Layout

At a first glance the Gigabyte Z77X-UP4TH leaves a good impression with its harmonic design. The manfucaturer decided to go for a combination of black and blue, where there only a few blue stripes. The layout is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are SATA connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards.


The Gigabyte Z77X-UP4TH comes with a digital 6+2+2 phase power design. The CPU gets six phases, the IGP gets two phases and the memory can rely on two phases for stable current delivery. One can clearly see, that this is one of the things where Gigabyte has been saving in order to keep the price of the product low. Nevertheless, a power design like this is by far more than sufficient for standard use.


Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Z77X-UP4TH. Officially supported are DDR3 2800(OC) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066. There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3.


Southbrigde, northbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatsinks. The fact that the cooling blocks around the CPU socket aren't too big makes it comfortable to install a big aircooler. Since there is no complex heatpipe cooling solution, which put all the heatsinks into a look, this is another spot, where Gigabyte has been saving money. But still, lifting the board from the desk makes you feel, that there is some weight, which leaves adds to the subjective impression that this is a quality product.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 4 - Layout
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery	Page 5 - Connectors and I/O
Page 3 - Features	Page 6 - Conclusion

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