Motherboards

Gigabyte Z77X-UP4-TH LGA1155 Motherboard Review

by Ed Smith01111

Features and Specifications

The following comes from Gigabyte.us‘s product page for the Z77X-UP4-TH. I’m just grabbing the bits that make this board special, not the entire features list. The entire features list is far too long!

 

Dual Port Thunderbolt™ Motherboards
GIGABYTE motherboards, the very first to offer fully certified dual onboard Thunderbolt™ ports. Capable of connecting up to 12 devices plus 3 digital displays simultaneously, with breathtaking data transfer speeds that can transfer 1TB of data in only five minutes, GIGABYTE Thunderbolt™ motherboards offer the fastest connection interface ever on the desktop PC.
 

 

 

Daisy Chain Technology – Up to 12 devices + 2 Display monitors
Compatibility may vary according to system configuration and device specifications.
Requirement of 3 monitors output : Thunderbolt or display monitors plus 1 RGB or HDMI monitor.

 

GIGABYTE Thunderbolt™ motherboards allow users to daisy chain up to 12 devices simultaneously via an incredible bi-directional 10Gbps data pipeline that includes both PCIe and DisplayPort traffic. GIGABYTE Thunderbolt™ motherboards redefine desktop PC connectivity to make it far easier to connect multiple high speed storage devices and HD displays to your PC than ever before.
Performance may vary according to system configuration and device specifications.

 


Dual Thunderbolt™ – Fast, Flexible and Simple Connectivity for your Motherboard
GIGABYTE Thunderbolt™ motherboards are the first to be certified by Intel featuring dual Thunderbolt™ ports directly on the motherboard back panel I/O, with each Thunderbolt™ port supporting a maximum data transfer speeds with simultaneous bi-directional data transfer at speeds of up to 10Gbps – this means you can transfer a full HD 1080p movie in under 30 seconds.

GIGABYTE’s dual port Thunderbolt™ implementation ensures the absolute maximum potential connectivity, with support to connect up to 12 individual devices simultaneously, with each port offering full 10Gbps bandwidth.
 
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5

 

 

High Current, Low Heat CPU Power Zone Design Features IR Digital Power Controller and IR3550 PowIRstage® Ics
The GIGABYTE motherboard employ award winning GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 technology that includes high current capable components for the CPU power zone including IR3550 PowIRstage® ICs from International Rectifier, 2X Copper PCB and high current Ferrite Core Chokes rated up to 60A, which together are able to deliver up to 60°C* cooler temperatures than traditional motherboards. Featured on a range of new motherboards based the Intel®X79 and Z77 Express Chipsets, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 technology is the next evolution in quality motherboard design…more

 

Ultra Durable 5

 

 

 
 
GIGABYTE All Digital Power Engine
GIGABYTE Z77 series motherboards take advantage of an exclusive All Digital PWM controller array, to deliver power to the board’s 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor. Using entirely digital controllers means that more precise power delivery to the motherboard’s most power hungry and energy sensitive components is possible. These components include the CPU, VTT, processor graphics and memory, without doubt the most important components on your motherboard. This All Digital Power system, with Precise Auto Voltage Compensation, provides you with exceptional control over the component power delivery on your GIGABYTE 7 series motherboard.

 


GIGABYTE 3D Power: Digital Voltage, Frequency and Phase Control
Utilizing an exclusive All Digital controller array, GIGABYTE’s 3D Power features precise Auto Voltage Compensation to deliver a steady flow of power to the system, no matter the loading. With digital controllers for the CPU (Vcore), VTT, processor graphics and memory (DDR), users can make real-time adjustments with the exclusive GIGABYTE 3D Power Utility, that include settings such as OVP (Over Voltage Protection), Load-line Calibration and on-the-fly PWM frequency adjustment.

The big thing about digital power is that it is actively controllable, classic analog designs have a fixed frequency and fewer voltage steps. All the Z77 motherboards I’ve seen are digital for the CPU, but the memory, graphics, and VTT are only digital sometimes.

You also get what Gigabyte calls 3D Power Control. I don’t see the 3D part, but you do get to change the advanced options on the power regulators for all the above power circuits. This is exceedingly rare, usually you only get to play with the CPU bits, if any.

The other Nice New Thing comes from the Ultra Durable 5 stuff too, IR (International Rectifier)’s new all-in-one MOSFETs. They take the traditional high side MOSFET, low side MOSFET and MOSFET driver and combine them into a single IC. This greately improves the efficiency. It’s not new, the Ultra Durable 4 boards all used similar parts, but those weren’t from IR and were a significantly older design.

 

How about some specs?

 CPU
  1. Support for Intel® Core™ i7 processors/Intel® Core™ i5 processors/ Intel® Core™ i3 processors/Intel® Pentium® processors/Intel® Celeron® processors in the LGA1155 package
  2. L3 cache varies with CPU

(Some Intel® Core™ processors require a graphic card, please refer “CPU support List” for more information.)
 Chipset
  1. Intel® Z77 Express Chipset
 Memory
  1. 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
    * Due to Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.
  2. Dual channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR3 2400+ (OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
  4. Support for non-ECC memory modules
  5. Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

(Please refer “Memory Support List” for more information.)
 Onboard Graphics Integrated Graphics Processor:

  1. 1 x D-Sub port
  2. 1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920×1200
    * The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter.
    * Simultaneous output for DVI-D and the MDP2 Thunderbolt port is not supported.
  3. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920×1200

Intel DSL3510L chip:

  1. 2 Thunderbolt ports (MDP1/MDP2) support for Mini-DisplayPort and Thunderbolt monitor(s), and supporting a maximum resolution of 2560×1600.
    * When a monitor connected to the DVI-D port, the MDP2 Thunderbolt port can support Thunderbolt storage device(s) only.
    * Due to PC architecture I/O resources limitation, the amount of the Thunderbolt devices can be used is dependent on the quantity of PCI Express and PCI devices be installed. (Refer to Chapter 1-7, “Back Panel Connectors”, and Chapter 2, “Peripherals\Intel(R) Thunderbolt” for more information.)
 Audio
  1. Realtek ALC892 codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  4. Support for S/PDIF Out
  5. Support for S/PDIF In
 LAN
  1. 1 x Realtek GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
 Expansion Slots
    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
      * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.

    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
      * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.

    1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
      * The PCIEX4 slot is available only when an Intel 22nm (Ivy Bridge) CPU is installed.
      * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX8 and PCIEX16 slots. When the PCIEX4 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode and the PCIEX8 will operate at up to x4 mode.
      (The PCIEX16, PCIEX8 and PCIEX4 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
      * Whether PCI Express 3.0 is supported depends on CPU and graphics card compatibility.

    1. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
      (The PCIEX1 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

  1. 1 x PCI slot
 Multi-Graphics Technology
  1. Support for AMD CrossFireX™ / NVIDIA SLI technology
 Storage Interface Chipset:

  1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/SATA3 1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  2. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2~SATA2 5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  3. 1 x mSATA connector
    * The SATA2 5 connector will become unavailable when the mSATA connector is installed with a solid state drive.
  4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
    * When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.
 USB Chipset:

  1. Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB headers)
    * In Windows XP, the Intel USB 3.0 ports can support up to USB 2.0 transfer speed.
  2. Up to 6 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers)

VIA VL800 chip:

  1. Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel
    * Due to a Windows 7 limitation, please connect your USB device(s) to the USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) before the VIA USB 3.0 controller driver is installed.
 Thunderbolt Intel DSL3510L chip:

  1. 2 Thunderbolt ports on the back panel
    Intel® Certified Thunderbolt™ Device
 Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  4. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  5. 1 x mSATA connector
  6. 1 x CPU fan header
  7. 4 x system fan headers
  8. 1 x front panel header
  9. 1 x front panel audio header
  10. 1 x S/PDIF In header
  11. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  12. 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
  13. 3 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  14. 1 x serial port header
  15. 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
  16. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
 Back Panel Connectors
  1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
  2. 1 x D-Sub port
  3. 1 x DVI-D port
  4. 1 x HDMI port
  5. 6 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
  6. 2 x Thunderbolt ports
  7. 1 x RJ-45 port
  8. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  9. 5 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Line In, Line Out, Mic In)
 I/O Controller
  1. iTE I/O Controller Chip
 H/W Monitoring
  1. System voltage detection
  2. CPU/System temperature detection
  3. CPU/System fan speed detection
  4. CPU overheating warning
  5. CPU/System fan fail warning
  6. CPU/System fan speed control
    * Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/system cooler you install.
 BIOS
  1. 2 x 64 Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AMI EFI BIOS
  3. Support for DualBIOS™
  4. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.6, ACPI 2.0a
 Unique Features
  1. Support for @BIOS
  2. Support for Q-Flash
  3. Support for Xpress Install
  4. Support for Xpress Recovery2
  5. Support for EasyTune
    * Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model.
  6. Support for eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
  7. Support for Auto Green
  8. Support for ON/OFF Charge
  9. Support for Q-Share
  10. Support for 3D Power
  11. Support for EZ Setup
  12. Support for Cloud Station
 Bundle Software
  1. Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
  2. Intel® Smart Response Technology
  3. Intel® Rapid Start Technology
  4. LucidLogix Virtu MVP
    * Make sure the monitor cable has been connected to the integrated graphics port on the back panel.
 Operating System
  1. Support for Microsoft® Windows 8/7/XP
 Form Factor
  1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm
 Remark
  1. Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors’ website or 3rd party website.
  2. Most hardware/software vendors may no longer offer drivers to support Win9X/ME/2000/XP SP1/SP2. If drivers are available from the vendors, we will update them on the GIGABYTE website.

That was a lot of specs! It’s a bit short on rear USB ports in my opinion, if you have Thunderbolt devices that makes up for it though. Rather than picking through the above and generating another few pages of text, I’ll skip straight to pictures. I like pictures better anyway.

 

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