With Sandy Bridge in a state of hiatus for the next couple of months, a specific sector of our audience may decide to opt for the previous-generation platform which is now thoroughly tried and tested. These people are more likely to be building a media system which doesn’t require all the processing grunt that Sandy Bridge has to offer.
Foxconn have sent us their H55MX-S motherboard to test which features an Intel H55 chipset and adopts a compact Micro-ATX form factor. Both of these features make it ideal for a mid-size HTPC as the Intel H55 chipset features integrated graphics and the Micro-ATX form factor provides a compromise between size and features.
Specification
CPU | Supporst Intel Socket LGA1156 processors Intel Core i7, i5 and i3 |
Chipset | Intel H55 |
Memory | -2x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets -Supports up to 8GB of memory -Dual channel DDR3 1333/1066MHz |
LAN | Realtek 10/100/1000Mb/s LAN chip |
Expansion Slots | -1x PCI Express x16 slots -1x PCI Express x4 slots -2x PCI slot |
Onboard SATA |
-6x SATA connectors -300MB/s transfer rate |
I/O (back panel) | -1x PS/2 port -1x Serial port -6x USB2.0 connectors -1x DVI-I port -1x HDMI port -1x Optical S/PDIF output port -1x RJ-45 LAN port -8-channel Audio Ports |
Form Factor | Micro ATX |
Yeah that doesnt look to be that good. the board layout, sata ports etc are badly designed. Fair score.
I dont think overclocking is that big a deal on a product like this, but there are weaknesses in quite a few other areas which are well noted.
Seems ok for a basic media center, but the pricing is putting it against better products.
Foxconn make a lot of products for other companies but this isn’t one of their best, thats a cert.
Poor value for money for such a stripped out board.
If they dropped the price to 50 quid then it would make more sense.
The bios needs an overhaul. its silly for them to offer overclocking in software and not in the bios.
This harware is OK for a media PC because you don’t need Sandy Bridge? What about transcoding? A media PC needs Sandy Bridge the most, for transcoding and reduced power dissipation. HD media streaming is actually very challenging for hardware.
aaaah i cant make my xfx 5830 work on this motherboard, my graphic card is fine id tested on my friend motherboard and it work perfect, i hate this motherboard
what bios version is used on this test?