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GIGABYTE Z77X-D3H Motherboard Review

By on April 26, 2012 1:37 am
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Gigabyte's Z77X-D3H is one of the company's mid range offerings supporting the brand new Ivy Bridge range of processors. We are now allowed to show results with Ivy Bridge processors and can bring you a full review of this affordable Socket 1155 motherboard with a i7-3770K processor.

Introduction & Specifications

Ivy Bridge has finally landed and accompanying Z77 motherboards have been available for a few weeks now. As one of the largest motherboard manufacturers, Gigabyte is ready with a full range of motherboards covering every price point from entry level to high end. The Z77X-D3H sits in the middle of the range. It has an affordable price and a feature set that should appeal to a significant section of the market.

The Z77X-D3H is ATX sized and is, of course, a Z77 chipset motherboard supporting socket 1155 processors from the Sandy Bridge line and more importantly, the all new 22nm Ivy Bridge series. The major additions over the Z68 chipset are the addition of integrated USB 3.0 ports and native PCI-Express 3.0 capability.

We'll start off with a general overview of the Z77 Panther Point chipset.  Note that some features including Intel's Thunderbolt interconnect are not available on most motherboards at this time.

 

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Specifications

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 Chipset:

  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.
  3. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920×1200
Audio
  1. VIA VT2021 codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  4. Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN
  1. 1 x Atheros GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion Slots
  1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
    (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
    * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
    * The PCI Express x16 slot supports up to PCI Express 2.0 standard when an Intel 32nm (Sandy Bridge) CPU is installed.
  2. 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.
  3. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
    * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_1/2/3 slots. The PCIEX1_1/2/3 slots slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed.
  4. 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
    (PCIEX4 and PCIEX1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
  5. 1 x PCI slots
Multi-Graphics Technology
  1. Support for 2-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology (PCIEX16 and PCIEX8)
    * The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode when AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI is enabled.
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.

1 x Marvell 88SE9172 chip:

  1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/GSATA3 7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
  2. Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1
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 (2 ports on the back panel, 4 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.
Internal I/O Connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
  4. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  5. 1 x mSATA connector
  6. 1 x CPU fan header
  7. 3 x system fan headers
  8. 1 x front panel header
  9. 1 x front panel audio header
  10. 1 x S/PDIF Out header
  11. 1 x USB 3.0/2.0 header
  12. 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  13. 1 x serial port header
  14. 1 x Clear CMOS jumper
  15. 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 USB 2.0/1.1 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, Side Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out)
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 eXtreme Hard Drive (X.H.D)
  6. Support for Auto Green
  7. Support for ON/OFF Charge
  8. Support for Q-Share
  9. Support for 3D Power
  10. Support for LAN Optimizer (Intelligent optimization network management tool)
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 7/XP
Form Factor
  1. ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

 

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