Good day, I have finished my build, and running fine. The board is designed to work when you need it, that is, if something is not needed, it will cut off the power to it. Energy efficient as is were. Great when the movie and sound are in sinc, when I surf there is no hesitation to load anything. The i5 has four threads to it. How much it does after that I don't know, I haven't experimented or read enough to mention something. It does come with VIA HD sound software, mixer and everything included in it. It is more of an enterprise board, but can be overclocked within the setup. Max out the RAM and definitely a good game machine. It is 64 bit and Windows 8 compatible, so should be a good machine for years to come and take what "Bill" can throw at it!