Gigabyte H97 SATA Express M.2 SSD UEFI DualBIOS DDR3 1600 LGA 1150 Motherboard GA-H97-D3H

Amazing motherboard with a ton of features! I haven't built a computer in a couple years and I feel like the difference in quality is phenomenal. This is my 2nd Gigabyte board (with my other one 6 years old and still going strong), and I was not disappointed. I needed an upgrade for my computer at a decent price, and this paired with an Intel i3/Corsair Vengeance RAM fit the bill. Sturdy motherboard with a very fast boot.edit, ~1 week later:Pros:+ I was able to eliminate my old PCI X-Fi sound card in favor of the awesomely decent onboard sound this board has. The rear port has an amplifier that offers a great improvement to the range of sound volume. I have a male-female 3.5mm AUX pulled up onto my desk so I can quickly swap between my headphones and the front left/right of my 5.1 speakers. The difference is huge when not using the front port.+ With fast-boot enabled, Windows 8.1, and a Samsung 840 EVO SSD, a cold boot is usually at my desktop before my monitor can turn on all the way.Cons:- Make sure you check BIOS settings and correctly enter RAM timings/speed for full potential.- This may have been a user error or issue with my Windows install, but if you have issues getting a regular SATA HDD recognized by Windows, make sure that you plug your SSDs into the SATA express ports and HDD/DVD/Blu-Ray into the other 6.

I have built my own computers for 20+ years. I usually select Gigabyte motherboards for my builds (currently have a z170 one in my kid's computer). I can usually figure out and correct when there is an issue with a build.However, this board broke that streak. I was getting random BSOD's, and my programs like my Norton Antivirus would crash. In the event viewer, Windows was reporting it as memory corruption, but it was not providing exactly what was wrong. I had the most current BIOS installed and the recommended drivers directly from Gigabyte's website. I tested the ram, the cpu, the hard drive with various utilities and they came back with a clean bill of health. I then began by replacing each item with a known good working part. I replaced the power supply, then the ram, then the SSD, then the video card, and finally swapped the CPU. I kept getting the same issues.I finally gave up and began reading online, and discovered a forum where they use this motherboard to build cheap Mac clones (install Apple's operating system on traditional PC hardware). It turns out a lot of them were experiencing the same issues, and most just gave up and bought another motherboard. It seems that some of these motherboards has some type of memory corruption when they are put into sleep mode. Looking back now at my crashes and instability issues, it was when I was waking the computer from sleep.I sent it back and replaced it with an Asus z97-A/USB 3.1 motherboard with my original parts. I have had ZERO issues. I still like Gigabyte and will still buy their products, but this board was a waste of 7-10 days trying to get it to work. Just Google 'h97-d3h sleep issues' and save yourself some time if you have the same issues I did.

My only complaint about this mobo so far is the fan control. I had two case fans hooked to SYS_FAN 1 and SYS_FAN 2 that the fans only 'twitched' and never would turn on (cool system?) except at POST for a second or two. I had to go into the BIOS and turn these on to "full speed" to make them work. I would like a better fan control interface. Other than that I'm extremely happy with the MOBO itself and all the features.Oh, I'd also like more SATA connections. Maybe a dozen or so? :D My case (Rosewill R5) has all these bays and I can't use them all!

The product is nice but now I am getting a random realtek popup telling me that I am plugging in and unplugging an audio jack which is not happening and nothing is moving so its not a short in a cord. I also tried unplugging my speakers and the same thing forcibly pops up. I am suspecting its a bad solder spot on the board or something along those lines but I have turned the notices off for now. I googled this and it seems to be a common problem though it may or may not be with this board specifically. Otherwise it works great.

Solid motherboard. I use this in my PC( I've had it for 2.5 years) and i made my brother a machine with it(1.5 years). No issues. Fairly-easy-to-navigate bios. Variety of PCI(e)-type slots, 3 case fan headers (good for ATX Cases that use 2 front intakes and 1 rear exhaust, for example.) Has 1 M.2 SSD port, which i haven't used yet but will most certainly use soon.Just something to note for newbies: this motherboard is LGA 1150 socket. It works with "Haswell" CPUS from 2013 and 2014, as well as DDR3 RAM. At this point in time i would go with newer tech (LGA 1151, Z370 chipset "Coffeelake" )unless you can find a really really good deal on this board, and a really really good deal on a Haswell i7 (or Xeon).

Hope it lasts longer than the LGA-1155 Gigabyte mobo it replaced (about three years). Since boards with the LGA-1155 pin layout are harder to find and well behind the tech curve, I decided to replace with the LGA-1150 board and new CPU. Passed POST and booted first time. Could use a couple more fan headers, but not a deal breaker. For the price, I like the features and layout. Not an "enthusiast" or overclocker's delight, but plenty good for everyday computing and light-to-moderate gaming.

My last build was with an ASUS P55M board. I want to start using an ssd drive and the P55M supports only Sata 3GB/s. So I decided to pick a board that is at least at the moment, future proof. After some research going back and forth between Gigabyte and ASUS mobos and between H97 and Z97, I decided on this Gigabyte H97 board - due to the good reviews and lower price than the ASUS. Installation was a breeze with the help of the pictorial installation instruction for the Intel i5 cpu. This was a cheap upgrade for me since I was able to use my old Seasonic 420 W psu, Samsung 8 GB ram and a Seagate hdd. All was assembled in a new Corsair 330R case. The price of ssds have been coming down lately, so I am waiting for them to come down further before getting one.

Good product. I have bought two of these.

Works very well, the only downside is the fact that I cant overclock with it (have to go for the Z series). Other than that, preforms well and would recommend it to someone looking for a reliable cheap board.

very reliable and good quality as expected from Gigabyte

A good and reliable motherboard, one of the few left motherboards that support DDR3 which makes it easier to transfer those rams

Solid, durable, Good looks. Great Budget board. DOes not support SLI