GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Very good board while it lasted.

Cons: So, I've been fighting with this board for probably 6 months now, on and off. It wasn't until now that I decided to look for a replacement, that I checked others reviews. My PC boots up for about 5 minutes at a time and then just shuts off. The scariest part is that I never know when it will boot up again. I went through the RMA process for the PSU and Corsair quickly sent me a new and updated model for me to try. Obviously this didn't fix the issue. I've tried ram, and I've gone as far as re-seating my processor chip and applying more arctic silver. I'm so glad I found this site and see that it's not just me.

Other Thoughts: So has anyone been successful going through Gigabyte RMA process? I guess I'll try to get that started soon and will hold off buying a new motherboard for a little while.

Pros: Gigabyte's quality has never done me wrong..till now.

1. Great features for the size & time
2. Option to overclock
3. Good MB for HTPC

Cons: 1. Will not stay on for more than 5 min, then is unresponsive/dead for a Half Hour+ then will turn back on only turn off 5ish min later.
a. All temperatures are fine when computer shuts off.
CPU - 32C
MB - 44C
b. All components work with another board

2. BIOS intermittently reads CPU Fan speed, jumps from actual speed to 0 and back.

5. After reading all 1-2star comments looks like the problem everyone had finally hit me

6. Further inspection of the bottom side of the board, shows multiple repaired solder points. (may have received a repaired board as new, kinda disheartening only to notice it 2 years later)

Other Thoughts: I never overclocked this board. It worked fine for a year then I replaced it with an ASUS board. Packed it away in it's original packaging & antistatic bag and stored for it in the closet for a year, with other spare parts.

My mother's computer started to show its age & become unresponsive, offered to put her a computer together with my spare parts.

Put this board back together with other part from the original build, only to find out it will only stay on for about 5 min.

Check each component in a separate computer, all worked fine. Went through every possible idea, & search the web only to find multiple people had the exact same problems with this board.

I was lucky it worked for a year, but I now doubt Gigabytes Quality. Being sold a repaired MB as a New Item on Newegg is a little bit disheartening.

I am going to look into getting this fixed with gigabyte, I have heard it is difficult & read many reviews of how hard this can be.

Pros: Small, USB3

Cons: Can't handle much more than web browsing.

Other Thoughts: I guess I should consider myself lucky, the board hasn't completely stopped working. Any time I attempt to run any real time 3d games the computer shuts off for about 30 minutes. Shame.

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for your comments. Honest and constructive opinions are always welcome. We apologize for your difficulty with your Gigabyte product.

The graphic core is the Intel HD graphics, and built-in your processor. This graphics core performance may lag when playing 3D games, and cause a rise in the CPU core temperature. If your CPU cooler is not sufficient to cool the CPU core, your system will shut down as a form of protection. I suggest adding a separate graphics card if you plan to run intensive games such as 3D versions, or you may use additional cooling for your processor.

If you require further assistance, please contact us at newegg-support@gigabyte-usa.com with the case number 2013012205 in the subject line.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: Worked well for 6mo perfect for my application.

Cons: Worthless piece of junk, rma Ed the power supply first then read the reviews on the board and realized what the real problem was...

Pros: Good features for when it worked

Cons: I'm like everyone else here as well. I bought this board without reading reviews beforehand and now I'm regretting it. I can use it to browse the internet, but that is it. Any stress from games or any sort of video (twitch.tv, youtube, netflix) will cause the computer to shut of and not turn back on until it has cooled off.

I have temporarily set up a small desk fan with the case open to keep the northbridge cool and I can use the computer as intended fine.

Regretting this purshase.

Pros: Relatively complete feature set for a Mini-ITX motherboard released in 2010. The primary reason I risked purchasing a second Gigabyte motherboard, hoping they'd improved their quality control since 2002.

Cons: After about 6 months with a mild OC of 160 BCLK (DDR3-1600) and all else left the same -- other than manually-set RAM timings -- the board began to shut down, seemingly at random. As time went on, patterns became evident... it was usually when running any GPU-accelerated software. Through much trial and error, it was determined that keeping the MCH cooler than should be necessary was the only way to keep it running.

As time went on, the ambient temperature of the room this motherboard is in has had to progressively decrease. As I write this, I am in a small room cooled by an air conditioner to 66F. One degree higher, even while playing SD video, and the system shuts down and will not boot for about 5-10 minutes, in spite of the fact that EVERY heatsink is almost *cold* to the touch (and, yes, properly installed).

Another oddity is that the BIOS is completely reset, including the clock, as though the battery had been removed after each one of these shutdowns.

Other Thoughts: If there isn't a recall to replace these boards with a refurbished model (at the VERY least), there should be. I knew I was taking a chance purchasing another Gigabyte motherboard after the headaches the first one gave me. "It's been 10 years, surely they have better quality control," I told myself. Nope... and from what I read here, customer service is also unimproved.

I'm replacing this motherboard with the ASRock Z77E-ITX. Finding a suitable replacement with an LGA1156 socket has been difficult. I'll have to buy an LGA1155 CPU to use the ASRock motherboard.

This means that Gigabyte has cost me roughly $360 by way of poor quality control and customer service.

The moral of the story? Don't trust early reviews. If you must be an early adopter, stick with a brand you trust. For me, that's ASUS/ASRock.

Good luck to the rest of you who are likely stuck with this board. Odds are good Gigabyte isn't paying attention to these reviews anymore, as they have discontinued this mother

Pros: Good while it lasted

Cons: Same as everyone else! Random shut down.

Other Thoughts: I ordered this board when it first came out have no issues. Worked well for more than 8 months then shutdowns and booting problems. I'm very disappointed with Gigabyte.

Pros: Lots of features packed into a small packaged
Surprisingly strong overclocker
Solid voltage control options
USB3

Cons: Have to modify all-in-one water cooling heatsinks like the H50 / Kuhler to mount without pressing down on circuitry.
Dated chipset (At this point in time)

Other Thoughts: It's a great little board with strong control and performance.

Pros: This tiny ITX board offers everything you may need to build a fully featured Intel based media center or even a very small performance PC. With support for 16GB of DDR3, and Intel's 2nd generation core i7 its perfect!

Features optical SPDIF audio and HDMI, plus DVI and VGA for those that don't want to run this on a TV. The Intel graphics manager is perfect for adjusting screen size to HDTV resolutions with the use of sliders.

The HDMI and optical audio work seamlessly together.

I have this machine working with Windows media center recording shows, playing movies and surfing the web, plus it fits on one shelf in my tv stand.

Cons: WARNING: Depending on the ITX case you purchase, memory modules with extended heat sinks at the top may not clear the CD/DVD drive.

I learned this from purchasing memory with extended heat sinks and a IN WIN mini ITX case. Had to fiddle with it for a while, but got it to work.

Other Thoughts: Overall I would rate this board as a 9/10 for media centers and general computing. This board is not designed for serious gaming and 3D graphics, if that's what you expect to do please don't waste your time with this board.

Pros: I love this board and own 6 of them. With GigE, 4 SATA ports and a PCI-e slot for an additional SATA/eSATA controller, this mother makes a perfect NAS server easily transferring data at full GigE speeds. Teamed with a Core i3-530, -540, or -560, it is also well suited as an HD video-playing HTPC -- but less so for 3d gaming given the i3's graphic core limitations.

Cons: ONE out six of these boards did not fully work and I too witnessed the same problems others reported, specifically: whenever a memory stick is shoved into DIMM slot 0, the motherboard won't POST and power cycles every few seconds -- forever; however, it works perfectly fine when only 1 stick is placed in DIMM slot 1. I've tried many combinations of memory (speed, brand, capacity), all which work perfectly in the other machines using the exact same mother board.

Last month, I sent this board to Gigabyte for RMA repair and they returned it (same board with matching serial number) quickly, within two weeks! Unfortunately, it appears all that the repair team did was reset the BIOS. DIMM slot 0 is still dead, and nothing on the RMA paper-work indicated any sort of problem or work done.

Other Thoughts: It is a lovely board and, as previously indicated, the other five are still running nicely! Given the incredibly low price, I'll gracefully walk away with a minor loss. Still, Gigabyte, please feed your RMA team more carbs :)