Intel H67 Boards

[Uberjava]

Greetings,

Any opinions on H67 (particularly DH67BL) boards?

I'm building a i7 2600k system mainly for video/photo editing. Very limited gaming (my PC gaming days seem to be over). The SB video coding power is of key interest to me, so I am going the H67 route. I'll use the IGP first and add a discrete GPU later (Nvidia Cuda), if needed.

I'm not interested in overclocking. I also intend to use an SSD and HD combo for storage.

After research (not much H67 reviews), I'm leaning toward the Intel boards mainly for the intel lan chipset (all others seem to have realtek) and "compatibility" (seem to be some Asus issues). Unless I missing something, the main downside is one less SATA connection and maybe one less PCIe connection (not interested in SLI).

Thoughts?

I haven't used intel boards before. I used Asus/MSI in the past. Any limitations of Intel boards (bios, stability)?

Thanks in advance for advice.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Looks like a decent board, albeit very simple. Nothing wrong with that though. Here's a good review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Intel_DH67BL_Asus_P8H67-M_EVO_H67_Motherboards

Something to keep in mind, the front fan header is in a bit of an inconvenient place at the top of the board. You might need an extension cable depending on your case.

H67 has almost no bios options, I don't really see what could be limited, since there's not much to begin with.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I considered that board on my new Sandy Bridge build (i-2500). I had an Intel board on my previous build and had no complaints. It had few overclocking options, but I did not care about that. I think Intel boards are made by Foxconn.

I think the DH67BL is micro ATX, with eSata, integrated audio, and I think 1 PCI slot?

I ended up buying a Gigabyte H67A-UD3H. It is full ATX, with 3 PCI slots, integrated audio, and eSATA.

My original plan was to buy the Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H micro ATX board instead of the Intel you are looking at, only because I wanted to try a Gigabyte board.

However, when I actually went to place the order at New Egg, I found that the Gigabyte full ATX board was available as part of a combo deal with the processor that made it $10 cheaper than the Gigabyte micro ATX. So I went with full ATX.

I generally wouldn't have any qualms about your Intel choice. I have not heard any bad things about them, but of course you can always get a bad example with any brand.

Incidentally--I am finding the stock Intel heatsink to be very quiet under normal operation. I thought I might have to replace it due to noise reasons, but I don't think I will need to after a couple of days of operation so far.

You might consider a 2600 rather than the 2600K if you are not overclocking.

 

[jacktesterson]

Go with 2600

I wouldn't buy a board based on realtek vs intel LAN ports. The truth is in real everyday performance the realtek is fine for 95% of people.

That being said i bought a intel p67 board recently and it worked great. It was built by foxconn.

 

[Uberjava]

Looks like a decent board, albeit very simple. Nothing wrong with that though. Here's a good review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Intel_DH67BL_Asus_P8H67-M_EVO_H67_Motherboards

Something to keep in mind, the front fan header is in a bit of an inconvenient place at the top of the board. You might need an extension cable depending on your case.

H67 has almost no bios options, I don't really see what could be limited, since there's not much to begin with.

Thanks.

Great review article. I'm intrigued by Asus' bios gui, but given the limited bios options with H67, may not be useful. But sure looks nice.

 

[coffeejunkee]

I ended up buying a Gigabyte H67A-UD3H. It is full ATX, with 3 PCI slots, integrated audio, and eSATA.

My original plan was to buy the Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H micro ATX board instead of the Intel you are looking at, only because I wanted to try a Gigabyte board.

However, when I actually went to place the order at New Egg, I found that the Gigabyte full ATX board was available as part of a combo deal with the processor that made it $10 cheaper than the Gigabyte micro ATX. So I went with full ATX.

Personally I would prefer mATX unless you really need the expansion slots. The mATX boards are considerably less energy hungry, so that 10$ saving could soon be added to your powerbill. Intel boards use less power than Gigabyte boards as well.

I don't really understand the heavy powercircuitry on some H67 boards. You can't overclock anyway so the only thing those extra phases do is waste power.

I would also consider the DH67GD for 5$ more. It's the same board except it has hdmi and displayport. Might come in handy for use as a htpc.

Thanks.

Great review article. I'm intrigued by Asus' bios gui, but given the limited bios options with H67, may not be useful. But sure looks nice.

Yes, H67 is a no-tinkering platform. The Asus uefi is without a doubt the best looking of the bunch, but I wouldn't expect spending a lot of time in there. If going Asus I wouldn't choose the EVO btw, there's no real advantage over the Pro. I like the oldschool bios myself, but that's just me.

 

[Uberjava]

I ended up buying a Gigabyte H67A-UD3H. It is full ATX, with 3 PCI slots, integrated audio, and eSATA.

I actually started with that board but during my research I found an article on gigabyte boards (not H67) saying it was nice to see them using Intel LAN chips vs. Realtek, So, thats when I went on the Intel board search.

My original plan was to buy the Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H micro ATX board instead of the Intel you are looking at, only because I wanted to try a Gigabyte board.

Incidentally--I am finding the stock Intel heatsink to be very quiet under normal operation. I thought I might have to replace it due to noise reasons, but I don't think I will need to after a couple of days of operation so far.

Great to know. I haven't even started researching cooler option. Stock is an easy answer.

You might consider a 2600 rather than the 2600K if you are not overclocking.

I understand the lack of OC options on H67, but I was looking at the 2600k vs 2600 for the higher quality IGP (HD3000 vs HD2000). I realize that the 3d graphic capability is weak in general, but I'm interested in leveraging the SB encoding power. From what I read SB is faster/better than a Cuda based discrete card option. If that assumption is bust, than I can always get a Cuda board later. Make sense?

 

[Uberjava]

Go with 2600

I wouldn't buy a board based on realtek vs intel LAN ports. The truth is in real everyday performance the realtek is fine for 95% of people.

That being said i bought a intel p67 board recently and it worked great. It was built by foxconn.

Thanks. Great to know about the lan chipset. Per above, I stumbled across an article saying it was nice that a gigabyte board had Intel vs Realtek, but I could never find detailed comparisons between the chipset. Given Realtek is in almost every board (except Intel) in the H67 lineup, that opens up options.