First exp beyond Abit: Gigabyte H55-USB3

[BarkingGhostar]

So, I have six working computers that are used all built by me using Abit motherboards and Intel processors. I have three others that are permanently retired. I was aware of, and saddened by Abit's departure from the motherboard vendor market, but I moved on.

Last weekend I bought a Gigabyte motherboard (Giga-newbie), specifically the H55-USB3 in full ATX form. I installed a Core i3 retail package, some 8GB of OCZ 1600 RAM, mounted it into the Antec Sonata III 500 case, wired it up and then tried to power it on.

There was a blip of power and then nothing. The CPU fan even spun up for a fraction of one second. The repeated. The repeated. The repeated. Etc. I read the manual where it explained the 2x4 power connectors (2 4-pin 12v) that were to be used as an additional power supply if using the Intel Extreme Edition processors (130W).

Strange, I wasn't meeting the condition, but simply double-checking my handy work thus far didn't get me anywhere. So, I connected as IF I had an Extreme Edition CPU and behold ... a motherboard that will actually power up.

Now to plug the thing into a monitor and see if I can POST. One thing I noticed it the lack of USB standby power. This makes for using USB KBM questionable, no?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Windows 7 Professional installed just fine. I then installed the LG Supermulti software, which included the Cyberlink Blu-ray software. Without a single update or service pack (never had it connected to the Internet) the computer played Blu-ray movies just fine.

The one thing I miss is the Intel MATRIX Storage feature that is on my Abit motherboards. Instead of a BIOS level treatise of RAID I must install by floppy separate drivers during the initial Windows install process. I'll have to try this under another install and see if the W7 installer will read from a USB thumb drive as USB floppy, CDROM, and HDD are supported by the bios. Not holding my breadth though.