TechRadar Verdict
If you are on a very tight budget and want to experience what the Sandy Bridge CPUs are like, then the H61MX might be worth having a look at, but even then we're not that sure.
Pros
- +
A cheap way into Sandy Bridge
- +
Does what it says on the tin
Cons
- -
Few added extras
- -
Too pared back in terms of features
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If you want a Sandy Bridge board for a bargain price the Foxconn H61MX may just be the baord for you.
While all the flashy high-end motherboards make the news, win awards and make many a geek swoon, the real bread and butter end of the market is down at the other end of the coalface in the value market segment.
Here, making boards that don't cost that much to build and shifting them in huge numbers is the name of the game.
Although you may find some motherboard manufacturers using the B65 business orientated chipset in this market segment, Intel's de-facto chipset for the value end of the market is the H61 Express.
This is basically a cut down version of the H67, with only SATA 3Gbps support and up to 10 USB 2.0 ports instead of 14, making it an ideal platform for entry-level PCs.
One of the first boards to use the chipset to make it to our test bench is the H61MX from industry giants Foxconn.
Compared to the MSI's H61MU-E35, the H61MX looks, and is, a basic entry-level board. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long the price tag reflects it.