Input/Output Results
One of the things that poses a bitter sweet dilemma with the H55 platforms is the lack of USB3 and SATA3 support. If you’ve seen one SATAII or USB 2.0 benchmark, you’ve seen them all.
Without the new upgraded features, it’s essentially a basic H55 platform. It just seems a little lack luster when the only thing added to a platform to make it H55 is mainly the video out ports. Great for graphic enthusiasts, but not so great for future expansion. Despite the legacy free-ness of the device, it totally loses out on next generation features like SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0.
Final Thoughts
So what’s the word on the ASRock H55DE3, a $90 budget entry to the H55 world? Well, we’ve got a few things for you to chew on.
We’re a little disappointed with the bait and switching of features. Emblazoned all over the box is the Turbo 50 feature and the X-Fi. But where is it? To be honest, we’re shocked to see the H55DE3’s supporting bundle not ‘support’ what is essentially a good basic motherboard. Features listed on the box should be readily accessible and available at all times whether it be on a disc or off the manufacturer’s website.
As a PC consumer, seeing the small words “trial” next to the featured Free Bundle software titles can be confusing and may end up disappointing the end user. Since we couldn’t test the X-Fi software, you’ll have to deal with the some what limited integrated audio solution, which may have otherwise upgraded the lackluster performance of this solution.
The ASRock H55DE3 motherboard isn’t a bad performer once you get down to brass tax. We were even surprised to see a $90 motherboard support 4.2GHz overclocking so easily as well. While it won’t surpass any performance based motherboards in our collection, it should more than satisfy the needs of a very basic user. That said, it doesn’t sacrifice important things like stability and reliability. If you can overlook the bundle issues and weaker audio it will make a great, cheap gaming board or for that matter, a second system that backs up your main gaming rig.
Pros
- Stable and reliable
- Overclocks relatively well
- Very affordable price
- Respectable performance
- Darker PCB better than green
Cons
- Not very attractive
- Only four onboard SATA ports
- Turbo 50 not included per the box
- Driver support page needs organizing
- No BIOS manual and limited reference guide
- Weaker Via audio solution
Overall Rating: 7.5 / 10.0
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