Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Review: Functionality meets Competitive Pricing
by Ian Cutress on July 25, 2012 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Gigabyte
- Z77
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Software
Gigabyte motherboard software has been stagnant for a couple of generations now - nothing new to the plate, and the same interfaces greet us every installation. The only item that ever changes is the stability, and the ability of these programs to work with new chipsets. Alas, that remains true of the Z77X-UD5H.
The default CD installer gives the user the one-click option to install all drivers, and offers users to install relevant software as well. There is one drawback here - some of the more esoteric software (3D Power, @BIOS) is not installed. These have to be installed one-by-one manually by navigating through. However, a user may not ever notice this software, as after installation and reboot, the CD installer does not re-emerge. Odd.
EasyTune6
The main heart of Gigabyte's software package, as it has been for a while, is EasyTune6. This sort-of centralized bit of software allows users to adjust many of the CPU BIOS settings from software, as well as examine their system and adjust fan controls.
The first screen offers the user a series of pre-determined overclocks, hard written into the program. Our successes with these are varied, as will be explained in the overclocking section. The "Auto Tuning" option in red has nothing to do with adjusting sound (a la AutoTune), but attempts to manually increase the CPU speed according to temperature sensors and stress testing. Again, our experiences with this are detailed in the overclock section. Users can navigate to the 'Easy' and 'Advanced' sections for more detailed and specific options relating to speeds and voltages.
Aside from the monitoring software, EasyTune6 also allows for fan manipulation under the "Smart" tab:
These are very basic fan controls, with a very basic graphical representation. On the Z77X-UD5H, the CPU fan and the SYS fans can be controlled in groups. This means that the SYS fans are all controlled at the same time. When put head-to-head against the best motherboard fan controls available on the market, the Gigabyte board loses out big time.
EasyTune6 also has one big flaw, which has sprung up in my testing several times over the past year. Any software that includes monitoring tools has a large effect on how the CPU processes Deferred Procedure Calls (DPC). These calls are queued in line with priority - IO gets given a priority, monitoring gets given a priority, audio gets a priority. The issue comes with comparing the DPC Latency when these monitoring tools are active. In the BIOS, the monitoring tools are given high priority at the expense of everything else, causing a 20x increase in the latency of other signals, for example audio. This means that during monitoring, the audio could have a large (>3ms) direct latency between production and output. This is severely detrimental to audio fans and producers - in order to get rid of this delay, the monitoring software must be switched off. I have seen this effect with other manufacturers, not just Gigabyte, and their solution was a new BIOS which gives the monitoring tools a lower priority in the DPC process, which fixed the problem and allowed users to run the monitoring tools with no direct effect on DPC. This has been forwarded to Gigabyte, so audio enthusiasts may want to update beyond the F8 BIOS should you purchase this board.
Windows Gadgets
Along with the default install, Gigabyte decided to put two icons on the screen to install two Windows Gadgets. The first of these is for EAX Advanced HD 5.0, which rather than actually doing anything just provides some PR regarding the fact that the Z77X-UD5H confirms to the EAX 5.0 standards. The other gadget is a little more useful, being a SoundBlaster media player. This can be synchronized to a folder of choice and involves simple navigation tools.
@BIOS
Gigabyte's BIOS updating tool, @BIOS, also makes an appearance. Should Gigabyte decide to perform a major BIOS update, major enough that the Q-Flash utility in the BIOS not recognize the BIOS as being for the motherboard, then users will have to resort to @BIOS. It also acts as a useful tool to check that your system is as up-to-date regarding BIOS releases.
It is simple and easy to use - I have had to use it on occasion.
3D Power
The oddball in Gigabyte's arsenal of software is 3D Power. We were introduced to this utility while the 3D BIOS was still in its infancy, when 3D Power was confusing and slow. While the 3D BIOS has been updated significantly to be fast and accurate, the 3D Power software is left lagging behind, as if it was designed as part of a student's flash project.
Along with being slow and rough around the edges, 3D Power gives users the option to configure the power delivery of the motherboard. This brings up two issues - the first being that most users or enthusiasts will not be adjusting the power delivery options; and the second issue is that if an enthusiast wants to change the options, they would do so in the BIOS and not through a software utility, especially one that is slow and rough. As part of the software package, 3D Power needs a lot of work to be at least visually appealing.
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IanCutress - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
As a competitive overclocker, I have used GBTL when pushing the BCLK of these boards as far as my CPU will allow (http://hwbot.org/submission/2301438_). I like GBTL - no mess and no fuss. But it is understandable why they do not include it in the Support CD, and hence why it doesn't really get a mention here. I did touch upon it very briefly in the overclocking section of the Z77X-UD3H review back at Ivy launch. As for voltage read-points, they are mentioned briefly in the board features, but I am also in agreement that perhaps the implementation of other manufacturers is more beneficial in our very niche usage scenario :)Ian
PS On the multi-board reviews I try not to take anything out from what is in a single board review. Every benchmark, test and bit of analysis in each of them gets put in :)
Nickel020 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Oh, I missed the part about the GBTL in the UD3H review. While I haven't goten around to playing with my UD3H, I have found the Asus AI suite very practical for "normal" overclocking and I believe the GBTL will also be a real benefit for anyone working out a good 24/7 overclock. If I didn't knwo about it already I certainly would want to read about in your review if I was going to get this board for 24/7 OC.I also missed you mentioning the UD3Hs voltage read points, but in any case there's still an error in the conclusion though where you implicitly state that the UD3H does not have voltage read points (in the part about the GD65).
I know you run the same benchmarks, but I find the text/user experience more interesting than the benches, and there's definitely more text in a single board review! The benches I only care about to see whether a board has a significant performance issue, since I'm not into competitive OC I don't care about slight differences that I won't notice anyway.
Conderning the benches, I'm also a little surprised that you somewhat praise GB for auto-overclocking the CPU. IIRC Anandtech has been opposed to that in the past, since it's technically overclocking and thus theoretically voids your CPU warranty. It also makes it hard to compare board performance when CPU settings are actually the same, such as when using a manual overclock. I know it's considerably more work, but I would love to see the benches with the CPU forced to run at stock settings added to the charts, the current version is an apples to oranges comparison imho. For someone just looking at the charts (and not the text, as many do...) the current ones give a very wrong impression, they make it seem like Asus and GB perform better, when without the auto-overclock, they might actually be worse...
IanCutress - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Most users of these boards never touch the BIOS, let alone update it. This is why we run the boards at default - some manufacturers are being more aggressive with their settings and that is what you are paying for. If that aggressive setting compromises stability, then that can also be an issue. Thus it is a like-for-like comparison, as if a user was taking the boards out of the box and then just strapping in a CPU.After all, if we start changing the application of Turbo modes, what else do we change? Setting the voltage equal on each board to get a VMM reading that is always the same across the range? How about disregarding any board that uses x8/x4/x4 PCIe 3.0 against x8/x8/x4 PCIe 2.0? Default is the choice because that's what most users will end up with. Visiting some LANs recently, you would be surprised how many people buy 2133+ kits of memory and not enable XMP. That's the reality of it.
I used to be wary of this feature (as per my review of the P9X79 Pro, where I disabled it and was severely disgruntled), and still am as it results in motherboard manufacturers artificially inflating some results as to what you would expect. But this did happen before in earlier chipsets, when one manufacturer would run 100.5 BCLK, and the next would use 101.3, and even 102 BCLK, stating 'that's just how the design works'.
There's nothing we can do to change this, so I am taking the position of sitting back and analysing what they are doing, and how aggressive they are taking this philosophy. Any good reviewer will recognise what is pure statistical variation and not assign world class status to a result that is 0.01% difference.
With regards the warranty, it is a tough hammer to nail down. Would a pair of companies ever advertise that by default their settings technically breaches warranty? Or how would Intel take it, given that technically none of the cores ever went past the top turbo mode? Without a direct response on the issue, it's not worth speculating. I've known users to repeatedly successfully RMA CPUs they've overclocked on LN2 way too hard and broke them, so we don't really know if Intel will draw a line much.
Nickel020 - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - link
It's certainly a matter of opinion. As an "enthusiast" I'm of the opinion that a board should not overclock without my knowledge/express wish (since I can easily do so myself. Practically the overclock of course has no bearing on CPU warranty (the CPU also being the very last PC component that you're likely to need warranty on...).I agree that for the average user this is actually added value, a slight performance bonus at absolutely no cost other than a little bit more power consumption. Maybe point out both sides in future reviews? That way everyone's happy :)
PS: Please do fix the error in the UD3H, GD65 conclusion, it's wearing me down ;)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5793/intel-z77-mothe...
"For the price we lose PCI and mSATA over the Gigabyte, but gain SATA, voltage read points, [...]" <--- wrong, maybe say "better implemented voltage read points"? ;)
Nickel020 - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - link
Thanks Ian :)mystikl - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
No VGA port, no floppy connector, no buy .Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Seriously?First, it does have a VGA port. Why you would want to use one escapes me now, but it's there.
Second...you still need a floppy drive and can't make do with a USB 2.0 one? Almost no modern motherboards include floppy connectors because floppy disks are horrendously outdated and that real estate can be better employed elsewhere.
mystikl - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
I was actually making fun of the guy who posted the second comment! Why on earth people still need those ancient connectors is beyond me. Some may argue that some ancient software doesn't run without that specific port, but software that old doesn't require a computer with a quad core, 16 GB RAM and 3 videocards.shin0bi272 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
bios flashes on some boards still require a floppy disk... even on a quad core.SodaAnt - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Luckily those boards have floppy ports then.