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Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H Intel Z77 Motherboard Review
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H Intel Z77 Motherboard Review - PCSTATS
PCSTATS really liked what we saw from Gigabyte's Intel Z77 based GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard -- the board graciously offers up a comprehensive feature set, its layout and implementation are well executed and the build quality is first rate.
 84% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Gigabyte May 02 2013   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H

360-Degree Motherboard Gallery: Features and Layout

360-Degree Motherboard Gallery:

Gigabyte's LGA1155 GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard comes equipped with two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots. The board supports single videocards at x16 mode and two-way ATI CrossfireX / nVidia SLI set ups in x8/x8 mode. The third physical videocard slot actually runs at just PCI Express x4. All graphics slots are PCI Express 3.0 compliant. Remaining expansion slots include three PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots and a PCI slot.

Spacing between the two videocard PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots is wide; a dual-slot videocard will only block the second PCIEx1 slot. If you opt for SLI or CrossFireX, it will cost you the PCI slot as well.

Along the bottom edge of the GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard are headers for front panel audio, Trusted Platform Module, (3) USB 2.0, a PORT80 card, two fan headers and a BIOS switch (to change between A or B BIOS).

Next to the front panel IO headers we find the PORT 80 display, (2) 6Gb/s SATAIII ports (grey) from the Marvell controller, (4) 3Gb/s SATAII (black) and (2) 6Gb/s SATAIII jacks (white) from the Intel Z77 chipset which support RAID 0/1/5/10. Next to the SATA ports is a SATA power connector (delivers more juice to the videocard slots) and a USB 3.0 header. No USB 3.0 bracket is supplied, however.

The Intel Z77 Express chipset only needs a simple passive heatsink for cooling. Since all the duties of the Northbridge (memory controller, integrated graphics, PCI Express lanes) has been off loaded to the processor, the Z77 chipset is not a whole lot more than a glorified Southbridge.

Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard supports 32GB of DDR3-1600/1333/1066 non-ECC memory in a dual channel configuration, though DDR3-1600 memory is apparently only supported with a 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU in the drivers seat. The four 1.5v DIMMs support XMP.

The board's power button is big and red and illuminated so it's easy to spot in a dark case. Next to the power button are Reset and CMOS reset buttons, the latter being a little too close to the others for our liking. Enthusiast overclockers get a set of voltage read points for Vcore, CPUVtt, VSA, CPUPll, VDimm, DDRVtt and PCIIO.


Intel Socket LGA1155 for Intel 2nd/3rd-Generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs.

Like all Intel Z77 platforms, the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H supports both 32nm 2nd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Sandy Bridge' processors and 22nm 3rd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Ivy Bridge' socket LGA1155 processors.


Socket LGA1155

Another cool feature Gigabyte tacked on is something called '3X USB' Power. Briefly, while standard USB 2.0 ports are limited to 500mA power loads and USB 3.0 to 900mA, the motherboard is capable of delivering 1500mA per USB 2.0 socket and up to 2700mA per USB 3.0 port. On top of that, each USB port is individually fused.

Here we find a USB 3.0 header for front panel USB 3.0 ports; USB 3.0 expands bandwidth to 4.8Gb/s - much quicker for moving 8GB movie files around! Next up, PCSTATS tries its hand overclocking a Core i5 processor on the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H motherboard, but first a quick look at the BIOS features and overclocking.

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Contents of Article: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H
 Pg 1.  Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H Intel Z77 Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  Overclocking Tools and Intel Z77 Chipset Details
 Pg 3.  Intel Z77 Express Chipset + VirtuMVP
 Pg 4.  — 360-Degree Motherboard Gallery: Features and Layout
 Pg 5.  Overclocking Report and BIOS Walk through
 Pg 6.  Video Transcoding, Power Draw and Conclusions
 Pg 7.  Test System Specs + Sysmark 2012 Benchmarks
 Pg 8.  PCMark Vantage Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 9.  SiSoft Sandra: CPU Motherboard Benchmarks:
 Pg 10.  Sandra: Memory Motherboard Benchmarks:
 Pg 11.  3DMark 11 Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 12.  3DMark Vantage Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 13.  3DMark 06 Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 14.  IGP Motherboard Benchmarks

 
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