14 DAY TRIAL // Less known in the retail channel, J&W (Jie Wei) has just added a new LGA 1155 motherboard, based on the Intel H61 Express chipset, to its lineup which should cater to the needs of users who want to build a budget Sandy Bridge desktop system.
The motherboard is actually called the H61M-D3 and it uses the B3 revision of the H61 Express chipset, the most basic LGA 1155 PCH manufactured by Intel.
This was specially developed in order to be used with the company's upcoming Pentium processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture that will be available for as low as $64 US.
Moving back to the J&W's creation, this uses the micro-ATX form factor and is powered by a 3+1+1 phase VRM that is covered by a low-profile aluminum heatsink.
Just below the CPU socket, we find two DIMM slots, which can support a maximum of 8GB of DDR3-1333 memory, and the board also packs a PCI Express x16 slot, two PCI Express x1 slots and a legacy PCI (32bit) slot.
Storage is provided by four SATA 3Gbps ports that are driven by the H61 chipset.
Taking a look at the rear I/O bracket, it becomes clear that this motherboard was designed to be used in budget systems as it features only the most basic of connectors.
This includes four USB 2.0 ports, two PS/2 ports, D-Sub, DVI and HDMI video outputs, Ethernet connectivity as well as 5.1-channel audio.
The bundle is also extremely basic as it only includes two SATA cables and a I/O shield, outside of the usual manuals and driver DVD.
The J&W H61M-D3 motherboard is available for purchase in China for 399 Yuan which translates into about $61 US. Right now, we don't now if the board will make it into Europe or the Americas. (via Expreview)