14 DAY TRIAL // With the Sandy Bridge CPU line from Intel coming in fast, makers of motherboards have started to hand out photos and full description of their LGA 1155 motherboards, and ASRock has just done this very thing.
ASRock brought out no less than eight mainboards based on the LGA 1155 socket, four of them being aimed at the entry level and mainstream markets, while the other four are more powerful, going as high as the enthusiast segment.
The four less mighty platforms are based on the Intel H67 chipset and are expected to sell in the largest number, being more affordable (though pricing details do not exist on any of them).
The H67M GE-HT is the most feature-packed of this group, with a 6-phase VRM, four dual-channel DDR3 memory slots, a pair of PCI-E x1 ports and a PCI-E 2.0 port.
This board also features SATA 6 Gbps, DVI, D-Sub, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort as part of the Intel Flexible Display Interface (FDI), plus four USB 3.0 ports (2 external, 2 internal) and 8-channel HD audio, eSATA and Gigabit Ethernet, among other things.
The H67M GE has partially similar specs as the H67M GH-HT, but has no VRM heatsinks and only 2 USB 3.0 ports (lacks internal ones).
The H67M is toned down even further, having a narrower PCB than the other two and just one pair of DDR3 slots.
The last of these H67-based boards is the H67 DE3, an ATX board similar to the H67M GE but with more expansion slots (one PCI Express 2.0, two PCI and one PCI-E x1).
The P67-based series has, as already mentioned, four members, the best of which is the P67 Extreme 6.
This board has six SATA 6 Gbps ports, three PCI Express x16 slots, an 18-phase VRAM and six USB 3.0 ports (four external, two internal).
The second board is the P67 Extreme4 and has 'only' four SATA 6 Gbps ports and four USB 3.0 ports (just two external ones), among other things.
Then there is the P67 Pro3, which is more of a mainstream platform than a high-end one, with a pair of SATA 6 Gbps connectors, a pair of USB 3.0, one PCI Express x16, three Pci Express x1 and three PCI,.
The 10-phase VRM that powers the CPU is the more impressive quality of this model.
Finally, the P67 Pro has no USB 3.0, although it retains the SATA 6 Gbps, and uses just a 4+1 phase CPU VRM, the rest of the specifications being identical to those of the Pro3.
