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 Overclocking
Note: Ivy Bridge does not overclock like Sandy Bridge. For a detailed report on the effect of voltage on Ivy Bridge (and thus temperatures and power draw), please read Undervolting and Overclocking on Ivy Bridge.
Experience with Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
Overclocking on the UD5H was a mixed back of results. The automatic overclocks worked, but only if the system liked the memory you were using - the automatic overclocks apply some changes to memory that caused our system to fail using our default G.Skill DDR3-2400 9-11-11 kit. However, when we used a Patriot DDR3-2133 kit, all was well.
Manual overclocking was clear-cut, as the system applies the overclock at the start of POST rather than the end. This meant that during the OS loading, if the system was very unstable, a BSOD would show and we entered the BIOS to change the voltages.
Overall results were a little disappointing, given the other good performances we had with the motherboard.
Methodology:
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+).
Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air. We also are using Intel's All-in-one Liquid Cooler with its stock fan. This is a 120mm radiator liquid cooler, designed to mimic a medium-to-high end air cooler.
Automatic Overclock:
For our automatic overclocking, we had to utilize a Patriot DDR3-2133 2x2GB memory kit as the system failed to boot with our G.Skill DDR3-2400 4x4 GB kit when the automatic overclock settings were selected.
EasyTune6 offers three levels of automatic overclocking, along with an Auto Tuning option that stresses the system while raising speeds and voltages. Here are our results.
At ET Level 1, the system applied a 102.3 MHz BCLK and 41x multiplier, giving a final CPU speed of 4198 MHz. This gave a +0.150 volt offset to the CPU core, and set the memory to XMP but reduced the speed back one strap due to the enhanced BCLK. Maximum temperatures for this setting were 78ºC during PovRay and 80ºC during OCCT.
At ET Level 2, the system applied a 103.4 MHz BCLK and 43x multiplier, giving a final CPU speed of 4446.2 MHz. In the OS, a load voltage of 1.248 volts was reported, and stress testing gave maximum temperatures of 84ºC during PovRay and 88ºC during OCCT. Memory was also adjusted to one strap below XMP.
At ET Level 4, the system applied a 104.3 MHz BCLK and 45x multiplier, giving a final CPU speed of 4693.9 MHz. In the OS, a load voltage of 1.284 volts was reported, and stress testing gave maximum temperatures of 96ºC during PovRay and 98ºC during OCCT. Memory was also adjusted to one strap below XMP.
The Auto Tuning option gave the following experience:
- The system rebooted, and loads a stress-testing program.
- This program gradually raised the multiplier and BCLK.
- The stress testing part of the program crashed at 47x103.5, but tests continued.
- System hard reset at 49x103.5.
- System booted into OS at 48x104 and loaded program again, which crashed and shut down.
- System rebooted at 46x103.3 for full load and 48x103.3 for single core loads.
This overclock showed 1.296 volts at full load, giving 93ºC during PovRay and 95ºC during OCCT. However, performing the single core benchmark on PovRay caused a memory error.
Manual Overclock:
Manual overclocking was performed in the BIOS, where the CPU voltage was fixed at 1.100 volts and the multiplier started at 44x. Here are the results:
At 44x, the system was stable with a BIOS voltage set at 1.100 volts, which led to a load voltage of 1.068 volts in the OS. Peak temperatures during stability testing were 68ºC during PovRay and 71ºC during OCCT.
At 45x, the system was stable with a BIOS voltage set at 1.125 volts, which led to a load voltage of 1.096 volts in the OS. Peak temperatures during stability testing were 71ºC during PovRay and 72ºC during OCCT.
At 46x, the system was stable with a BIOS voltage set at 1.175 volts and Load Line Calibration set to Extreme, which led to a load voltage of 1.176 volts in the OS. Peak temperatures during stability testing were 80ºC during PovRay and 81ºC during OCCT.
At 47x, the system was stable with a BIOS voltage set at 1.225 volts and Load Line Calibration set to Extreme, which led to a load voltage of 1.224 volts in the OS. Peak temperatures during stability testing were 88ºC during PovRay and OCCT.
At 48x, the system was stable with a BIOS voltage set at 1.275 volts and Load Line Calibration set to Extreme, which led to a load voltage of 1.284 volts in the OS. Peak temperatures during stability testing were 97ºC during PovRay and 96ºC during OCCT.
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jardows2 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Can anyone explain the value in multiple Ethernet ports? Outside of being server board, and some specialized workstations, the practicality (and added cost) of multiple Ethernet ports escapes me.IanCutress - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Connecting to multiple networks, redundancy, teaming for better throughput, connecting via ICS, VM throughput, one specifically for backups, separation of traffic (i.e. you could have a combo web/database server, same network, put all web traffic on one NIC, db traffic on the other, makes it easier to calculate loads for traffic types). If you're streaming from a NAS that supports teaming, then the improved bandwidth can benefit users that stream from that device. Agreed, it is a perhaps a niche scenario, but there are enough users that want it. The Realtek NIC + Audio is a relatively cheap bundle, but some people prefer the Intel NIC. So why not have both, as long as the price for the user is reasonable.Ian
Snotling - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
If your NAS has two ports... you can team up your nick on both ends.If your two NICs have different chip-sets then it may be for compatibility reasons. Some businesses will want to use only the Broadcom or only the Intel or Marvel... etc. Maybe at some point you can save downtime if a driver update causes a problem either by being bugged or missing.
Load balancing, bridging networks, Acting as gateway or firewall... even if you do not actually run a server on the board you may want to do it for test purposes or some weird networking condition. Like having two different VPNs that require you to be on two different subnets.
I admit, most of this is exceptional conditions but the exceptions addup and higher end boards aim to cover the needs of those who may run into those situations or actually need them.
Grok42 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
I can't figure it out either. I've built boxes with many nics before for routers, gateways and bridges. Almost all the servers I've built have had 4 nics. However, I can't imagine using the two nics on this board for anything. Why would I want to build a NAS box with SLI and overclocking? Why wouldn't I get a much different board and add a good discrete NIC board with multiple ports? At the consumer level I can't imagine doing any of this. My file server only has a single gigabit nic and is WAY faster that I need. I can move GBs of files in just a few seconds between it and my workstations. At work we have 10GB and we team ports to increase even that so I know there are needs for higher speeds, I just can't figure out a reason at the consumer level this board is obviously focused on.Einy0 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
I own this board, it is amazing thus far. I haven't really had a chance to really push it too hard yet... One of these weekends I will try some overclocking. The 3770K is so fast, I'm still getting used to it. I am really impressed with the Z77's SATA controllers. My Vertex 4 is topping out at about 562MB/s for reads and my 4 disk (500GB WD Blue) RAID5 Array is hitting around 362MB/s for reads. I would love one more USB 2.0 header or a USB 3.0 to 2.0 header adapter. A non Realtek audio codec would be terrific too...vailr - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
There's evidently 2 board versions of the UD5H:The older version has a space in between the 2nd & 3rd DDR3 slots, with blue capacitors.
The newer version has no space in between the 2nd & 3rd DDR3 slots, with purple capacitors.
Question: why doesn't Gigabyte provide drivers for the VIA USB 3.0 ports? There are some VIA USB 3.0 drivers on www.station-drivers.com, but those fail to install on Windows 7 64-bit.
Sabresiberian - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - link
One of Gigabyte's strengths is that they've long had dual Ethernet capability, but -Why only one Intel? Is it really that much more expensive to just put the best in here?
I think your read of Gigabyte has been right on the money Ian, I've long thought the same, and wondered why some media types blew their horn so loudly.
;)
Zak - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
I see no point in adding FireWire any more... I'd rather have two eSATA ports or another SPDIF output. Any why having DVI, DP and VGA? Waste of space. I really doubt anyone has a need for all three simultaneously. If someone needs to use VGA they can use DVI or DP adapter.Zak - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
Typo: "Overclocking on the UD5H was a mixed back of results"JimDicks - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
This GB mainboard comes with a Marvell 9172 6Gbit/s S-ATA controller, almost same as my GB mainboard. When I recently bought a 6Gbit/s SSD and connected it to the 'superb' Marvell, it only reached about 250MB/s instead of the advertised 600MB/s. A whole afternoon searching and reading forums and specifications revealed that most of these 3rd party chips have a higher latency than the Intel/AMD south bridges, and reach much lower data rate than advertised, because they are connected via 1, maximum 2 PCIe 2.0 lanes to the mainboard. That means that a controller with 4 6.0Gbit/s connectors would need 2.4GB/s to transfer, yet it can only theoretically transfer 0.5GB/s (1 lane) or 1.0GB/s (2 PCIe 2.0 lanes) to the mainboard. In fact, the practical PCIe speed is much less.I recommend that Anandtech not only checks USB speeds, but also S-ATA speeds via the 3rd party chips, the southbridge and via external PCIe x8 SAS Raid Controller (ie. LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240 or 9260). The latter could also be used to check the practical PCIe bandwiths.