Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H Review – Z77 and MicroATX
by Ian Cutress on May 24, 2012 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Gigabyte
- Z77
Z77 motherboards are currently spanning a wide range of prices - as low as $80 after rebate and up above $300 if you want a board with everything. Today we have looked at the Gigabyte Z77MX-UD3H, a microATX board hoping to make waves at the $135 price point.
Gigabyte is continuing their trend of supplying a factory overclock to the processors used in this board. Should your processor utilize turbo modes to boost the single threaded throughput, the Z77MX-D3H will tell the processor to utilize its top turbo mode even in multithreaded scenarios. This invariably leads to greater performance at stock in these scenarios, at the expense of power draw. I also had no issues with running my DDR3-2400 9-11-11 G.Skill RipjawsX in this board, which can sometimes present problems in other boards.
Therefore, for our $135, we get a top performing board in all things dealing with processor throughput. In terms of features, as we are dealing with a smaller microATX board at the low end of the price bracket, we would assume a distinct lack of add-ons. However, Gigabyte has decided to still keep dual GPU SLI/Crossfire compatibility on board, with the possibility of three-way GPU if a user decides to add in a third single slot graphics cards together (and the third card being PCIe 2.0 x4 speed). This opens up possibilities of using this board in a dual-card SLI+PhysX layout.
Elsewhere on the board, we have a strange selection of NIC/Audio compared to almost every other non-Gigabyte motherboard on the market, as the Z77MX-D3H uses an Atheros NIC and Via VT2021 audio. The NIC selection might be understandable - as the high end Gigabyte boards use Killer NICs made by Atheros, Gigabyte probably have a deal for Atheros to also supply network controllers for the rest of the Gigabyte range.
Negative points are seemingly few - the aesthetics of the board are not much to look at, the software could use a large amount of redecorating and upgrading, the BIOS isn't exactly the most stable if you are overclocking and I'm rather suspicious with the integrated software layer fixing the voltage output value in the operating system. The fan controls are relatively basic as well, with other manufacturers investing heavily in fan control. We do not get a lot in the box, but this board is built to meet as low a price point as possible whilst still giving reasonable profit margins. I would have still liked to see perhaps a mini-PCIe slot on board with a WiFi card, or another couple of SATA ports to push this board to the next level.
The Z77MX-D3H does represent a good board for its size and price point. Nothing would stop this board being a small powerhouse underpinning an Ivy Bridge build. There are a few fundamental issues that need updating (software, fan controls) before I could give this motherboard an award, but I would gladly recommend it to friends and family as part of a good mATX Ivy system.
25 Comments
View All Comments
Soulkeeper - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
I like gigabyte, nice review.However, those temperatures for the IB overclock remind me of prescott for some reason.
Night201 - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Works great. Running it with an Ivy Bridge i5-3450 with 8GB RAM and an older 8800gt GPU.Iketh - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Aren't those asrock computation results interesting. The board requires the least volts for your stress tests, yet it appears this is because the board isn't allowing the CPU to stretch its legs.zero2dash - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Looks like an even better board than the GB, and it looks like there might be more clearance for the front panel headers even with a 2nd GPU installed.tuxRoller - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Can you confirm that F10 supports ecc ram?Thanks/liam
milkod2001 - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
are u guys planning to review: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H?Would love to see how much better it's compared to mobo u've just reviewed and how it stands against ASUS and MSI offerings
xeers
IanCutress - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link
We have one in, plan to review it at some point amongst all the others :)Ian
Patflute - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Interesting right?Patflute - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
Oh its not the exact samectbaars - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link
1 x 8-pin 12V connector (In spec table) or 1 x 4-pin 12V connector (In photo)and does it really matter / have any effect on power delivery for CPU or SLI/Xfire anyway?