Thunderbolt hits the mainstream, and it's
attached to a good board too
It was way back in 2009 that Intel first
demonstrated its Thunderbolt interface (then known as Light Peak), boasting that
it would become a single unifying standard for everything, from storage to
networking and displays. Now, in the third quarter of 2012, the first products
based on the standard are finally making it to Windows-based desktop PCs. One
such product is the GA-Z77X-UP4H-TH.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4-TH
There's a lot to like about the UP4H. For a
start, it looks simply brilliant-its matt-black PCB exudes menace, and the gun
metal heat sinks dotted across it also look the part, thanks to their subtle
blue highlights and mottled finish.
Its specs sheet also makes impressive
reading, as the board not only boasts two of the aforementioned Thunderbolt
ports, but also a full bevy of display outputs, enough USB 3 ports to sink a
battleship and three 16x PCI-E3 slots. Multi-GPU enthusiasts should wait a
moment before reaching for their credit cards; however, as unlike the pair of
high-end boards we saw last month, the UP4H doesn't sport a PLX splitting chip.
This means that the 16 PCI-E 3 lanes provided by the processor are all you
have, so the second and third slots are limited to four lanes each.
Potentially of far more import to most
people is the fact that the UP4H is also one of the first Gigabyte boards to
feature the firm's new Ultra Durable 5 technology, denoted by the UP suffix.
This brings a number of new power features,
including improved VRM circuitry. Gigabyte has drafted in International
Rectifier's IR3550 PowIR stage ICs, which are specifically designed to run as
efficiently as possible. In theory, this should mean that less of the power
passing through the ICs gets lost as heat, so they'll run cooler.
With less power being lost, this should
also allow the use of lower voltages when overclocking, something which should
in turn make an overclocked Ivy Bridge CPU run cooler. The UP4H also uses
high-current 60A-rated ferrite core chokes - a move that Gigabyte claims
improves efficiency and reduces the heat output of the VRMs even further.
Outside of Ultra Durable 5, however, the
UP4H could be criticized for looking a little skinny in terms of overclocking
features, especially given that it costs $258.5. It lacks on-board power and
reset buttons, for example, and there's no rear-mounted CMOS reset switch or
POST code read-out either, all of which are toted by the Asus Maximus V Gene.
The use of lower voltages when overclocking
should in turn make an overclocked ivy bridge CPU run cooler
Performance
Out of the box, the UP4H proved to be quick
in our benchmarks, although it lagged behind our current recommended Z77 board,
the Asus Maximus V Gene, by a 1-2 percent in all our Media Benchmarks tests.
This added up to a difference of 77 points between the two boards' overall
scores, a small difference that's barely noticeable in everyday use.
This was also the case with gaming, with
both boards producing almost identical results in our Shogun 2: Total War test.
There’s decent selection of ports on the back, although a clear CM OS button
is notably absent
With the stock-speed testing out of the
way, we moved on to overclocking the Gigabyte board to see what its fancy new
VRM circuitry could really deliver. This meant navigating the UP4H's EFI, which
is relatively well laid out; the only niggle was the fact that the CPU
frequency and voltage settings are on different pages. This means that you have
to travel back and forth if you're fine-tuning an overclock.
After a few minutes of poking around, we
had our test CPU running at its maximum 4.8GHz. Intriguingly, the UP4H only
required a vcore of 1.3V to achieve this overclock - less than the 1.34V
required by the Maximus V Gene and miles better than the 1.37Vwehadto pump into
Gigabyte's own Z77X-UD5H.
This adds some credence to the company s
claims that its new VRMs are more efficient than those used previously. The
core temperature was also a very reasonable 81oC at these settings.
Out of curiosity, we also pushed our CPU up
to 4.9GHz briefly to see if Gigabyte's VRM circuitry could make this otherwise
unstable overclock hold, but as usual, the CPU crashed during the video editing
portion of our Media Benchmarks.
With the overclocked CPU, the UP4H
performed brilliantly, even outstripping the Maximus V Gene to romp home with a
Media Benchmarks score of 2,849 a new Z77 record, albeit only by 10 points.
Gaming performance also saw an appreciable
jump, although it wasn't enough to distinguish the board from the competition.
Conclusion
Gigabyte's new Ultra Durable5technology
enabled us to overclock our CPU to 4.8GHz with a vcore of just 1.3V
There are three PCI-E graphics slots, but
no PLX splitter chip, so the bottom two only get four lanes each
If you're building a new overclocked PC and want more expansion space, we
heartily recommend the UP4H.
The lack of a POST code reader, or on-board
power and reset buttons, makes the board look a little skinny in terms of
overclocking features
There's a lot to recommend the
GA-Z77X-UP4-TH. It looks great, overclocks well and its new-fangled VRMs have
tangible benefits. The only issue is that the Asus Maximus V Gene now costs
$242, and has more overclocking hardware features. That said, the Gene is
micro-ATX, so it isn't for everyone. If you're building a new overclocked PC
and want more expansion space, we heartily recommend the UP4H.
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Details
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Cool running:
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Stunning looks; premium components;
overclocks well
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Kool & the gang:
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Thunderbolt yet to fully take off; pricey
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Price:
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$258
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Supplier:
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www.dabs.com
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Manufacturer:
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www.gigabyte.com
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SKU number:
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GA-Z77X-UP4H-TH
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Chipset:
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Intel Z77
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CPU support:
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LGA1155 Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,
Pentium and Celeron
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Memory support:
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4slots: max32GBDDR3 (3,200MHz)
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Expansion slots:
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3 x 16xPCI-E3slot (one 16x, two8x
orone8xandtwo4x), one PCI, three1xPCI-E2 Sound HD Audio via Realtek ALC892
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Networking:
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Realtek Gigabit Ethernet
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Overclocking:
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C PU clock 80 -133MHz, CPU Multiplier 16 -
63; max voltages, CPU 1.85V, RAM 2.8V PLL2.2V
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Ports:
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4xSATA3Gbps, 2x SATA6Gbps, 1 x mSATA
3Gbps, 1xPS/2,8xUSB3, 6 x USB 2, LAN, 2 x Thunderbolt, 4xsurround audio out,
line-in, mic, optical S/PDIF out, DVI, D-Sub, HDMI
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Dimensions (mm):
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305x 244 (ATX)
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