file on an attached USB drive, or can be updated from a file on an attached USB drive.
The BIOS allows for storage and retrieval of up to 8 profiles. The BIOS profile save menu is accessed by pressing the F11 key from the main menu, with the option of creating up to 8 profiles as well as the capability to save to an attached drive device including attached USB type devices.
The BIOS profile load menu is accessed by pressing the F12 key from the main menu. The load menu allows for loading of any previously saved BIOS profiles, as well as loading a profile from an attached drive device including attached USB type devices.