Provided by: Gigabyte
No compensation was received for review of this product.
Price Point
Price: $169.99 USD
Class: Mainstream
At a price of $169.99 USD, the Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H falls in the category of Mainstream motherboards.
Performance
The Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H motherboard performed as expected. Some anomalies were found while overclocking and will be explained in the reviewer's opinion.
Reviewer's Opinion
After an initial balk at going 100% Digital (Power VRM/PWM), Gigabyte has finally jumped on board full circle with their line up of Z77 chipset, 7-Series, and Intel 3rd Generation Core Series compatible motherboards. They are also using a new color scheme, which I feel is more appealing to the eyes than the 1990’s Circus Colors their past motherboards wore.
The strong points of the Z77X-UD3H are definitely the all digital engine and the amount of expansion options the board has: on-board mSATA connector Ultra Durable 4, their new 3D BIOS that can be used to tune the entire board from 3D visual mode, and their Easy Setup software that activates not only Intel Smart Response but, Intel Smart Connect and Intel Rapid Start. If you choose not to use all, I suggest trying at least one, as they can make your computing experience a better experience.
Being a Z77 motherboard means you can take advantage of the on-die (iGPU) Intel 4000 Series HD Graphics. This board offers multi-monitor support as well as Lucid Virtu MVP. With Virtu MVP, you can utilize both a discrete graphics card and the iGPU in tandem to take advantage of another Intel Technology called Quick Sync. The plus for this board are the multiple connection points for the iGPU, you are not limited to HDMI, DVI and VGA connectors are also available on the rear I/O panel.
With a new design comes a few shortcomings, Gigabyte needs to work on their digital engine. I don’t think it requires a hardware fix but definitely a BIOS fix needs to be a top priority. I had problems with the install of the OS. None of the USB ports worked and I needed to use a PS/2 Keyboard. When switching from I-mode to D-mode, the system would not send a signal to the PCIe and a clear CMOS was needed to fix the problem. I use a specific mouse for testing and that is the Razer Copperhead. Although recognized, I could not use it in the BIOS. (Other USB mice did work, but what if this was my only one?) mSATA onboard is a great concept but requires you to attach an extra SATA power cable to the motherboard if you choose to run your system with multiple graphics cards.
We now come to why I feel that a BIOS fix needs to be looked at immediately, during stock default usage voltages and frequencies adjusted within operating limits. Turbo Boost kicked in when it should have and base clock frequencies moved within spec. Performance Tuning is where I saw the problem. I set my load line calibrations and other VRM settings as the system came unstable to reach the frequency I was shooting for. I also did the same with the voltages on the CPU. (Final 1.34V) While running my benchmarks, I noticed that there were many times the board was displaying an over volt (up to 1.46) or an under volt (1.056V). This was using software programs, AIDA and PC Wizard to monitor. We also had the problem of the floating base clock. The backclock would adjust itself anywhere from .5 to .9 MHz (as seen in Performance tuning section). This can be a major problem because if it's not fixed with that much voltage and frequency switching, you may cause the processor to fail.
Let’s give Kudos to Gigabyte for entering the all Digital Engine realm. The Z77X-UD3H has many nice innovations and integrations. I’m sure Gigabyte will be working on the problems I stated above and, with those revisions, this board does have potential.
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