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 Layout
Most of what you need is accessible, although you’ll need a case that has long leads for front panel switches as the front panel connector is placed in the top left corner of the board. BIOS jumper access gets a bit tricky once you plug in a few SATA cables and plug leads into surrounding connectors, the ideal place for the BIOS jumper would have been on the rear I/O panel.
Tall heatsinks are out because the CPU socket is placed very close to the DIMM slots and PCIe connector. That’s not a huge kicker though; CPU Vcore is supplied by a 3 phase circuit using small vertically mounted FETs, shattering any dreams of super-duper overclocks.
Moving over to the back, the CPU socket area is crowded with components. Intel definitely have stock heatsinks in mind as there’s no clearance for coolers that need backplates.
Zotac managed to cram 10 USB ports onto the rear I/O panel of their H55 board, Intel only supply six (the remaining six are available via onboard headers only). There are no PS/2 and VGA out ports either; space could certainly have been utilized better. As we mentioned above, the BIOS jumper should have been placed here for easy access.
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DanNeely - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Aren't benchmark numbers for CPUs almost always lower than reported TDPs? Intel/etc have to design for peak theoretical power draws even if they're extremely unlikely in real life. The intel burntest utility will run your CPU hotter and draw more power than any "normal" CPU benchmarks because it's designed to run everything at the highest power load possible.deruberhanyok - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
It would be great if you all could look into testing with less... beefy power supplies, though. I think a lot of people (myself included) would be interested to see the power draw in a more "realistic" setup.For example, Antec's ISK 300-65 with a 65W power supply, or 300-150 with a 150W power supply, are a much more likely configuration than a system with a 610W PSU (as used in the recent Zotac H55 ITX article) or a 950W PSU (as used in this article). And the difference in power supply could make for a noticeable difference in idle/load numbers.
For low-power purposes, perhaps the boards could also be tested with low power memory modules (1.35v instead of 1.5v / 1.65v) and 2.5" hard drives (as many ITX enclosures may not have space for a 3.5" hard drive).
Anyways, these are just a few suggestions that I thought would help make the information presented here more practical. Feel free to ignore them. :)
Loving these articles on ITX boards, keep 'em coming!
FATCamaro - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
Yeah 600W PSU is crazy. As well there is no mention of stability or quirks versus the other H55/57 boards tested.For those looking for virtualization intel has a Q57 board with VT-d support with an i5 or i7 processor.
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
Hi,Point taken on the PSU. For a rundown of stability and quirks of the other boards used check out these articles:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3732">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3732
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3748">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3748
later
Raja
DanNeely - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
I'd like to second this request. PSU efficiency drops off at the low and high ends of their output ranges. Optimal levels are generally around 50% of max and while performance doesn't suffer much in the 20-80% load.If you're concerned about noise you generally want to avoid going above about 70% with normal desktop PSUs to keep the fan spinning at idle. I'm not sure if the fan noise thresholds are true of the low power models designed for mini-itx systems with onboard gfx or not.
JonnyDough - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
I concur with your post. Realistic PSU makes a huge difference.Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Thanks, we're working on it...GeorgeH - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
DH57JG, DH57G, and a DH55JG; either you’re reviewing 3 different boards or breaking a NDA. Hopefully the latter, as I’d really like to see a cheaper H55 option. ;)gtrgtgt - Sunday, March 7, 2010 - link
http://www.ccshoper.com">http://www.ccshoper.com
Rajinder Gill - Monday, March 1, 2010 - link
Sorry about that - fixed..