Asus P7H57D-V EVO review

The removal of graphics processing from the board also splits the audio output. There’s a Realtek audio chip to handle analogue audio output, with up to 7.1 discrete channels, an optical S/PDIF and DTS Surround Sensation for virtual surround. In addition you can stream audio via the HDMI output, with the graphics processor doing the work here, and providing support for HD audio formats, such as Dolby True HD – something not support by previous motherboards with HDMI outputs.

The H57 chipset has six SATA 300 ports for connecting storage devices. These share a controller, which supports RAID modes 0,1, 5 and 10. More interestingly, a second controller chip support up to two SATAIII disks. This new standard should provide far faster access to your data, but you’ll need to invest in an SSD to see the benefits.

In addition, this board also supports USB3, with two ports on the rear for fast external storage devices (such as the Buffalo DriveStation USB 3.0 1TB). There are also four standard USB ports, plus eSATA and FireWire interfaces.

Asus has loaded the BIOS with overclocking options, should Intel’s own Turbo Boost technology be a little tame for your liking. There are also plenty of Windows-based gadgets to get the most form the board, like the EPU-6 Engine, which turns off unneeded hardware to save power, and the GPU Boost driver for tweaking the onboard graphics performance.

For most people looking to build a new Intel PC with integrated graphics, this board will be overkill. However, if you want all the latest storage technologies, support for HD audio formats and plenty of space for expanding later, then it’s worth the high price.