MSI Readies H57M-ED65 Micro-ATX Motherboard

Come Q1 2010, and Intel will be expanding its socket LGA-1156 platform with dual-core processors, and processors with on-die graphics. Along with these, Intel will be releasing the H57 Express chipset which supports the Flexible Display technology which handles the connectivity for the processors' on-die graphics. Motherboard vendors seem to be ready well ahead, and the second such company with a product on display is MSI, with its H57M-ED65. This motherboard is based on the micro-ATX form-factor, and builds on the chipset's features, while also appearing to be enthusiast-friendly.

The CPU is powered by a lavish 10-phase VRM with elaborate heatsinks over the DrMOS chips. It completely does away with PCI, and features only PCI-Express slots. There is are two PCI-Express x16 slots (electrical x16, x4), and two PCI-Expres x1 slots. Apart from the six SATA 3 Gb/s ports the chipset provides, an additional storage controller provides two more SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and an IDE connector. The board makes full use of the Flexible Display technology, providing DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort as display connectivity options. A number of USB ports, PS/2, gigabit Ethernet, 8-channel audio with optical SPDIF, eSATA, and FireWire make for the rest of the rear-panel. Its enthusiast-friendliness is further vindicated by the presence of the OC Genie feature, on the fly base clock controls, and power/reset buttons onboard. Expect this to feature in the company's first wave of H57 motherboards.