Super-budget Intel motherboards

Performance Analysis

On the whole, performance was as expected considering that both motherboards were up against premium models sporting more recent and more advanced chipsets and technology. While they were usually the slowest in the graphs, they were never more than a couple of per cent behind the rest of the pack, no doubt spurred on by relatively low CPU overheads thanks to a lack of on-board features to deal with.

Overall in the media benchmarks they were actually faster than two Z77 motherboards we've tested at stock speed, although their multi-tasking score was noticeably slower, probably due to the fact that we were unable to force the memory to run above 1,333MHz on either board.

The ASRock H61M-VS managed to keep up with other boards when we slapped our GeForce GTX 680 2GB into it as well. In the Shogun 2: Total War it was just 1fps off the minimum frame rate of the slowest other board, the MSI Z77A-G43. Unsurprisingly, when we switched to the on-board GPU, the minimum frame rate dropped a little, while the MSI H61I-E35 (B3) had a slight lead.

Both boards showed similar performance in our Crysis 2 test using the on-board GPU, with a minimum of 16fps a piece. When we dropped our GeForce GTX 680 2GB in again, ASRock H61M-VS managed a minimum frame rate of 62fps - a little faster than our graphics test system with the same card and a Core i5-2500K albeit with slightly newer drivers.


Conclusion
This article is more of an investigation into what you can expect at the lower end of the motherboard market rather than a review of the motherboards in question. However, both proved to be adequate for most situations if you're building a low-end, wallet-friendly PC or even an HTPC.

Our personal favourite is the MSI H61I-E35 (B3). Its size and the fact it has an HDMI port, means that it's well-suited to a low-power but cable system if you're prepared to live with your CPU's on-board graphics. It's the perfect partner for a cheap LGA1155 CPU - for example, you can still buy Sandy Bridge Pentiums with models such as the Pentium G620 retailing for less than £50, making the total outlay less than £100 for a modern CPU and motherboard.

Intel's latest on-board graphics tied in with its Ivy Bridge CPUs still aren't what we'd call adequate for demanding 3D games but for dealing with HD content playback and streaming as well as very low power consumption, they make a compelling alternative to AMD's offerings, especially if you're keen on keeping heat and noise to a minimum.

If gaming is more of a concern, then the ASRock H61M-VS might be worth a look, but only if you're going to drop in a discrete graphics card. With no HDMI or DVI outputs - only VGA - you'll otherwise be limited to your monitor's ability to display a decent picture using the VGA port, which is usually pretty dire.