 So today we'll be doing a quick unboxing of the ASUS P7 H57D-V EVO. Now that may be a slightly confusing model number to most, but I can explain it. P7 is the latest generation of Intel processors, so it denotes socket 1156. H57 is the chipset. D means that it includes both true USB 3.0 and true SATA 6 gigabit per second. I don't know what the V means and I don't know what the EVO means, but I was pretty close. So is Windows 7 ready? As I mentioned before, it includes support for LGA 1156. That means Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7. But you should also note that on the Core i3 and the Core i5 dual cores, you also have support for the onboard video included with those processors. That feature won't work with Core i5 quad cores or with Core i7s. So let's go around to the back and see what ASUS has to say for themselves with this board. You've got SLI and Crossfire X support, which seems at first like kind of a weird thing for an H series chipset, which is a value series chipset, but this board is quite feature complete. And really it gives ASUS a way to release a powerful board with lots of features that includes support for onboard video as well as hybrid video should you require it. So let's have a look at the accessories that are included. The first thing we find is an I.O. shield. This is their premium looking I.O. shield with the fluffy back silvery thing on the back and a black... Okay, moving on. Then we have an eSATA and USB 2.0 PCI backplate. Next we have an IDE cable should you require it. Maybe you have an old DVD drive that uses one. Then we have an SLI bridge. It's flexible. Then we have their Q connectors. So this makes life a little bit easier for you if you're using an older case that doesn't have the USB connectors in a block. And it also makes your life a little bit easier for installing the front switches. Okay. Then we have four SATA cables, two right angle and two straight. They're black cables, which I always like to see. It makes your build look just a little bit nicer if you don't have like bright red or like bright yellow cables included. Okay. Then we've got a user's guide, which includes a support DVD as well as an ASUS sticker. Don't use this DVD. Download the latest drivers and utilities off the ASUS website. Alright. Let's get the mid-plate. ASUS' big thing for the last couple years has been green packaging. They don't use any foam in their packaging. It's a, you know, see? A piece of cardboard on the back of the motherboard instead of foam. It hasn't affected the reliability of the boards, so it's a great, great stuff that they've made. Alright. So like most LGA 1156 boards, and by that I mean all, there is an LGA 1156 socket right in the middle. So that's where you're going to have your support for Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7. Up at the top of the board, not quite in its ideal location, but it should still be quite easy to do cable management up to here. You've got your 8-pin CPU connector. So that's one indicator that this is not a low-end board, is that you do have an 8-pin CPU connector rather than a 4-pin. It's designed to deliver quite a lot of power to the CPU. It would be quite comfortable overclocking a Core i7 on this particular board. Moving along to the right, we have ASUS' trademark dual-channel DDR3 with their easy install system here. So that means that you've only got a clip on the top side, and all you do is slide the module in from the one side, and then clip it in from the top. Very nice to see. Here we've got our 24-pin connector, as well as ASUS' MemOK button. So that makes sure that no matter what modules you install in here, you press that button, it'll run them at a safe setting that makes it so you can post and then adjust according to what you require. Okay, moving down the board, we've got the chipset covered by a quite ineffective-looking heatsink, but that should tell you a little bit about the chipset here. The H57 chipset is not really doing a whole lot. It doesn't get very hot, so ASUS is able to make more of a fashion statement with their heatsink rather than have it actually worry about it cooling a really hot chip. Next, we have our IDE connector, which is there, and then we have the six SATA-II ports that are going to be run off the H57 chipset. Down along the bottom of the board, we have our front panel connectors, as well as a couple, oh, by a couple, I mean four USB 2.0 front headers. All of these blue ones are for USB 2.0. And then down at the very bottom here, we have our SATA 6 gigabit per second connectors. Personally, I would have liked to see these up where the IDE connector was rather than down there, but I guess that's life. Okay, then we have, oh, Firewire support, that's nice. We have a Firewire port right here, and then our front audio is right there. So that is where all the ports are. Now let's have a look at the PCI slot layout. Cameraman's racing ahead of me here. PCI slot layout is down here. There you go. Okay, so we have two PCIe 1x, two PCI, three PCIe 1x, pardon me, and then you have two PCIe 16x slots, but you can clearly see here, the pins only go up to here. So this one runs at 16x electrical, and this one runs at 8x electrical. Now that doesn't actually have any real-world impact on Crossfire configurations, so don't worry about that, but if you're running a single graphics card, you're going to want to throw it in here just because. All right, here they're using their Fortress of Solitude-style MOSFET coolers here. I really like these. I think they're very stylish-looking, and they do a reasonably good job of cooling. These are held down by pushpins, and so we can have a look at the top one there as well. Very cool. ASUS has really figured out color schemes on their boards in the last couple years. I mean, that's... It used to be like, you know, the cardboard, yellow-orangey-brown PCBs, and just random-looking. Now everything's sort of like an icy sort of theme look. Moving on. Next, we have USB 2.0 ports, one, two, three, four. That is all. Not a whole lot in terms of USB 2.0 ports. One PS2, one optical audio out. We have HDMI, DVI, and VGA out. Then we have FireWire and eSATA, one gigabit ethernet, and 7.1 audio. Did I mention USB 3.0? So you've actually got a total of six USB ports, and two of them are USB 3.0. Now with so many cases having four front USB ports, I can see why ASUS opted to include more internal headers rather than including more ports on the back of the board. So that seems like a pretty smart move. Thank you for checking out my unboxing of the P7H57D-VEVO.