GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP7 (rev. 1.0) Pro Reviews

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.

If Gigabyte was going for more sales, from my perspective, if some of the IR3550s were removed and the system reduced to just over $300, it might get more takers, although the rebuttal is that the Halo Product of the range should be a no-holds barred affair. For many extreme overclockers, price is no object and the best will only be good enough – the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 is a good contender for that spot for sure, but for everyone else it is a big ask to hand over $400.

If you're looking for a top of the line motherboard and budget isn't a concern, the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 may just be the board for you. The performance is solid, overclocking is a joy and was extremely easy and all in all was a rock solid Intel Z77 motherboard!

The board has few negative attributes, none of which take away from its appeal and monstrous performance. Its color scheme, black and orange, is a bit odd. I am more a pure black or black and red scheme type, but black and orange is better than the black and blue that a lot of manufacturers go with. Another quibble I have with the board is in the CMOS battery placement. If you are using more than two video cards in the system, you will have to remove some of the cards to gain access to the battery. The only other shortcoming, albeit a minor one, is the lack of a PCI-Express x1 slot in between the CPU socket and the primary PCI-Express x16 slot. This could pose problems if you want to use the included wireless add-in card and use a quad-card-based video solution.

Throughout this review we pointed out a few shortcomings of the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 mainboard, but we have to conclude that nevertheless, it is a very good product overall. While its advantages are indeed numerous, the shortcomings are really few. The first one refers to the way this board work with the fans, which could have been better. It doesn’t allow to adjust the rotation speed of the three-pin processor fan, only two system fan connectors allow lowering the fan rotation speeds. Only five fans out of seven that can be connected to this mainboard can be controlled, and only four of them are adjustable. The second shortcoming is that numerous video Outs take up a lot of space in the mainboard back panel. We doubt that they will all be used on an overclocker mainboard, and especially on a mainboard supporting advanced multi-card graphics configurations. However, this is why there was no room left on the back panel for USB 2.0 and eSATA ports. Although, you shouldn’t forget that the board comes with a kit including cable and bracket for two external Serial ATA devices, which kind of makes up for this shortcoming. And finally, the major issue is the processor voltage regulator that is unable to dynamically change the number of active phases depending on the workload at a given moment of time. This, as well as many phases in the circuitry, makes Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 the most power-hungry of all our testing participants. However, all the above mentioned cons become significant only when we consider Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 for a quiet and energy-efficient home system. However, the mainboard’s primary purpose is still overclocking. In this respect, all the above mentioned drawbacks are not that critical at all. It doesn’t really matter that we cannot adjust the rotation speed of all cooling fans connected to this mainboard, because they will most likely work at their maximum speed anyway to ensure the highest overclocking scores. The exceptionally powerful processor voltage regulator circuitry with 32 phases immediately turns into an obvious advantage, because it is claimed to be able to withstand up to 2000 W, according to a marketing video. We have already seen overclocker mainboards and mainboards equipped with an additional hub, which are positioned as solutions for multi-card graphics configurations. Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7 has the best of both worlds. Moreover, a special graphics card slot directly connected to the processor will ensure the highest possible speed even when there is only one graphics card installed.

GIGABYTE thinks so much of this motherboard that it gave the Z77X-UP7 its own micro-site, which will show you the feature sets very clearly. We think fairly highly of the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 as well. While the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 is certainly not cheap at $399, it is not as expensive as some of the motherboards we have seen in the past with such a huge feature set. If you can leverage this deep feature set, and have the wits and experience about you to get into the BIOS to push the overclocking prowess contained within, you should be very pleased with the value the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 represents.

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 is a dream motherboard for any overclocker who is building a computer based on a socket LGA1155 processor. Its main highlight is the powerful voltage regulator circuit, with an astonishing 32+2+3 design. Other features will attract overclockers, such as the buttons to adjust the base clock and the CPU multiplier. Extreme gamers will love the capacity to install up to four video cards in SLI or CrossFireX configuration without bandwidth loss, thanks to the PLX PEX8747 swtich chip. As if this were not enough, the Virtu Universal MVP can combine the video performance of the CPU-embedded GPU as well. Additionally, the Z77X-UP7 comes with a high-end audio codec, an mSATA slot, six SATA-600 ports, Wi-Fi card, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, dual BIOS, debug display, and a beautiful design. The only drawback of this motherboard is its price tag of USD 400, but it is worth every cent.

Gigabyte has made a startling return to form with its Z77 series. Back in the Z68/Sandy Bridge era it was losing ground daily to the Asus front-runners, and small upstarts such as ASRock were really eating into its mobo numbers.

I think you already know what I'm going to say if you read the rest of the review. There's not much here I don't like, other than the BIOS issue any new product is going to face. Ultimately, right now, this board is giving me better overall 3D performance than any other Z77 Express board, even if those issues prevent me from running maxed out memory speeds. Overclocked efficiency is great, power consumption is great, expansion possibilities are great too – this board is clearly, well, great! The memory issue is, to me, pretty minor since Gigabyte is already working on it. Memory overclocking should be hard, and since there is, by design, little left to tweak on current Intel platforms, I really don't mind this particular drawback all that much. Having the add-in WLAN card for users that might need it is nice, especially since you can use it with other boards if you don't use it with the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7. There's a USB 3.0 panel, so you can make use of both internal USB 3.0 ports, the cables for all measure points, and the eSATA cabling. There are a ton of goodies in the box, but this is one item I take personally. Four more cables would come at a minor cost, even if they won't get used in most instances. A high-end board built to "do it all" should do it all without having to spend even more on accessories. I'd rather have two less USB 3.0 ports, and thereby no need for the 2.5-bay bracket, if it nets me those four cables, even if the board still cost the same.

The Z77X-UP7 is really a benching board, and nobody can deny that GIGABYTE brought its best to the ball park with this board. The UP7 has some serious capabilities and plenty of the right stuff to be competitive with the big boys in the professional overclocking arena. The UP7 supports 4 Way SLI, which means benchmarks that scale with high GPU counts will be well suited for this board. The UP7 can also be run as part of a massive gaming build is also possible. The slot layout allows for dual triple slot cards to be placed while having an air gap for optimal cooling. The included Bluetooth and WiFi card allows for a vast array of wireless connectivity to your new custom build. The Dual BIOS support allows for worry free overclocks as even in the worst case scenario, you still have a spare BIOS left. The 32 Phase VRM allows for so much power to be fed to the CPU that we cannot see any situation where the CPU would be left wanting for more power.