Gigabyte Z87 Haswell Motherboard Round-Up
Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
With its striking red accents that pop against a black and gray color scheme, the Z87X-UD4H represents a solid mid-range offering in Gigabyte’s lineup of Z87 boards. Its feature list is essentially a rundown of all the platform offerings with virtually no special extras, but the board certainly looks and feels high-end.
The ATX mainboard supports up to 32GB of DDR3-3000(OC) memory over four DIMM slots, and the onboard graphics options include DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, and D-Sub. The board has a plethora of expansion slots, including three PCIe x16 slots (running at x16, x8, and x4), three PCIe x1 slots, and a PCI slot, and it supports up to 2-way SLI or CrossFire.
There are six SATA 6Gbps connectors via the Z87 chipset (supporting RAID 0/1/5/10) and another four courtesy of a Marvell chip (that support RAID 0/1). Two of those Marvell ports can be switched to support two eSATA ports on the rear I/O panel. Between the chipset and a Renesas chip, the Z87X-UD4H supports ten USB 3.0 ports as well as six USB 2.0 ports.
These days, pretty much every motherboard in the mid range and above has physical power and reset buttons on the PCB, and indeed the Z87X-UD4H has them too, as well as a Clear CMOS button.
This board also sports a pair of switches that selects which BIOS you’re using and what BIOS options you see; the BIOS switch lets you opt for one of two BIOS configurations when you boot. You can either use a main BIOS or one you’ve carefully overclocked, while the SB switch alternates between the Dual BIOS or a single BIOS depending on preference. LEDs let you know which is active. There are also voltage measurement points on the PCB so you can check voltages with a multimeter.
The Z87X-UD4H's box contains the usual: a user manual and quick installation guide, driver and utilities disc, four SATA cables, the I/O shield, and an SLI bridge. It's not a decked-out bundle but for the money, it's a very good value.
The ATX mainboard supports up to 32GB of DDR3-3000(OC) memory over four DIMM slots, and the onboard graphics options include DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, and D-Sub. The board has a plethora of expansion slots, including three PCIe x16 slots (running at x16, x8, and x4), three PCIe x1 slots, and a PCI slot, and it supports up to 2-way SLI or CrossFire.
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CPU: Chipset: Memory: Onboard Graphics: Audio: LAN: Expansion Slots: Storage: USB: Form Factor: Price: |
Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron processors in the LGA1150 package Intel Z87 Express Chipset 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory Dual channel memory architecture, support for non-ECC memory modules and XMP Support for DDR3 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules 1 x D-Sub port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160 1 x DisplayPort, supporting a maximum resolution of 3840x2160 Maximum shared memory of 1 GB Realtek ALC898 codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Support for S/PDIF In/Out Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8) 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) 3 x PCI Express x1 slots 1 x PCI slot Support for 2-Way AMD CrossFire / 2-Way NVIDIA SLI technology Chipset: 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0~5) supporting up to 6 SATA 6Gb/s devices Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 Marvell 88SE9172 chip: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/7) or 2 eSATA 6Gb/s connectors on the back panel, supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1 Chipset: Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB header) Up to 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers) Chipset + 2 Renesas uPD720210 USB 3.0 Hubs: Up to 8 USB 3.0/2.0 ports ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm Currently reasonably priced - $187.85 |
The rear I/O panel is home to a PS/2 port (for old time’s sake); the
aforementioned D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort ports; optical
S/PDIF; six USB 3.0 ports; two eSATA ports; gigabit LAN jack; and six
audio jacks.
These days, pretty much every motherboard in the mid range and above has physical power and reset buttons on the PCB, and indeed the Z87X-UD4H has them too, as well as a Clear CMOS button.
This board also sports a pair of switches that selects which BIOS you’re using and what BIOS options you see; the BIOS switch lets you opt for one of two BIOS configurations when you boot. You can either use a main BIOS or one you’ve carefully overclocked, while the SB switch alternates between the Dual BIOS or a single BIOS depending on preference. LEDs let you know which is active. There are also voltage measurement points on the PCB so you can check voltages with a multimeter.
The Z87X-UD4H's box contains the usual: a user manual and quick installation guide, driver and utilities disc, four SATA cables, the I/O shield, and an SLI bridge. It's not a decked-out bundle but for the money, it's a very good value.