Z77 Mobo Roundup II: EVGA, ASRock, Gigabyte, Zotac
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
Gigabyte built the Z77X-UD3H with an all-digital VRM and PWM design and gave users control over the voltage, phase, and frequency controls via its 3D Power utility, and there are plenty of hardware monitoring tools and software on board if you need to reign in your settings.
 |
|
|
CPU: |
Support for Intel Core i7/i5/i3, Pentium, and Celeron processors in the LGA1155 package |
The board can handle all Intel Socket 1155 Core i3/i5/i7, Pentium, and Celeron chips, as well as 32GB of DDR3-2666 (OC) system memory. On the graphics side of things, the Z77X-UD3H sports a D-Sub port, DVI-D port, HDMI port, and DisplayPort, and the board is ready for up to 2-way SLI/CrossFireX with three PCI-E x16 slots (one at x16, one at x8, and one at x4), three PCI-E x1 slots, and a PCI slot.
There are two SATA 6Gbps ports, four SATA 3Gbps ports, and one mSATA slot available via the chipset and another pair of eSATA 6Gbps ports on the rear I/O panel courtesy of a Marvell chip. Note that although the mSATA slot is a nice touch, it’s positioned rather close to the CPU socket, so it might be tricky to maneuver in there.
;)
;)
;)
The board wants not for USB ports, with four USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 available, along with another four rear USB 3.0 ports powered by the VIA chip; the rest of the rear I/O panel includes a PS/2 port, optical S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN port, and six audio jacks. In addition to the aforementioned big red power button, the Z77X-UD3H has physical reset and clear CMOS buttons as well as a BIOS toggle switch and a Debug LED.
;)
;)
;)
Gigabyte was downright Spartan with the accessories--our mainboard came with just the manual, installation guidebook, drivers and utilities disk, I/O shield, SLI connector, and a few SATA cables--and incongruously generous with the included software and utilities. In addition to the requisite Intel software (Rapid Start, Smart Connect, Smart Response), Gigabyte packed in its @BIOS and Q-Flash BIOS technology; Xpress Install and Xpress Recovery2; EasyTune and X.H.D. overclocking tools; 333 Onboard Acceleration to boost USB and SATA performance; and more.
