There's nothing finer than a new chipset to kick the summer off, this year it's the Intel Z77 Express. In this review PCSTATS will put the performance oriented Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard, which is built on Intel's shiny new Z77 Express chipset, through its paces with the exceptionally popular 32nm 2nd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Sandy Bridge' processor. The main difference between the Intel Z77 chipset and the previous Intel Z68 is the addition of native USB 3.0.

Intel staggered the release of its Z77 chipset and upcoming 22nm 3rd Gen. Intel Core i3/i5/i7 'Ivy Bridge' socket LGA1155 processors to let each technology stand on its own two feet, but in reality the two are so complimentary you can't have one without the other. Furthermore, the chipset and CPU are backwards compatible with previous LGA1155 CPUs/motherboards so actual upgrading is a possibility for Intel users! While we can't say too much about the upcoming 'Ivy Bridge' CPU in this article, we can tell you it brings DX11 integrated graphics to the table via the Intel HD2500/4000 IGP. In any event, either SNB or IVB CPU architecture is well placed for mainstream and workstation PC systems in 2012/2013, so let's begin!

Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H is an all-black ATX sized motherboard for socket LGA1155 processors that features assorted integrated graphics outputs, an mSATA SSD slot and supports two-way graphics card set ups. The board is equipped with four 1.5v DDR-3 memory slots which accommodate up to 32GB of dual channel DDR3-1600/1333/1066 memory, 4GB for 32-bit operating systems. DDR3-1600 memory is only supported with 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs. Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) compliant enthusiast memory is supported, of course.

On the videocard front you have a couple options with this board - integrated graphics via the onboard HDMI/Display Port/DVI-D/Analog video outputs, or one or two discrete graphics cards. In terms of videocards, the GA-Z77X-UD3H can handle a single PCI Express Gen 3.0 x16 videocard (x16 mode), a PCI Express 2.0 x16 videocard or a two-way pair of nVidia SLI / AMD Crossfire cards (x8/x8 mode). Add LucidLogix VirtuMVP into the mix and things get interesting, but more on that in a moment.

Whether the graphics cards run on the PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 standard depends in part on the CPU. If an Intel 'Sandy Bridge' CPU is installed it's the PCIe 2.0 standard, if an 'Ivy Bridge' CPU is installed that changes to the PCIe 3.0 standard. The Intel Z77 chipset supplies a further eight PCIe lanes for system devices.

Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard retails for $170CDN / $179USD at Canada Computers, NCIX or Newegg.

LucidLogic Virtu MVP

Intel's integrated graphics excel at media transcoding via QuickSync technology, but most users prefer discrete videocards over integrated graphics so a company called LucidLogix developed a software tool called Virtu that permits dynamic switching between discrete and IGP graphics. Essentially, with Virtu you get the best of graphics cards for 3D games and the power saving and hardware encoding benefits of the IGP for desktop work. With the Intel Z77 chipset Lucid rolled out an upgrade called VirtuMVP that has two new 3D tools; HyperFormance which increases frame rates by eliminating redundant rendering tasks and Virtual Vsync which reduces screen tearing.

Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H supports VirtuMVP HyperFormance and Virtual Vsync