GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H WiFi & GA-Z77X-UD3H Mobo Reviews

[Apoptosis]

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H WiFi & GA-Z77X-UD3H

The Intel Z77 Express chipset is now out in the wild! To celebrate we are going to be looking at two Intel Z77 motherboards from GIGABYTE. The GA-Z77X-UD5 WiFi and the GA-Z77X-UD3H will be given an in-depth look in this review. How will they do against another Intel Z77 and Z68 motherboard? Read on to find out as we put these boards and the new chipset to the test with a Sandy Bridge processor!

The Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB WiFi is unique in the sense that it includes a PCIe expansion card that offers Bluetooth 4.0 and IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity. This board is obviously aimed at those with mobile devices like the Applie iPhone 4S that already support Bluetooth 4.0 for quick wireless data transfers. This board also features a 12 phase power VRM design that is cooled by a passive cooler that is interlinked with a heatpipe. We also like that the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB WiFi has two LAN ports and that one of them uses an Intel GbE LAN chip. We've had good luck with Intel controllers and not all boards use them...

Article Title: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H WiFi & GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard Reviews @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1890/1/

[Major_A]

Bottom line... Z68 -> Z77 worth the upgrade? Seems like there's a lot of small stuff that was updated. And a quick look at the Egg shows Z77 aren't that much more expensive than a Z68 board.

[XstollieX]

Bottom line... Z68 -> Z77 worth the upgrade? Seems like there's a lot of small stuff that was updated. And a quick look at the Egg shows Z77 aren't that much more expensive than a Z68 board.

If you are building a new system, I would go with Z77. If you are already using a Z68 motherboard, it's not really worth upgrading at this point in my opinion. When we start testing with the 22nm processors we will see if there is a performance difference between the chipsets.

[Major_A]

I do like the inclusion of a mPCIe slot onto the motherboards. Too bad there are some many stipulations with them. If you run a drive in the mPCIe then SATA port 5 is unavailable. You can only run a mPCIe SSD not a mPCIe WiFi card.

Figures too that this just came out. My cousin asked me to build him a rig for Diablo III and he ordered all the parts two days ago.

[Apoptosis]

You can always run a mSATA to 2.5" adapter: http://www.sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=1210



I see no point in upgrading a Z68 board to Z77... It has native USB 3.0 and that is pretty much it. yawn

If you are building Sandy Bridge then yeah, by all means go Z77 as that is the latest and greatest. That said, you might be able to pick up a great deal on a P67/Z68 board now that they are 'old'. The chipset design itself remains 65nm and the architecture is close to the same.

[jnanster]

Thank you for the nice, solid review.
Been always happy with Asus and Gigabyte boards, this again proves their worth.
Slick 'n Simple OC software, nice addition, makes anyone a pro.
Just what a good MoBo should do.