GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H (rev. 1.0) Pro Reviews

We do not want to underestimate the value of numerous great features Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H has to offer, the most significant one being its problem-free behavior. This mainboard just works as expected. You don’t have to do anything to make your CPU work at its true nominal frequency. You don’t have to check out if the power-saving technologies are enabled or not. There are no BIOS update issues. It offers a lot of setup options and reacts adequately to any changes in them. Any configuration changes are quick and easy and the mainboard responds adequately to anything you do. There are mainboards with lots of additional controllers and extensive functionality and there are mainboards which are inexpensive and simple, but among both categories it is not so often that we find such a problem-free product as Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H.

A good value Ivy Bridge motherboard, but back up before you set up an SSD cache

The Intel Z77 chipset is the natural successor to the Z68 and P67 chipsets that have been providing support for Intel's 2nd generation Core (Sandy Bridge) CPUs. Z77's incremental upgrades over Z68 aren't enough to convince sensible enthusiasts to make the jump over to the new chipset. assuming they already own a Sandy Bridge chip. Z77's release is supposed to coincide with the launch of the 3rd generation Core (Ivy Bridge) processors. Intel, however, has pushed them back, making this a somewhat anachronistic release, and this mismatch between launches is what makes it difficult to evaluate Z77 in the right context. Moving forward, Ivy Bridge chips and Z77 boards are sure to make for good bedfellows, so if you're in the market for a new PC build, soon, all the evidence suggests that this combination will be the mainstream standard setter for the remainder of 2012.