Question 1

Do I need a video card with this motherboard and i3-3220 CPU?

Accepted Answer

My recent build contained the same mobo, i3-2120 with HD2000 integrated graphics, and 2x2 gig of ddr3 RAM running at 1300MHz. My system was using roughly 25% of the cpu, a little over 50% of the available RAM, and the integrated gpu was maxed out in order to render a 1080p desktop on a 40" television via a VGA cable running Win 7 64-bit. If you're building a home theater PC or you intend on gaming, you'll want a video card because integrated graphics use system RAM (which is slower and already tasked with other processes) in order to render while a discrete card uses its ownds separate and optimized memory to do so. However, if you intend on rendering 1080p on a 21" desktop and only plan on some internet browsing and Facebook games, you'll be fine. Check out the GPU & CPU Boss sites to get some more data on how it benchmarked. It really boils down to what the machine's job will be.

Question 2

Hey guys probably a dumb question, but will this work with a single stick of ram? Or does it need a set to work properly?

Accepted Answer

It will work with only one stick of RAM but will only be running in single-channel mode so you will have less memory bandwidth.  There should be a very small performance penalty for most applications (probably not enough to notice).

Question 3

Does this board need speaker for the POST to take effect? I had been looking at the gallery and I did not see a place for one?

Accepted Answer

Mine doesn't have a tiny speaker pre-installed nor the two pins to attach one. It does boot well during UEFI (soundlessly!), and has been performing great for me (2 weeks of use); I paired it with i3-3240, EVGA GT 640 card and shoved into a Cooler Master Elite 130 case for a portable gaming rig.

Question 4

can it support windows 8?

Accepted Answer

Yes. I am running Windows 8.1 and the OS and updates installed all the necessary drivers.  It's been 100% stable.  I don't have a need to OC but this board is rock solid for me.  No issues whatsoever.

Question 5

does this bios enable USB OS booting for installation?

Accepted Answer

Clay, 
I always use CD/DVD-rom boot for installation of the OS.  My experience with the was not stellar.  It came to me with a dead PCI Express slot so I didn't really spend a lot of time working with the bios.

Question 6

Does this motherboard support USB 3?

Accepted Answer

No it does not. Mine doesn't even work so I need to send it back.

Question 7

Is it Windows 8/ 8.1 compatible ?

Accepted Answer

Don't know how compatible it is with Windows 8.1 but it works fine with Windows 10, when I installed it with Haswell type CPU and 8GB of memory

Question 8

minimum power requirement?

Accepted Answer

That's largely dependent on your CPU. In most cases, 2 times the TDP of your CPU is a good indicator of Mobo+CPU+Ram power usage.

Question 9

Are the HDD connectors SATA-II or SATA-III.  Under specifications it lists (4) SATA-III.  User comments suggest these are only SATA-II.  Is it their hardware configurations leading to SATA-II or is the board really limited to SATA-II.  ???

Accepted Answer

Thanks Donnie and Richard, what happened is I liked everything about the board, I misread SATA-3Gps for SATA-III in the specs, an unfortunate overlook.  I ordered an ASUS last week and it arrived DOA and I was looking for an alternate and overlooked the SATA-II on this one.  I've got this one up and running because Newegg has a restocking fee.  I'll use it for a few months for it's task and replace it.

Question 10

Does the HDMI output push audio as well? Looking to connect this to my home theater receiver, would love less cord clutter.

Still buying regardless.

Accepted Answer

Yes, I have mine setup to use the vga and 1/8" audio for a "desktop", then I have an HDMI cable running to my home theater to push audio and video to the big screen when I want.

Questions & Answers