Z77 Motherboard Round-Up: MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel

Name: Intel Z77 Chipset
Brand: Intel

by Marco Chiappetta — Sunday, April 08, 2012, 12:01 AM EDT

Here we have the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. Like the other motherboards featured here, the Z77X-UD5H is an enthusiast class, Z77 Express-based motherboard for socket 1155 Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors.

The Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H offers all digital voltage regulation; a feature that Gigabyte calls 3D Power. The board is also part of Gigabyte’s “Ultra Durable 4” family of products, and is reportedly outfitted with double the amount of copper within the layers of the PCB and a new fiberglass fabric in the PCB which reportedly offers better humidity protection. Ultra Durable 4 branded products also reportedly offer enhanced electrostatic and thermal protection as well.

In terms of more tangible features, the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H offers a total of 16 USB ports (10 USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0), six SATA 6Gbps and four SATA 3Gps connectors, CrossFireX and SLI support, DualBIOS technology, and On/Off Charge support. The Z77X-UD5H also offers every display output option available (VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DP) and integrated mSATA. The mSATA port is located right about in the center of the board and makes it easy (and relatively cheap) for users to take advantage of Intel’s Smart Response Technology. Using the mSATA port, however, will disable one of the standard SATA ports.

Speaking of things getting disabled, we should also point out that the bottom PCI Express slot (x16 physical, x4 electrical) is only usable when an Ivy Bridge CPU is installed in the board.

Other standout features of the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H include dual Gigabit LAN (one Intel controller one Atheros controller), integrated Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 audio, and a new 3D BIOS UEFI. Gigabyte’s 3D BIOS give’s users the ability to click on a section of the motherboard to tweaks its options, although an advanced menu with a more comprehensive list of options is also available.

Inside the box, Gigabyte provides a pretty nice bundle with the Z77X-UD5H as well. Along with the board, we found a couple of manuals, a driver / utility CD, a case badge, a I/O shield, an SLI bridge connector, four SATA cables, and a bay mountable pair of USB 3.0 ports.

Tags: Intel, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Motherboard, Socket 1155, Z77

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com