Overclocking With Gigabyte Z77X Motherboards
Gigabyte Z77X-UP7
The UP7 is reminiscent of Halloween. It sports a black-and-orange motif, and of the trio of mainboards we’re looking at here, this one is the flashiest in terms of both style and features. The heatsinks on the PCB feature “Thin Fin” technology, which is designed to facilitate better heat dissipation by dint of offering more surface area.
The UP7 has the same all-digital "3D Power" array of the other two Gigabyte boards, but it has a 32+3+2 power phase configuration. The large red power button is inexplicably far away from the tiny blue reset switch, but it’s right next to the CMOS switch. There’s also an LN2 switch for extreme overclockers as well as switches to toggle between BIOSes.
Brave souls can also make use of the overclocking buttons on board. The Gear button changes the base clock stepping by 0.1 MHz, while the two sets of +/- buttons raise or lower base clock and CPU ratio.
The UP7 has the same all-digital "3D Power" array of the other two Gigabyte boards, but it has a 32+3+2 power phase configuration. The large red power button is inexplicably far away from the tiny blue reset switch, but it’s right next to the CMOS switch. There’s also an LN2 switch for extreme overclockers as well as switches to toggle between BIOSes.
Brave souls can also make use of the overclocking buttons on board. The Gear button changes the base clock stepping by 0.1 MHz, while the two sets of +/- buttons raise or lower base clock and CPU ratio.
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| CPU: Chipset: Memory: Graphics: Audio: Connectivity: Slots: Storage: USB 3.0: Form Factor: |
Support for Intel Core i7/i5/i3 and Pentium and Celeron processors in the LGA1155 package Intel Z77 Express Chipset 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory Dual channel memory architecture Support for DDR3 2800(OC)/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules Support for non-ECC memory modules Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules Integrated Graphics Processor: D-Sub, DVI-D (1920x1200), HDMI (1920x1200), DisplayPort (2560x1600) Support for 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI technology Realtek ALC898 codec, High Definition Audio, 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, Support for S/PDIF In/Out Atheros GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN1) Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Supports 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS, 2.1+EDR 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, running at x16 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, running at x8 2 x PCI Express x1 slots Chipset: 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors 1 x mSATA connector Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 2 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors Support for RAID 0 and RAID 1 Chipset: Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header) Up to 4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers) VIA VL800 chip: Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel Etron EJ168 chip: Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (available through the internal USB header) E-ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 26.4cm |
The UP7 offers the same processor, memory, and display support as the other two motherboards (including seven expansion slots), but it also boasts support for up to 4-way CrossFire/SLI graphics. We should point out that three of those slots are PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots with x16 electrical connections, with two more at x8. There’s also a pair of PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots.
Like the other two boards’ SATA configurations, the chipset supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 while a pair of Marvell chips delivers RAID 0 and 1 support. There are six total SATA 6Gbps connectors, four SATA 3Gbps connectors, and an onboard mSATA connector, too.
The chipset also provides a total of four USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports while a VIA chip offers another four USB 3.0 and an Etron chip has another two. In addition to the aforementioned I/O ports, the back panel has a PS/2 port, optical S/PDIF, six audio jacks, and dual LAN ports.
Inside the box, it’s like Christmas. Gigabyte included the manual, utilities disc, I/O shield, and SATA cables as well as SLI and CrossFire bridges (up to four-way), a dual-eSATA and MOLEX power bracket, dual-USB 3.0 bracket, MOLEX-to-dual-SATA power adapter, pin header extenders, and a WiFi/Bluetooth 4.0 expansion card.
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Like the other two boards’ SATA configurations, the chipset supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 while a pair of Marvell chips delivers RAID 0 and 1 support. There are six total SATA 6Gbps connectors, four SATA 3Gbps connectors, and an onboard mSATA connector, too.
The chipset also provides a total of four USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports while a VIA chip offers another four USB 3.0 and an Etron chip has another two. In addition to the aforementioned I/O ports, the back panel has a PS/2 port, optical S/PDIF, six audio jacks, and dual LAN ports.
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Inside the box, it’s like Christmas. Gigabyte included the manual, utilities disc, I/O shield, and SATA cables as well as SLI and CrossFire bridges (up to four-way), a dual-eSATA and MOLEX power bracket, dual-USB 3.0 bracket, MOLEX-to-dual-SATA power adapter, pin header extenders, and a WiFi/Bluetooth 4.0 expansion card.
