P7H57D-V EVO
ASUS provided us with a production H57 chipset-based motherboard littered with goodies.
The P7H57D-V EVO takes in the higher-specification chipset and then throws in a few more features into the mix.
Removed of the burden imposed by having a separate northbridge toting integrated graphics, the layout is spacious on this full-size ATX board.
Being an LGA1156 motherboard first and foremost, it supports all processors based on this form factor, irrespective of whether they have integrated graphics or not.
There's a couple of SATA 6Gbps ports, interfacing with a PLX bridge chip, in addition to the stock six SATA 3Gbps. USB 3.0 makes an appearance, driven by the ubiquitious NEC controller that we've seen of late.
Adding in a second (physical) PCIe x16 port and providing both dual-card CrossFireX and SLI compatibility, ASUS breaks down the CPU's x16 lanes into two x8.
An additional three x1 PCIe slots and a couple of PCIc should keep most users happy.
As with the Intel Tom Cove board, there's HDMI, single-link DVI, and legacy VGA. Note the USB connectors for v3.0 of the protocol? It's good to see FireWire and eSATA, too.
We expect the P7H57D-V EVO to etail for around £85, and it should be available imminently.
