H55/ h57

[nerd10]

Can someone explain the difference of these two chipsets to me please? And does it matter which one you use?

Thanks

 

[GeneO]

H57 has 2 more usb and and 2 more pci-e lanes (whether a motherboard uses them or not...), and Rapid Store raid support.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-clarkdale-core-i5-661,2514-6.html

 

[nerd10]

ok cool, thanks! can you use either of these chipsets then or are they specific to different i3/i5/i7 processors?

 

[GeneO]

They are specific to LGA 1156 socket processors, which are i3, i5 and a small subset of i7 processors (lynfield based i7 - the i7-8xx series). The motherboard also determines which of these processors it supports.

 

[nerd10]

Yeah I know they are specific to the 1156 socket, i mean does it get any more specific than that, for example, do specific i3 processors require H55 and some require H57?

 

[GeneO]

No. The chipsets don't differentiate. But some MB and BIOS might not support i3 for instance. Doubt it though, you have to look at the MB spec.

And if you are worried about PCI - both chipsets support PCI, but the MB must implement it.

For instance, here is one I built a PC for my son from:

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3442#sp

The page has a link for processors supported by the MB:

http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3442

These pages are what you should be looking at. Also, for your MB replacement, does the case support full ATX, mini ATX, ...?