GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 TH (rev. 1.0) Pro Reviews

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5-TH is a solid motherboard with some very good features. While it is not an edge-of-the-envelope overclocker, it is far from timid. If you have use for the Thunderbolt technology and extremely robust wireless integration, the Z77X-UP5-TH could certainly be a solid workhorse for a very fast system with tremendous bandwidth. All of this comes with a $238.99 price tag, which is certainly a value if you can leverage the feature set. And with that we say goodbye to the Z77 chipset as far as HardOCP reviews go.

What is most apparent in the benchmark and overclock numbers with these three Gigabyte boards is that they’re nearly perfectly matched in terms of performance. All other factors being equal, they delivered virtually identical scores and overclocks. Although the fact that the Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H, UP5 TH, and UP7 motherboards offer up such similar performance may be unexciting to users who are likely to spend a bit more on a component to get an edge on performance, what this tells us is that Gigabyte has strong consistency in manufacturing. Gigabyte boards are typically solid, and these overclocking tests solidify that point somewhat.It’s worth mentioning, then, that when you drop more cash on one of Gigabyte’s mainboards, you’re mostly paying for features as opposed to performance: The UD4H only costs around $165, while the UP5 TH is about $250, and the UP7--which, to be fair, has an impressive list of features and a far more extensive accessory bundle--will run you in the neighborhood of $400. In any case, hitting 4.6GHz with mainstream cooling and modest voltages is a solid mark. We definitely could have pushed the system higher and likely could have maintained stability for a while, but we found that at 4.7GHz and even 4.8GHz, CPU core temps quickly climbed upwards of 100 degrees C with the Corsair H55 we were using, and a CPU has no business running that hot for any length of time.

Summing up the results of our today’s review of Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH mainboards we should definitely once again point out their numerous advantages. The boards have very smart and balanced layout, their functionality has been enhanced with a number of additional controllers, they support all contemporary interfaces including the latest Thunderbolt. Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH is a well-balance product for every-day type of tasks, while higher-end Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH boasts large accessories bundle and supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies thanks to GC-WB300D add-on card. The distinguishing feature of Gigabyte mainboards on Intel Z77 Express chipset is the mSATA connector that allows taking advantage of such technologies as Intel Smart Response or Intel Rapid Start. Gigabyte mainboards have been long known for their remarkable attention to detail. Is it these mainboards that were the first to start using color-coding for the front panel button and indicator connectors, to start marking the slots not only on the textolite next to them, but also inside the slots and connectors themselves. Today we are definitely pleased to see convenient wide latches on the graphics card slots and helpful color-coding of the memory DIMM slots. We are particularly pleased with the quality of the new Gigabyte 3D BIOS, which offers not only the basic functionality for successful system overclocking and fine-tuning, but also Gigabyte’s unique distinguishing features, such as ability to adjust the rotation speed of the processor cooling fan even for three-pin fans and automatic saving of the latest settings profile after a successful system startup.

The performance and incredible feature-set of this board though do a pretty good job. This isn't a board for the gamer on a budget - this is for the person putting their PC together with more professional, productive leanings. And who wants to hit the highest gaming frame rates, too.

The Z77X-UP5 TH is a great board and comes to the market offering dual Thunderbolt ports. Is the market mature enough from the Thunderbolt side to need dual ports? A this time, we would say no, but with the rate at which we see Thunderbolt devices starting to show up, that time may not be far off and the ability to daisy chain 12 devices is something that cannot be overlooked. The board performs well and the BIOS is definitely better as the previous stuttering was not nearly as apparent if present at all. The efficiency is quite nice as we see it beating the Sniper 3 we had tested previously so things are definitely in a constant state of tuning which is a huge plus for performance enthusiasts looking for that extra edge. The Thunderbolt devices and tech may not be flourishing now but it will be soon as we already see devices dropping into the market so we really see no reason why having dual ports wouldn’t be a huge advantage in the near future pending you are a content professional or someone who can take advantage of what Thunderbolt has to offer of course. The Z77X-UP5 TH is simply a good efficient board with some nice features and performance to match. As long as you are looking for no more than dual GPU SLI configurations you are all set with the UP5 TH and we see no reason why we could not recommend it.

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH is targeted to the user who wants a motherboard with Thunderbolt ports and needs features not available on the Z77X-UP4 TH from the same manufacturer. The main differences that were added on the UP5 include the dual-band Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 4.0 expansion card, a high-end audio codec, two FireWire ports, one additional SATA-600 port, the inclusion of one eSATA-600 port, two additional USB 3.0 ports, a POST diagnostics display, and voltage monitoring points. For the user who is building a system to work professionally with audio and video editing or the user who wants to have the motherboard with the highest number of features possible, we consider the Z77X-UP5 TH a far better option than the UP4, even though it costs more.

When Gigabyte first contacted me about reviewing the Z77X-UP5 TH, I was fully expecting just an updated Z77X-UD5H. Instead, what I received, although clad in similar wrappings, was very much a different animal with a very different design. At first, I was a bit disappointed, but at the same time I realized that my expectations were, perhaps, a bit misplaced. The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH is pretty good, especially if memory performance is your thing. There are a few caveats in that CPU performance might suffer a wee bit, but under close examination, it seems a relaxed Turbo profile is at fault here. With today's Intel products, issues concerning Turbo are a definite reality, so much so that some might have noticed that I include default Turbo lists in my CPU-Z screenshots. Identifying such an issue really goes a long way towards getting the most you can out of your system. That said, it's pretty obvious that Gigabyte needs to get that issue solved, and put out a new BIOS as soon as possible - even if the current BIOS version is F4 and the boards have gone on sale within the last week or so. When you combine that with the Z77X-UP5 TH doing pretty well already, and notice that BIOS improvements have come a long way, it really seems that Gigabyte may have a real winner if they fix the BIOS issue. Power consumption and overall performance is decent already - just a simple change to how Turbo works and this board may be the very best Gigabyte product I've tested to date.