Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Comment:
Built two machines with this board, so far. First was for my HTPC, with small ssd for the OS and a 2TB data drive for music and videos and an Intel I3 CPU. This machine feeds into a Yamaha receiver and then into a 65 in Sharp LCD panel, with 5.1 surround sound. This has worked beautifully for me and I seldom watch regular tv any longer. I remote desktop into the machine with a netbook and stream radio stations (CBC and NPR) podcasts and all my music which sits on another machine in the home network. What a great setup. I've been very happy with this machine and have had zero problems with it. I've built with Asrock, Asus, Gigabyte, MCI etc. They've all been pretty good, but I thought I'd try a board from the guys who make the CPU's and I haven't been disappointed.

Comment:
Got this MB for a family/media PC build, so my requirements were rather modest. The BIOS is very basic, none of the fancy options on the Asus EFI BIOS for example. The older BIOS was missing too many options so I decided to upgrade to the latest version. Unfortunately, this bricked the MB and try as I may, none of the recovery options worked, so I had to RMA iit. FOrtunately, Intel offers an express crossship RMA option, albeit at a 25$ US cost.The replacement had a newer BIOS (not latest but recent enough) so I skipped the BIOS update  this time.I ran into an issue using 2x4G CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 memory sticks where Windows would just freeze (With a corrupted display). Turns out it was a common issue with several H67 Intel MBs using 2 RAM sticks. Raising the memory voltage manually in the BIOS from 1.5 to 1.6V solved this issue. Not ideal, but an acceptable workaround.On the plus side, the HDMI support is great. I have a dual monitor setup with the HDMI connected to my Denon Receiver and it works great. Kids can use it to browse the internet or play games and I can easily use it to play 1080p HD movies without needing to muck with settings or wires (except switching the Audio output).Not the greatest MB out there, but much less expensive than the equivalent ASUS or similar, so not such a bad choice for the budget minded.