Intel DH61AG Apple Glen Mini-ITX Motherboard Review

By Steven Walton on November 9, 2011  Editor: Matthew DeCarlo

The battle to deliver the ultimate HTPC platform is heating up and has largely been waged between AMD and Intel. In the past, home theater machines have struggled to overcome various issues such as poor integrated graphics performance, power consumption, thermals, noise and size. However, many of these issues were addressed in January 2010 when Intel unleashed a new processor range codenamed "Clarkdale."

Based on a 32nm process, they were the first modern CPUs to incorporate an on-die GPU, which was dubbed Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD. Although Clarkdale chips solved many of the HTPC-specific problems faced by its predecessors, it still lacked proper support. Intel has since replaced Clarkdale with today's "Sandy Bridge" range, which boasts superior CPU and GPU performance with even less power consumption.

We recently reviewed a Mini-ITX Asrock motherboard designed to accommodate Intel's second-gen Core processors. The Z68M-ITX/HT impressed us as it was not only able to utilize the latest Intel processors but it also supported high-end PCI Express graphics cards. This made it an excellent entertainment solution as it was capable of replacing your Blu-ray player along with your gaming console.

Today's review item is a little different as we check out the Intel desktop board DH61AG, also known as "Apple Glen." Built around Intel's H61 chipset, which is designed to offer the most basic features to the Sandy Bridge platform, the DH61AG doesn't seem all that exciting on the surface. However, if you gaze a little deeper, you'll see this is no ordinary Mini-ITX motherboard. In fact, it's quite different than Asrock's HTPC offering.

Intel's DH61AG is based on the Thin Mini-ITX form factor, which was introduced on October 2010 and is targeted for smaller system form factors with a 0.78" (20mm) tall PCB/component design and a 1" (25mm) back panel I/O height. In other words, the DH61AG is designed to be fully compatible with low height components prevalent in the HTPC world, such as SO-DIMMs as well as full and half-length PCI Express mini-cards.

The board also utilizes Sandy Bridge's integrated graphics engine with support for HDMI and DVI-I which is complemented by flexible eDP or LVDS flat panel display support. The combination of low height components, premium features and an external power supply make the DH61AG the perfect solution for high performance AIO (all-in-one), Tiny FF (Form Factor) and home theater systems. Let's move in for a closer look…

Features & Specifications

Living up to the name of its form factor, the board measures an extremely compact 6.7 x 6.7 inches (17 x 17cm). Naturally, the primary focus here is size and everything about the DH61AG is designed to make it as small as possible. As such, it drops many of the features found on other LGA1155 motherboards, making the Z68 or even the H67 chipsets somewhat overkill. Therefore, Intel has used its most basic Cougar Point chipset: the H61.

Compared to the H67, there are quite a few features missing -- some more important than others. For example, the H61 chipset only supports two DIMM slots, 10 USB 2.0 ports, six PCI Express 2.0 lanes (2.5GT/s) and four SATA 3Gb/s ports. The H67 can handle four DIMM slots, 14 USB 2.0 ports, eight PCI Express 2.0 lanes (2.5GT/s), two SATA 6Gb/s ports and four SATA 3Gb/s ports. SATA 6Gb/s support is likely the most significant feature missing, and we should note that the H61 doesn't have any CPU or GPU performance tuning options.

The Intel DH61AG motherboard carries two SO-DIMM slots (support for up to 16GB dual-channel memory at 1066/1333MHz), two PCIe mini-card connectors (one half-length, one full-/half-length), a single PCIe x4 slot, two SATA ports, eSATA and USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports with high-current support, 10-channel audio, and Gigabit LAN. The board is hardly short on features and functionality considering its paltry footprint.

The SATA 3Gb/s ports are connected to the H61 chipset and the board features a SATA power connector onboard. When using the supplied power cable, the DH61AG can power two 3.5" or 2.5" devices. Additionally, the full size Mini-PCIe slot also supports mSATA SSDs such as the Intel 310 Series, 311 Series, Kingston SSDNow SMS100S2 and OCZ Nocti Series. The 3Gb/s eSATA connector on the I/O panel is also connected to the H61.

The 10-channel audio is delivered by a rather traditional choice in the Realtek ALC892 codec. This 8 + 2 analog audio codec is often found on high-end motherboards. However, Intel has only implemented analog/digital line-out and analog line-in on the back panel. The 8-channel (7.1) Intel HD Audio is supported when using HDMI. The board can also handle in-chassis stereo speakers, S/PDIF digital audio output, DMIC digital microphone input as well as front panel HD Audio/AC’97 headphones/mic support via onboard headers.

USB 3.0 connectivity is tackled by the NEC PD720200, which provides two ports on the board's I/O panel. You'll also see two hi-current USB 2.0 ports, which essentially means they're quicker at charging mobile devices such as smartphones. Network support is provided by an Intel Pro 10/100/1000 integrated NIC (model number 82579V, to be specific) and it has a Thermal Design Power of just 0.66w using the 90nm design process.

Design & Layout

With so many onboard headers, the Intel DH61AG's landscape is fairly unkempt-looking, but everything pieces together well enough and we couldn't spot any major design flaws. Unfortunately, we couldn't showcase the DH61AG in a suitable Thin Mini-ITX chassis as Intel didn't provide one, nor was the appropriate cooler included.

The standard LGA1155 box cooler measures 45mm tall, which is far too big for use in a thin chassis, though it can be installed on the DH61AG without any problems. There are aftermarket coolers such as the Gelid Slim Silence i-Plus which are much more compact, this particular example is just 28cm tall.

It is important to make sure an aftermarket heatsink will suit the DH61AG before making the purchase, as the CPU socket area is extremely busy. There is a pair of USB 2.0 headers that encroach on the CPU heatsink's territory and we suspect that many aftermarket coolers will block access to these headers.

Directly above the CPU socket are two SO-DIMM slots that are relatively easy to access. We populated them with a pair of G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1333 modules that ran just $40.

Immediately to the left of the SO-DIMMs is a full size mini-PCI Express connector which received a $200 Intel 310 Series 80GB mSATA (SSDMAEMC080G2) card -- a solid boot drive.

There is also a half size mini-PCI Express connector for optional wireless network support -- the $20 Intel WiFi Link 1000 (112BNHMW), in our case.

In the top left hand corner of the board is an internal 19v DC input that allows the DH61AG to take advantage of internal power connectors. There are also two vertically mounted SATA connectors along with a SATA power connector capable of feeding two devices.

Further across the board we have the LVDS/eDP connector designed for uSFF HTPC and AIO systems. Complementing this connector is a series of jumpers that allow display voltage selection, backlight inverter voltage control and display brightness control.

Along with the standard front panel header for the power/reset buttons as well as the hard drive and system activity LEDs, a second header targets home theater users. Known as the HTPC header, it includes a recording LED, HDMI CEC access and more. The consumer IR (CIR) header is also HTPC-orientated and supports an internal Microsoft eHome IR receiver.

Finally the 1" (25mm) tall I/O panel features an external 19v DC plug, dual link DVI port, HDMI-out, eSATA, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet and two audio jacks.