ASRock creates H55DE3 around Intel's LGA 1156, H55 tandem

ASRock has added four H55 solutions to their line of Intel motherboards. We received the H55DE3, which is a budget board that includes some higher-end features like quad CrossfireX support,  full 1080p Blu-ray playback, and multiple video output options built right into the board. The H55 chipset itself delivers new capabilities for digital home, small office, and home office consumers, and this is the centerpiece for ASRock to build the H55DE3 around.

Courtesy of ASRock

The ASRock H55DE3 is a tad smaller than your typical ATX configuration, but they seem to use the footprint well by adding two eSATA connectors, HDMI, and four DIMMs that can be maxed out using 16GBs of DDR3-2600+ (OC). The onboard HDMI delivers uncompressed high definition video and uncompressed multi-channel audio in a single cable, supporting all HD formats including 720p, 1080i, and 1080p.

Courtesy of ASRock

The overall specifications below suggest that ASRock wanted to create a board targeting budget, multimedia users looking for HD playback options and decent overclocking capabilities. It's support for LGA 1156 processors also makes it enticing for one of Intel's most successful platforms.

ASRock H55DE3 Technical Specifications (taken from ASRock's website)

General
CPU	- Supports Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 and Pentium® G6950 Processors in LGA1156 Package

- 4 + 1 Power Phase Design

- Supports Intel^® Turbo Boost Technology

- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology

- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology

- Supports EM64T CPU Chipset - Intel^® H55 Memory - Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology

- 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots

- Supports DDR3 2600+(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB*

- Supports Intel^® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)

BIOS - 16Mb AMI Legal BIOS

- Supports "Plug and Play"

- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events

- Supports jumperfree

- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support

- CPU, VCCM, SB,VTT, PCH_PLL Voltage Multi-adjustment

- Supports I. O. T. (Intelligent Overclocking Technology)

- Supports Smart BIOS

 Audio, Video and Networking Graphics * Requires Processor with Intel^® Graphics Technology (The CPU support list for Intel^® Graphics Technology)

- Supports Intel^® HD Graphics

- Pixel Shader 4.0, DirectX 10

- Max. shared memory 1759MB*

- Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI

- Supports HDMI 1.3a Technology with max. resolution up to 1920x1200

- Supports DVI with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz

- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048x1536 @ 75Hz

- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI 1.3a (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)

- Supports HDCP function with DVI and HDMI ports

- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback

Audio - 7.1 CH HD Audio (VIA^® VT1718S Audio Codec) LAN - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

- Realtek RTL8111DL

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

 Expansion / Connectivity Slots - 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (at x16 mode)

- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (at x4 mode, 2.5GT/s)

- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots (2.5GT/s)

- 2 x PCI slot

- Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™ and Quad CrossFireX™

Connector - 4 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions

- 1 x IR header

- 1 x COM port header

- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header

- 1 x TPM header

- 1 x Chassis Intrusion header

- CPU/Chassis/Power FAN connector

- 24 pin ATX power connector

- 8 pin 12V power connector

- Front panel audio connector

- 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)

Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel

- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port

- 1 x VGA/D-Sub Port

- 1 x VGA/DVI-D Port

- 1 x HDMI Port

- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

- 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports

- 2 x Powered eSATAII/USB Connectors

- 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)

- HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

 Other Features / Miscellaneous Unique Feature - ASRock OC Tuner

- Intelligent Energy Saver

- Instant Boot

- ASRock Instant Flash

- ASRock OC DNA

- Hybrid Booster:

- CPU Frequency Stepless Control

- ASRock U-COP

- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)

- Good Night LED

- Turbo 50 / Turbo 100 GPU Overclocking (Requires Processor with Intel^® Graphics Technology)

Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), ASRock Software Suite (CyberLink DVD Suite - OEM and Trial; Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB - Trial) Accessories - Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield

- 2 x SATA Data Cables (optional)

Hardware Monitor - CPU Temperature Sensing

- Chassis Temperature Sensing

- CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer

- CPU Quiet Fan

- CPU Fan Multi-Speed Control

- CASE OPEN detection

- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore

Form Factor - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.3-in, 30.5 cm x 21.1 cm

- Solid Capacitor for CPU power

OS - Microsoft^® Windows^® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant Certifications - FCC, CE, WHQL

- EuP Ready (EuP ready power supply is required)