PCSTATS     
[X]   Directory of
Guides & Reviews

Beginners Guides
Motherboards by Brand
Weekly Newsletter
Archived Newsletters

+70 MORE Beginner GUIDES....
Intel DH67BL Intel H67 Express Motherboard Review
Intel DH67BL Intel H67 Express Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
Motherboards like the Intel DH67BL that PCSTATS is reviewing today support one PCI Express 2.0 x16 videocard and have one DVI-I and HDMI video output.
 78% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Intel May 10 2011   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Intel DH67BL

Intel's H67 chipset was released in unison with the highly anticipated 32nm Intel 'Sandy Bridge' architecture in early 2011. What set Sandy Bridge apart was its integrated graphics core, a first in the desktop world. The graphics core, or iGPU, shares some L3 cache with the four processing cores of the CPU proper and due to these architectural changes a new CPU socket was also born - socket LGA1155. Since its release, the Intel Core i3/i5/i7 2xxx-series Sandy Bridge processor has met with fantastic success and given AMD a real run for its money.

Yet in spite of its success, Intel integrated graphics still don't compete very well against discrete graphics cards, even a $50 mainstream graphics card. So why do it like this? The upshot of a CPU with an integrated graphics core is reduced cost for the majority of PCs sold by the likes of Dell and large system integrators. After all, consider that 70% of the total volume of PCs sold today feature integrated graphics!

Motherboards like the Intel DH67BL that PCSTATS is reviewing today support one PCI Express 2.0 x16 videocard, but more likely than not will never see a discrete graphics solution. The DH67BL motherboard has one DVI-I and HDMI video output.

Intel's DH67BL motherboard is built around the Intel H67 chipset and supports socket LGA1155 Intel 2nd Generation Core i3/i5/i7 2xxx-series 32nm Sandy Bridge processors. It is not compatible with LGA1156 processors. On the storage front, the board offers up two 6Gb/s SATA III ports, three 3Gb/s SATA III ports and one eSATA III port. A UEFI BIOS ensures support for hard drives larger than 2TB. Dual USB 3.0 ports are handled by a discreet NEC controller as USB 3.0 is not natively supported by the Intel H67 chipset.

Intel DH67BL Motherboard


INCLUDES: User's Manual, Driver DVD, (2) SATA cables, I/O Shield.

Chipsets: Intel H67 Express
CPU Support: Intel Socket LGA1155
Memory Type: Dual Channel DDR3
Videocard Support: (1) PCI Express x16 2.0

Price at time of review: $107 USD

As PCSTATS mentioned, the microATX Intel DH67BL motherboard is equipped with one PCI Express 2.0 x16 videocard slot that runs with 16-lanes of bandwidth; rounding out the expansion slots are two PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots and one PCI slot. This MicroATX board has four 1.35v dual channel DDR3-1066/1333 memory slots which can accommodate up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM in 64-bit OS like Windows 7.

Connectivity includes two USB 3.0 ports, fourteen USB 2.0 (six at the rear I/O, eight via internal header), one eSATA, one Gigabit network jack and the standard assortment of Intel High Definition 8-channel audio (optical S/PDIF included).

The integrated graphics ports on this motherboard include a DVI-I (capable of DVI and DVI-to-Analog with an adaptor) and HDMI 1.4 jack.

The Intel DH67BL motherboard can be found on retail shelves for around $107 CDN, ($107 USD, £70 GBP), a little high for its vanilla feature set. Never the less, PCSTATS will put this motherboard through its paces on both integrated graphics and a discrete graphics card.

Before we get to benchmarking though, let's take a closer look at what makes this motherboard tick.

Intel H67 Express Chipset

As with Intel's P67 core logic, the Intel H67 Platform Controller Hub communicates with socket 1155 'Sandy Bridge' processors over a 20Gb/s DMI link. The H67 chipset contains eight PCI Express 2.0 lanes, the remaining system 16 PCI Express lanes stem from the processor.

Where the P67 and H67 chipsets diverge is in regards to the integrated graphics core at the heart of the Sandy Bridge 2nd Generation Core /3i5/i7 processor. The Intel P67 lacks Intel's Flexible Display Interface (FDI) so it cannot output video. Looking at the chipset block diagram below, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Intel Z68, P67 and H67 chipsets are fundamentally identical as the feature sets are very similar.

The Intel H67 and Z68 chipsets are closely related too, however the Z68 picks up the tweaking features of the P67 and a few new tools like Intel SRT which PCSTATS has extensively dicussed in previous articles (see: Intel SRT and also here).

In addition to major changes like Intel FDI, the Intel H67 chipset continues support for SATA 6Gb/s devices and slowly increases the number of USB 2.0 ports. Still no USB 3.0 though.

Intel Chipset Feature Comparison
Intel Z68 Express Intel P67 Express Intel H67 Express
CPU LGA 1155
Core i5/i7 2nd Gen.
LGA 1155
Core i5/i7 2nd Gen.
LGA 1155
Core i5/i7 2nd Gen.
Chipset Code Name Couger Point (65nm) Couger Point (65nm) Couger Point (65nm)
Bus Interface / Speed DMI 20Gb/s DMI 20Gb/s DMI 20Gb/s
Memory Support DDR3-1333, dual channel DDR3-1333, dual channel DDR3-1333, dual channel
Maximum Memory Capacity 32GB (64-bit) 32GB (64-bit) 32GB (64-bit)
Integrated Graphics Yes. via CPU - Yes. via CPU
Integrated Graphics Ports HDMI, DVI, DP, VGA - HDMI, DVI, DP, VGA
PCI Express 2.0 Lanes 8 8 8
PCI Express x1 Lanes 0 0 0
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Yes Yes Yes
Intel Smart Response Technology Yes - -
SATA 6Gb/s | SATA 3Gb/s | IDE Ports 2/4/0 2/4/0 2/4/0
RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10
Intelgrated LAN 10/100/1000 MAC 10/100/1000 MAC 10/100/1000 MAC
USB 3.0 Ports 0 0 0
USB 2.0 Ports 14 14 14
PCI Masters 0 0 0
Intel High Definition Audio Yes Yes Yes

Next up, PCSTATS looks at the integrated graphics capabilities of the Intel H67 and Sandy Bridge processor, as well as Intel FDI and Quick Sync....

© 2023 PCSTATS.com Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: Intel DH67BL
 Pg 1.  — Intel DH67BL Intel H67 Express Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  Intel H67 Chipset Features Explained
 Pg 3.  360-Degree Motherboard Gallery: Features and Layout
 Pg 4.  360-Degree Motherboard Gallery: Continued
 Pg 5.  BIOS Options and Motherboard Power Draw
 Pg 6.  Power Draw and Test System Specs
 Pg 7.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sysmark 2007
 Pg 8.  Motherboard Benchmarks: SiSoft Sandra - Processor
 Pg 9.  Motherboard Benchmarks: Sandra - Memory
 Pg 10.  Motherboard Benchmarks: PCMark Vantage
 Pg 11.  Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark11
 Pg 12.  Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage
 Pg 13.  Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark06
 Pg 14.  IGP Motherboard Benchmarks: DX11....
 Pg 15.  IGP Motherboard Benchmarks: 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark06
 Pg 16.  IGP Motherboard Benchmarks: FEAR, Call of Juarez, Crysis
 Pg 17.  IGP Motherboard Benchmarks: Office Applications
 Pg 18.  Video Transcoding & Conclusions

 
Hardware Sections 


 
PCSTATS Network Features Information About Us Contact
FrostyTech
PCSTATS Newsletter
Tech Glossary
Technology WebSite Listings
News Archives
(Review RSS Feed)
Site Map
PCstats Wallpaper
About Us
Privacy Policy
Advertise on PCSTATS

How's Our Driving?
© Copyright 1999-2023 www.pcstats.com All rights reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use.