Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard supports
DDR3-1600/1333/1066 memory in a dual channel configuration, though DDR3-1600
memory is apparently only supported with a 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU in the drivers
seat. The largest memory density for 64-bit operating systems is 32GB, for
Windows 32-bit you're capped at 4GB max. The four 1.5v DIMMs support Extreme
Memory Profiles (XMP).
In this
corner by the memory we find a nice large red power switch. The power symbol is
illuminated so it's easy to spot when the board is installed in dark case. Next
to the power button are Reset and CMOS reset buttons, the latter being a little
too close to the others for our liking. Enthusiast overclockers get a set of
voltage read points for Vcore, CPUVtt, VSA, CPUPll, VDimm, DDRVtt and PCIIO.
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Socket LGA1155 for Intel 2nd/3rd-Generation Core
i3/i5/i7 CPUs.
|
Like all Intel Z77 platforms, the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
supports both 32nm 2nd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Sandy
Bridge' processors and 22nm 3rd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Ivy Bridge' socket LGA1155 processors.
|
Socket LGA1155
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One other neat feature Gigabyte has added to its
boards is called 3X USB Power. Briefly, while standard USB 2.0 ports are limited
to 500mA power loads and USB 3.0 to 900mA, the motherboard is capable of
delivering 1500mA per USB 2.0 socket and
up to 2700mA per USB 3.0 port. On top of
that, each USB port is individually fused.
The USB
3.0 header for front panel USB 3.0 ports. While USB 2.0's 480Mb/s maximum
bandwidth is fine for smaller thumb drives, USB 3.0 expands that bandwidth to a
massive 4.8Gb/s - much better for moving 8GB movie files around!
Next up,
PCSTATS tries its hand overclocking a Core i5 2500K processor on the Gigabyte
GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard, but first a quick look at the BIOS features and
overclocking.
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