GIGABYTE Z97X-UD3H Black Edition Motherboard Review

Extended server level 168 hour Durability Test

GIGABYTE Black Edition motherboards undergo an extra 168 hours (7 days) of stress testing before shipment to ensure premium quality for our customers. During the 168 hour test, each motherboard needs to pass rigorous, full system validation testing for 1 full week. GIGABYTE has built a custom testing facility at our Taiwan (Nanping) factory. A Certificate of Validation is included with every board, issued by the GIGABYTE factory and signed by the manufacturing VP & GM to indicate that each board has passed our highest test standards.

GIGABYTE 9 Series Motherboards

GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards support the latest 4^th & 5^th Generation Intel^® Core™ processors, bringing together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer the absolute ultimate platform for your next PC build.

Extreme Multi-GPU Support

Flexible graphics capabilities supported for either 3-Way CrossFire™ or 2-Way SLI™ action, delivering the ultimate in graphics performance for gaming enthusiasts who demand the highest frame rates without compromising on resolution.

M.2 Onboard Connector

GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards come equipped with an onboard M.2 slot, providing users PCI-Express connectivity for SSD devices. Delivering up to 10 Gb/s data transfer speeds, M.2 offers users considerably faster storage performance than current mSATA and even SATA Revision 3 (6Gb/s) storage devices.

SATA Express Connector

SATA Express interface provides multiple PCI Express lanes and 2 SATA 3.0 6 Gb/s ports, exposed through the same connector, allowing use of both PCI Express and SATA storage devices. Exposed PCI Express lanes are providing a pure PCI Express connection to the storage device, without any additional layers of abstraction.

Intel^® Gigabit LAN

Intel^® Gigabit LAN networking, a popular choice with gamers that features several performance-enhancing features such as advanced interrupt handling to help reduce CPU overhead and Jumbo Frame support for extra large data packets.

cFosSpeed

GIGABYTE motherboards feature cFos Speed, a network traffic management application which helps to improve network latency, maintaining low ping times to deliver better responsiveness in a crowded LAN environment. cFos Speed works in a similar way to an OS driver, monitoring network traffic packets at the application layer, allowing optimization and improved network performance for specific applications.

Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio

The ALC1150 is a high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec that delivers an exceptional audio listening experience with up to 115dB SNR, ensuring users get the best possible audio quality from their PC.

The ALC1150 provides ten DAC channels that simultaneously support 7.1-channel sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the front panel stereo outputs. Two stereo ADCs are integrated and can support a microphone array with Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), Beam Forming (BF), and Noise Suppression (NS) technologies. The ALC1150 incorporates Realtek proprietary converter technology to achieve Front differential output 115dB Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) playback (DAC) quality and 104dB SNR recording (ADC) quality.

Built-in Rear Audio Amplifier

Specially designed for gamers, GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable™ motherboards utilize a high-capacity amplifier which is able to drive 600Ω loads, giving gamers a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion when using high quality professional headphones.

Dedicated Audio Hardware Zone

+ Separation on the PCB layer protects the board’s sensitive analog audio components. + Separate analog and digital ground to protect against Electromagnetic Interference (EMI).

APP Center

GIGABYTE APP Center gives you easy access to wealth of GIGABYTE apps that help you get the most from your GIGABYTE motherboard. Using a simple, unified user interface, GIGABYTE APP Center allows you to launch all GIGABYTE apps installed on your system.

EasyTune™

• Smart Quick Boost provides users with different levels of CPU frequencies to choose to achieve desired system performance.
• Advanced CPU OC allows users to set CPU base clock, frequency, and voltages, and integrated graphics frequency.
• Advanced DDR OC allows users to set the memory clock.
• 3D Power allows users to change power phase, voltage, and frequency settings.

Cloud Station™

GIGABYTE Cloud Station™ is composed of several GIGABYTE unique apps that allow your smart phones/tablet devices to communicate, share resources, and control desktop PCs via wireless connection.

10K Durable Black™ Solid Caps

GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards integrate the absolute best quality solid state capacitors that are rated to perform at maximum efficiency for a guaranteed minimum of 10K hours. Not only do they provide ultra-low ESR no matter how high the CPU loading, they also come in customized jet black from Nippon Chemi-Con and Nichicon.

2x Copper PCB Design (2 oz Copper PCB)

GIGABYTE’s exclusive 2X Copper PCBs design provides sufficient power trace paths between components to handle greater than normal power loads and to remove heat from the critical CPU power delivery area. This is essential to ensure the motherboard is able to handle the increased power loading that is necessary when overclocking. 

5x (15μ) Gold Plated CPU Socket Design

GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards come equipped with a gold plated CPU socket, which means that enthusiasts can enjoy absolute reliability and longevity for the CPU socket overtime, without having any concerns about corroded pins and bad contacts. 

GIGABYTE Patented DualBIOS™ (UEFI) Design 

GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable™ motherboards feature GIGABYTE DualBIOS™, an exclusive technology from GIGABYTE that protects arguably one of your PC’s most crucial components, the BIOS. GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ means that your motherboard has both a ‘Main BIOS’ and a ‘Backup BIOS’, making users protected from BIOS failure due to virus attack, hardware malfunction, improper OC settings or power failure during the update process.

ESD Protection for USB and LAN

GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards raise the bar in terms of protecting your system, providing advanced electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for both your Ethernet LAN and USB ports, both common sources of ESD-related failures. Each LAN and USB port is paired with a dedicated protection filter that can withstand high electrostatic discharges, protecting your system from common electrical surges and even direct lighting strikes.

Power Failure Protection with Anti-Surge IC

GIGABYTE 9 series Ultra Durable™ motherboards also feature special anti-surge ICs that protect your motherboard, and your PC from any surge in power delivery that may occur, helping to ensure that your PC is equipped to deal with any potentially irregular and inconsistent power delivery. 

Humidity Protection with New Glass Fabric PCB

There is nothing more harmful to the longevity of your PC than moisture, and most parts of the world experience moisture in the air as humidity at some point during the year. GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards have been designed to make sure that humidity is never an issue, incorporating a new Glass Fabric PCB technology that repels moisture caused by humid and damp conditions.

Glass Fabric PCB technology uses a new PCB material which reduces the amount of space between the fiber weave, making it much more difficult for moisture to penetrate compared to traditional motherboard PCBs. This offers much better protection from short circuit and system malfunction caused by humid and damp conditions. 

All New Heat Sink Design

GIGABYTE 9 series motherboards feature new heat sink designs that offer uncompromisingly efficient cooling on key areas of the motherboard including the PWM area and chipset (PCH). GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards offer cooling support of the crucial PWM area so even the most aggressive and extreme configurations will be kept well within optimal thermal parameters.

GIGABYTE OPT Fan Support

Many of today’s 3rd party water cooling systems require CPU fan power support for both the cooling fan and the water pump. GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards feature OPT fan support, an additional CPU fan pin header that can be used to connect a water pump and configured for continuous full speed operation. The OPT Fan is also useful for high performance coolers employing two fans. 

4K Ultra HD Support

4K resolution is the next technological milestone in high-definition content delivery, utilizing approximately 4,000 pixels on the horizontal axis, more than four times today’s standard HD pixel density. GIGABYTE motherboards provide native 4K support with integrated Intel^® HD Graphics via HDMI.

HDMI™-The Next Generation Multimedia Interface

HDMI™ is a High-Definition Multimedia Interface which provides up to 5Gb/s video transmitting bandwidth and 8-channel high quality audio all through a single cable. Able to transmit superior, uncompressed digital video and audio, HDMI™ ensures the crispest rendering of digital content up to 1080p without the quality losses associated with analog interfaces and their digital-to-analog conversion. In addition, HDMI™ is compatible with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), allowing the playback of Blu-ray/HD DVD and other protected media content.

DVI Support

DVI (Digital Visual Interface) is a video interface standard designed for carrying uncompressed digital video data and to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices, such as LCD monitors, digital projectors, and so on. In addition, the DVI interface is compatible with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection).

So this board is definitely heavy on the feature list, which is most certainly welcome at the given price point! And with that let us move on and take a look at some information of the Z97 chipset as well as the specifications of this particular motherboard. Let us move onto a bit of information regarding the Z97 chipset itself as well as the official motherboard specifications!