Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H

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DESIGN

The GA-Z77M-D3H (BMC) motherboard is based on the Intel Z77 chipset (code-named Panther Point), compatible with Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processors with socket 1155LGA.

In the popular segment, the Z77 BMC chipset is currently under intense competition from the BMC B75 chipset – the BMC chipset is considered to be the effective alternative to the H61 BMC chipset due to its superior support for SATA 3.0 And USB 3.0.

However, the BMC Z77 chipset still has some advantages and features that should be of interest to the user; For example, there are two SATA 3.0, Intel Rapid Storage Technology and RAID (RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10). Smart Response Technology (SRT) offers a combined SDD and HDD storage solution that improves system data access at a much lower cost than SSDs.

In addition, the Z77 BMC chipset supports overclocking better than the B75 chipset, but this is more theoretical than practical because most popular motherboards are not designed for overclocking purposes. You can refer to the information in the Panther Point chipset specifications table above.

Designed in line with popular configurations that meet the needs of learning, work and leisure. So, the GA-Z77M-D3H’s cooling system is pretty simple, just a small piece of aluminum on the chipset. The power supply to the processor has five phases and no heat dissipation on the MOSFETs; Same as some BMCs in the same line.

Ultra Durable 4 Classic technology with glass fabric PCB reduces circuit short in high humidity environments, ESD Resistance ICs and shock protection ICs. Power surge protectors (ICs) to protect motherboards and hardware devices in case of overvoltage or low voltage.

The GA-Z77M-D3H is a standard 24.4 x 22 cm micro ATX but has up to four RAM slots; Support for DDR3 RAM with up to 32GB total and dual channel. Practical experience shows that common configuration usually only uses two memory slots and the remaining RAM slots are reserved for future upgrades or redundancy in the case of faulty RAM slots.

The motherboard features two PCIe x16 slots for discrete graphics, with 16x slot 1 slot and 4x slot slots. In addition, BMC also supports traditional PCI interface through PCIe to PCI Bridge controller. This PCI interface is still widely used in many peripherals.

The BMC has six SATA ports, including two SATA 3.0 (white) and four SATA 2.0 (blue) Z77 chipsets.

USB 3.0 interface near the location of RAM, convenient for users when need to extend with USB 3.0 bracket (optional).

The BMC peripheral port number is quite plentiful, including three video outputs, D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI. Other connections include a PS / 2 keyboard (or mouse), 4 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0 ports, a 1Gbps RJ-45 network port and 7.1 HD audio.

In addition to the six USB 2.0 ports that extend through the three headers on the BMC, the GA-Z77M-D3H also incorporates iTE IT 8728F super I / O controller to handle traditional connections such as LPT, COM and Both PS / 2.

The GA-Z77M-D3H also comes equipped with DualBIOS technology with two BIOS ROMs for data recovery or replacement of the main BIOS when an error occurs.

In addition to the documentation, the driver installation disc and back IO shield, the accessories included are only two SATA cables (one SATA 2.0 and one SATA 3.0). With extended communications on the BMC, readers must purchase additional cables when needed.

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GA-Z77M-D3H LGA1155 M-ATX: Buy it now

Gigabyte LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6 Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP: Buy it now

PERFORMANCE

To test the performance of the Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H BMC, Test Lab uses a test configuration with the Intel Core i7-3770K, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1, and the corresponding driver. Performance evaluation tools include PCMark 7, ATTO Disk Benchmark, CineBench R11.5 (64 bit), Heaven Benchmark v3.0 and 3DMark 11. During testing, BMC works with the default settings of NSX and the tests are taken an average of three runs.

Overall, the performance of the GA-Z77M-D3H is quite good, but compared to some BMCs in the same segment, the GA-Z77M-D3H scores were slightly lower, ranging from 1% to 7% . However, the GA-Z77M-D3H still has some advantages, useful features to support users interested in testing Lab mentioned above.

With the overall performance evaluation tool PCMark 7 system, the test configuration reached 3,725 points.

With the Cinebench R11.5 (64 bit) tool that evaluates the performance of CPU and graphics (using the OpenGL graphics library), the test configuration scored 7.48 points on CPU tests and 58.3 Fps (frames per second) at the OpenGL test.

In the DirectX 11 multi-threaded graphics processing experience based on the 3DMark 11 engine, Performance configuration settings. The GA-Z77M-D3H scored 9.386 points, about 5% lower than the ASRock B75 Pro3-M (reaching 9,860 points); In which the graphics score is about 7% lower and the physics score is 1% higher.

With the Heaven Benchmark, a graphics benchmark is pretty much similar to 3DMark 11, but mainly evaluates tessellation performance (DirectX 11), testing configurations reaching 2,096 points and 83.2 fps at 1600×1200 resolution and quality. Graphics at “high” level.

Advantage

– Supports several unique Gigabyte technologies such as Ultra Durable 4 Classic; UEFI 3D BIOS; UEFI DualBIOS; Gigabyte On / Off charge.

– Intel Rapid Storage Technology and Intel Smart Response (SRT) improve system data access speed with conventional SSD.

– Many new generation interfaces (PCIe x16 3.0, SATA 3.0, USB 3.0).

Disadvantage

– Less BMC accessory.