GIGABYTE GA-H77N-WIFI LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: I've been buying Gigabyte motherboards for 10+ years now, but this has been my first Intel motherboard from Gigabyte. I bought it as an everyday Core i3 Windows box with Mac OS X installed on a second partition. And, as usual, it works perfectly right out of the box. Easy to install, easy to configure, 100% functionality, came with all of the parts, can't complain. It was my first experience with UEFI, so that took some getting used to, but that's about it.

Cons: I am not a huge fan of the location of the various headers/connectors, especially the CPU power connector, the front-panel audio connector, and the case fan connector. But I knew exactly where they were going to be before I bought the motherboard, so I have no right to complain. No real overclocking functionality, but if you are looking to do that you should be looking at the GA-Z77N-WIFI.

Overall Review: For those planning Linux/Unix builds, the Wifi/Bluetooth chip is an Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230. I personally am not using Linux, but I know Linux drivers for this specific wireless chip is difficult to find (depending on your distro). For those planning Hackintosh builds, the Bluetooth works out-of-box but the Wifi will NOT work. That said, everything else on the board works 100% without any DSDT work. At any rate, the Bluetooth/Wireless chip is simply a half-height mini-PCI Express card that can removed and exchanged with any other half-height mini-PCIe card on the market. I personally swapped mine with a wireless card from a Dell laptop that works out-of-box with both Windows and Mac OS X.

Pros: Windows 8 Compatible out of the box, no drivers needed for WiFi or BT. WiFi antenna are not directly connected, so they can be moved to get better reception. I'm not using the 2nd NIC, WiFi, or BT, but I'm happy to see those options included. UEFI support out of the box.

Cons: May have issues with bigger heatsinks due to CPU location...but I'm running the stock heatsink

Overall Review: I'm glad to see Intel WiFi instead of Broadcom, Atheros, Realtek, etc. But, that's just a matter of personal preference.

Pros: Small, capable

Cons: No master mode to enable Linux AP wireless hotspot. You'll have to blow the second physical port and purchase a separate AP.

Overall Review: Don't get this board thinking you'll make it into a Linux AP wireless Hotspot. The built in Wireless PCI-E from Intel doesn't support it in Cent/RHEL. See this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open_source_wireless_drivers#Driver_capabilities under "iwlagn".

Pros: First time building an ITX and I must say, I'm just in awe that we can stick so much amazing tech in such a small space! Well worth the price! This board is just beautiful in so many ways as is the other Gigabyte board I still love (the 890fxa-ud5). What's great about this is you can stick a nice, energy efficient and affordable Ivy Bridge chip on here along with an ITX case and use this as an HTPC, a NAS, a Hackintosh, a nice mobile LAN party machine or business presentation computer, your study computer in your dorm room, etc. So many uses! Dual (teaming) LAN port on here is a plus for NAS not to mention the wireless display tech (WIDI) which I haven't tried yet but could really come in handy esp. for powerpoint presentations.

Cons: I love the dual teaming LAN on this board but it would also be nice to see a Thunderbolt/DisplayPort on this board. Asus puts eSata and regular Displayport on their competing ITX board and I see Gigabyte has decided to put more USB 3.0 vs. any eSata which is fine since USB 3.0 is technically faster anyways, but Thunderbolt is still considerably faster than both of these and brings more MAC compatibility in the mix. If Intel and Apple really are serious about Thunderbolt, then subsidize it short term and lower the peripheral prices so it gets widely adopted otherwise it will die out as I can tell USB is being favored here despite USB being only half as good. I hope Gigabyte continues to make more ITX boards like this in the future and please do continue to have multiple LAN connections for aggregation. This is useful for speeding up NAS use! To be honest, I'd like to see 4 gigabit LAN ports even! Either that or we need to start seeing one 10Gig LAN port soon instead as single gigabit isn't fast enough anymore esp. for NAS. I see Gigabyte dropped teaming LAN support (because the Lan chips are different?) on their new Z87 ITX board which is disappointing because what's the point of 2 LAN ports if you cannot aggregate them? I guess for fault tolerance only? Teaming is important these days until we see 10G ports become standard across the board...

Overall Review: Japanese capacitors and overall build on the Gigabyte boards screams quality! Gigabyte you are spoiling us with your beautiful motherboards! Keep up the great work and thank you!

Pros: Feature heavy, and love the built in WIFI. UEFI is standard now but happy it's there.

Cons: wish it supported faster memory dimms. But I'm happy with my 1600mhz g.skill ram. Lacks a system speaker header... but w/e/

Overall Review: Gigabyte makes great products, both quality and aesthetics. Very happy with this board and it's Ivy Bridge platform. Should last me till Sky Lake.

Pros: Fast, solid layout, and feature packed! So far this board has performed beyond my expectations!

Cons: None

Overall Review: Like most mITX boards its a bit cramped for space when it comes to I/O headers, ports, and other connectors. If you have a monster CPU cooler I could see layout being an issue

Pros: Perfect board for a Win7/Hackintosh build. Painless installation, was able to fit a 212+ on this board with zero hassle. Stays relatively cool even when gaming for several hours.

Cons: As others have stated, WiFi does not work under OSX. Not the boards fault.

Overall Review: 3570K w/ 212+ @ 3.4ghz GB H77 WiFi 2x 4GB Snipers @ 1866Mhz Samsung Evo 250GB x2 Raided Asus GTX 660 DCII Corsair CX500M Custom Prodigy 27" Samsung LED

Pros: -It works. Hasn't caused any problems. -WiFi/Bluetooth -No VGA wasting space on back panel. -Black

Cons: -Refuses to boot from an ancient hard drive I pulled out of an old laptop. -Insists on running my 1.25v 1600mhz RAM (GSkill Sniper) at 1.35v 1333. Doesn't really bother me though. I know some mobo's don't get along well with low voltage RAM. -Cables could be arranged much better. I very much prefer boards that have at least the 24-pin power and SATA plug in to the front edge next to the RAM.