Intel DH57JG “Jet Geyser” - Intel's First Mini-ITX H57
by Rajinder Gill on March 1, 2010 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Board Features
Intel’s MSRP for the DH57JG is set around $125; the board should be in retail channels within a couple of weeks.
| Intel DH57JG | |
| Market Segment |
General Use/HTPC
|
| CPU Interface |
LGA-1156
|
| CPU Support |
LGA-1156 i3/i5 Pentium/Clarkdale Series of Processors Only
|
| Chipset |
Intel H57 Express Chipset
|
| BCLK Speeds |
133-240MHz in 1MHz increments
|
| DDR3 Memory Speed |
800, 1067, 1333 Frequency Ratios
|
| Core Voltage |
Fixed at Stock Processor VID
|
| CPU Vdroop Compensation |
N/A
|
| CPU Clock Multiplier |
Stock Multiplier or Stock Multiplier with Turbo Only for Clarkdale. Multiplier Control available for Lynnfield Only.
|
| DRAM Voltage (DDR3) |
Auto, 1.20V - 1.70V in 0.05V increments (1.50V base)
|
| DRAM Timing Control |
tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS
|
| DRAM Command Rate |
N/A
|
| PCH Voltage |
N/A
|
| CPU VTT (Uncore) Voltage |
1.1V - 1.25V in 0.05V increments
|
| CPU PLL Voltage |
N/A
|
| Memory Slots |
Two 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Slots
|
|
Dual-Channel Configuration
|
|
|
Regular Unbuffered DDR3 Memory to 8GB Total
|
|
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe X16 Slot
|
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
|
| Onboard USB 2.0 |
12 USB 2.0 ports (6) I/O Panel, 6 via brackets
|
| Onboard LAN |
Intel 82578DC X1 (PCIe)
|
| Onboard Audio |
Realtek ALC889 High Definition Audio Codec, 7.1 Channel
|
| Power Connectors |
ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EPS 12V
|
| I/O Panel |
1 x RJ45
|
|
6 x USB 2.0/1.1 (1 x eSATA Combo)
|
|
|
1 x Optical Toslink
|
|
|
6 Audio I/O Jacks
|
|
| Other Onboard Connectors |
1 x Serial, 1 x S/PDIF, 1 x FPA, 1 x FP Connector, 3 x USB Headers (6 ports supported)
|
| Fan Headers |
1 CPU + 1 Additional Header (Both 4-pin)
|
| Fan Control |
Temperature related fan control offered (2 settings) - controls both headers (adjusts 4-pin fans only) - via BIOS only
|
| Package Contents |
SATA Cable x 2, I/O Panel x 1, User Manual, Driver DVD
|
| Board/BIOS Revisions Used |
Board Rev: N/A, BIOS Version: 0217
|
| Warranty |
3 Year Standard
|
The only notable component choice on the DH57JG is the Intel 82578DC NIC, rather than the standard Realtek offering included by most vendors at this price point. Realtek is not absent from Intel’s choices altogether though, the ALC889 codec is used to supply 7.1 HD audio. Unfortunately, Intel have not licensed any Dolby upscaling features like you find on Gigabyte's H55/H57 m-ATX boards, which is a bit of a kicker.
Included with the board you get the following peripherals/items:
- 2 X SATA cables
- 1 X I/O backplate
- 1 X User manual
- 1 X Driver CD
We’d have preferred the addition of a couple of extra SATA cables seeing as Intel have opted to use the H57 chipset, which supports RAID.
There’s nothing exciting on the software CD either; it contains system drivers and Intel’s “Silent Install” GUI only. Silent Install is included to make driver installation quick and easy, you just tick the drivers you want, provide the software with your Windows login (if need be) and leave the machine alone for the rest of the installation process.
BIOS
BIOS options for overclocking are rather limited, although some of the limitations seem to fit the mini-ITX form factor well based upon what we’ve seen to date. Voltage control is on offer for CPU VTT and VDIMM only, there’s no option to change processor Vcore on tap. We understand the decision to omit voltage increases for Vcore, but feel that Intel should have included a small selection of under-voltage options for ulta low power consumption lovers. On that subject, multiplier ratio control is also absent for Clarkdale CPU's when using the current public BIOS. Although Lynnfield CPU's do get multiplier change options by disabling SpeedStep - we think Intel should allow multiplier changes on the Clarkdale's too.
The only other suggestion we have is for the performance section of Intel’s BIOS; the CPU VTT and VDIMM options should be moved from the advanced menu of the DRAM timing page so that you don’t have to access memory timings just to set voltages.
If you do push BCLK too far the BIOS watchdog will attempt to recover and boot into safe mode allowing you to change any offending settings. There were a couple of instances where we pushed BCLK past 150 MHz and the board got caught in an endless reboot loop that could only be cleared by setting the BIOS jumper to safe-mode. Trouble is that it can be a little fiddly getting to the jumper in a cramped PC case so it would have been better for Intel to place the jumper on the rear I/O panel for ease of use.
Fan control is automatic and varies according to CPU core temperature. You get two options to control the speed ramp and damping slope which can be set to less/more aggressive to suit the efficiency of your heatsink . The system fan header speed is also controlled by CPU temperature, but you’ll need a 4 pin PWM fan to take advantage of this feature; using a 3-pin fan results in what appears to be a fixed speed operation.
BIOS flashing is made very easy by Intel; a built in flash routine is included in the BIOS that can be used with USB pen drives or HDD’s. If you head over to the Intel support site, you get no fewer than four different flashing options, ranging from burning a CD image to downloading an executable file that instigates a BIOS flash from Windows. Unlike other OS level flashing routines though, Intel’s utility reboots the motherboard and automatically flashes the BIOS outside the operating system – it’s very slick.
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34 Comments
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hansblix - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Agreed. I think I'm on the Mini-ITX bandwagon now. A tiny, quiet, efficient yet reasonably powerful gaming system would be a fun project.MadMan007 - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
I think it would be neat if Intel came out with an 'extreme' m-ITX motherboard although they might have to omit the glowing skull. More robust components and options for overclocking might make it a superior choice to other mITX motherboard for SFF enthusiasts. It's nice that Intel at least properly implements VRM cyrrent protection, it is rather sad that there were many insteances of blown VRMs on some P55 boards.MadMan007 - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
You guys need to check that spec chart and take a look at the actual mobo. I only see 4 internal SATA and one eSATA, no coax S/PDIF on the I/O panel (a two-pin header is mentioned separately)Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Sorry, I've updated the table...JonnyDough - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Any nice ITX gaming build articles coming out any time Raj? I'd like to see what awesome/cheap kind of tiny LAN party box I can get with a nice single slot card to run modern FPS. Do it under $1K for sure if possible.i.e. (possibly?)
XFX single slot 5670
Any solid, non-OCable ITX board is fine as long as it is good value and has good location of PCI-E x16 slot etc. (USB 3.0 if/when possible and either Intel or AMD is fine)
4GB of ram (8GB if possible on two slots provided you find an excellent value ram set on the cheap)
Case, preferrably black with solid PSU (or even better if you can fit a full modular one in with proper capabilities)
Periphrals not required in the build, but it would be nice to see the OS added into the system, as Windows is required for LAN parties. Nobody hosts Linux gaming parties around here that I'm aware of.
Might also make mention of a solid gigabyte switch like the 8port Rosewill one listed on Newegg for $29 (currently), and the free games available like EA's recent free release of a good portion of the C&C franchise series.
Let's get gaming!
Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Hi JD,I'll pass on the request, I think we should have someone to cover cases and the like onboard soon.
regards
Raja
Murst - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
I'm currently looking for a Micro ITX case to replace my Atom board in an Acer Easystore. I really like how the Easystore looks and how easy it is to add/remove drives, but the Atom isn't capable of handling software like PlayOn, and I want to use the EasyStore for streaming to my PS3.This board would be a pretty good fit (6 SATA is great- I only need 4, but a lot of mini ITX don't even have 4). However, what I don't want is a power hungy processor, and even the i3 is a 73W, which seems rather high.
Hopefully Intel will come out with some lower power 1156 processors. Either that, or a Mini ITX board comes out with support for the mobile i3/i5/i7 processors. Actually, I really don't understand why no one sells mini ITX w/ mobile processor sockets. That would be ideal for really small HTPC or Home Server setups.
strikeback03 - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
There were mini-ITX boards for previous generation mobile processors (though they were expensive), I imagine there will be for current generation ones as well at some point.deruberhanyok - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Murst,You might want to check out SPCR's i5-661 article. Thought the i3 processors are given a 73W rating, actual power draw is much lower than that.
In their tests, playback of an h264 blu-ray disc showed power use of 43W DC. Full system with CPU and GPU at load didn't even hit 70W. And that's with the i5-661, which would draw more power than a regular i3 due to its increased CPU and GPU clock:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1013-page4.ht...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1013-page4.ht...
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1013-page5.ht...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1013-page5.ht...
They are already lower power than advertised. I think the i3 series could have been listed as 60W or even lower and still have had plenty of headroom in the power rating.
This is, incidentally, one of the reasons I made the suggestion of testing in a more realistic system configuration than the test setup used here.
MadMan007 - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
TDP doesn't mean power draw and was enver meant to imply power draw anyway so they aren't 'rated' to draw that much power in the first place. (Sorry, it's just one of my pet peeves when people equate TDP to power draw.)