Gigabyte Mini ITX DDR3 800 Intel Motherboards GA-H61N-USB3

This motherboard used to be the SandyBridge mini-hackintosh recommendation on LifeHacker and TonyMacx86; now they are suggesting the Gigabyte GA-H55N-US; if you want to build an Ivy Bridge system they recommend the Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI or the GA-Z77N-WIFI model. The GA-H61N-USB3 has been great for general purpose personal computing for us and is still running strongly after more than 2 years of daily use in an open enclosure.We installed the following components:Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3;CPU: Intel Core i3-2105 with Intel HD 3000 Graphics and the associated Intel CPU cooler;RAM: CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3;Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Scorpio Black 500 GB SATA II 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache;Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 24X SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive;Graphics Processor: Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video CardOperating Systems: OSX Snow LeopardCase: Antec Mini Skeleton-90Power Supply: Mini-Box picoPSU-160-XT High Power 24 Pin Mini-ITX Power Supply with 12v 16A Switching Power Adapter 100/240V Model STD-12160WiFi: AirLink101 AWLL5088 Wireless N 150 Ultra Mini USB AdapterThe OSX Hardware Overview recognizes the system as a Mac Pro 3.1 which is pretty impressive for a mini-ITX sized board. These components cost about $500 total which is about half the price of a comparatively equipped, 2011 Intel-based Apple Mac Mini. We discovered that the Antec EP-90 power supply which came in the Antec mini-skeleton case was not powerful enough to run this particular system, so we removed the stock 90W power supply and replaced it with a picoPSU-160-XT power supply from Mini-Box, which provides 200 peak Watts and powers the system just fine. We used Outervision's online PSU calculator to estimate the expected system loads.For this Hackintosh build we basically followed the instructions for Low-cost mini hackintosh systems at LifeHacker and TonyMacx86. We loaded the official version of Snow Leopard from the Apple DVD via TonyMac's iBoot & MultiBeast method. After our success with this system, we'll stick with Gigabyte motherboards for future hackintosh builds; we're very pleased with it.

VERY GOOD. Works without any problems. Used a Habey EMC-800BL ITX case to build an HT media computer. Gigabyte is a bit behind not using a UEFI bios but works fine with the old style. Usual problems in getting everything into a case as small as the Habey. You cannot use a standard Intel fan as it is too high, needed to have a 30mm height or less. The many input/output options on this Mini ITX MB are great. Has USB 3 ports as well. The on-board video is OK in terms of speed for full 1080P with even a low end Sandy Bridge CPU. A even 620 is fine and cheap. The only con that if find is the relative lack of options with the Intel Graphics software in terms of adjusting the output resolutions for over/under scanning. What you find with a separate video card and it's software are just not possible. You may not find the exact resolution to fit the screen of a 1080P TV. It is alright for viewing videos and on-line streaming movies..ie Netflix but when on the desktop computer screen the exact fit is not going to happen, Still usable but some icons are only partially visible. You might try to make a custom resolution using some of the available 3rd party applications.If you have been wanting to try an ITX sized computer this MB is a good choice...it's pretty cheap and works very well.The power draw using a Sandy Bridge 620 is only about 4.9 watts at idle and less than 20 under load.Gigabyte H61N-USB3 MBHabey ECM-800BL case (W/120W PS)Intel LGA G620 CPU4GB DDR3Mushkin 120GB SSD (Boot Drive)3TB USB3.0 External Storage HD

I am using this motherboard for my office PC in a Realan E-i7 mini-ITX case. If you know Gigabyte you know this board. It's nice and cheap, works well right out of the box and is nice and stable so far. On the plus side, it has eSATA which I needed. I love that Gigabyte has figured out no one needs the power LED to blink in S3 sleep making this a good HTPC board. On the minus side, it only has 2 x SATA so if you need more than a ODD and HDD you're out of luck without an expansion card. The BIOS is not the new graphical BIOS. The CPU fan tends to speed up and slow down constantly which can get annoying at all but the lowest settings. There does not seem to be BIOS control for a chassis fan -- it just runs at full speed. Overall I am very pleased with this board. It was cheap, does the basic things I need and works.Pros:- eSATA- Price- Doesn't blink the LED in S3 sleepCons:- Only 2 x SATA internal (all my case could hold anyway but good to know for larger cases)- No graphical UEFI BIOS- CPU fan control not intuitiveSystem:- E-i7 black brushed aluminum mini-ITX HTPC / desktop PC case- Sony BC-5600S slot-load slim BD-ROM- Intel i3-2100 CPU- Silverstone NT07-1156 low profile CPU cooler- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB motherboard- 2 x 4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 low profile RAM- Crucial m4 128GB SSD

This motherboard works great acting as a HTPC hackintosh. I use no videocard, but the onboard graphics going HDMI out to my 7.1 receiver. **Note: Mac does support 7.1, but is not licensed to use the 7.1 audio so movies will not play 7.1, only 5.1.After upgrading to the latest firmware and 10.8 mountian lion the board will not sleep for me, and when the computer boots it only shows 1/4 the screen, I have to right click and adjust the resolution to make it work @ full 1080p. This isn't a problem for me because I always leave the thing on so I only have to do it once a month maybe.

built my first budget pc with this, recommended for budget pc