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 - Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - link
Please note that even if you have purchased a '6Gbit/s' SSD, it will never run at that speed. If you look at our SATA and USB testing, none of the peak speeds we see in our benchmarking ever reach the peak advertised by the port due to the limitations of the hardware. They more often than not do not even reach the peaks of the hardware due to latency or real-world situations. Most rated speeds are for compressible continuous data with a high queue-depth - not ever a realistic scenario.Testing every 3rd party controller adds testing time. Going from 2-3 boards a month do maybe one and a bit. Especially if they're all connected differently on the board (which we don't always know without specific chipset diagrams for the specific product, which are not always available). After all, peak tests are limited in their understanding anyway - take the new USB boost technologies from ASUS and ASRock. ASUS' implementation affects mainly short size block transfers by several order of magnitudes (as found out in our testing), rather than peak by any significant amount.
I am quite astounded by your insistence that if you have many ports that they must all run at their peak speed in conjunction with each other at the same time. It just doesn't work that way. Have a gander at the chipset diagrams in our first Z77 reviews to understand this. Bandwidth is delivered to what needs it at the right time - the usage model for hammering all the ports at once is almost non-existent.
Ideally we'd love to test everything at the peak, but we do not have an unlimited amount of cash to go and buy equipment. We're independent freelance reviewers making do with what kit we can get together or are offered.
iCrunch - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
I've become so spoiled by how incredibly seamlessly, fast, and consistent Thunderbolt works. Add to that the fact that I can probably get most of the specs in an external Thunderbolt enclosure/dock solution fairly soon...albeit for a tad more money.Scootiep7 - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
Wow, so Gigabyte finally took my complaints to heart and started releasing boards with something other than that ALC887 miserable excuse for an audio codec. Bravo good sirs, better late than never. Now get it done on more of your boards!Questor - Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - link
I have this motherboard with an Ivy Bridge i5 3570K, currently at a stock speed, with a Plextor 128 GB SATA III SSD as the OS drive. Even with the post logo screen enabled, I get to desktop log-in in about 7 seconds. Excluding the "artificially" added time to type my password, full desktop is an average of 2.5 seconds from there. Not bad considering the programs I have that load versus Anantech testing.I have had my board since its early retail release and this has not changed much; even after replacing the original i5 2500K and Samsung SATA II 128 GB SSD for the above mentioned components.
Questor - Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - link
In addition to the boot time being misleading commentary and the response to the USB vs PS/2 keyboard, my present computer build with this Gigabyte board is one of the best/favorite rigs in my 14 years of building and tweaking computers.The other few are ASUS P8P67-PRO, Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H (X2 with two cores unlocked to quad and STILL running stable), EPoX EP-9NPA+ Ultra, ASUS P5A with AMD K6-350 (severe electrical spike took it out after years of OCing - jumped the surge protector)!
Questor - Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - link
In addition to the boot time being misleading commentary and the response to the USB vs PS/2 keyboard, my present computer build with this Gigabyte board is one of the best/favorite rigs in my 14 years of building and tweaking computers. The other few are ASUS P8P67-PRO, Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H (X2 with two cores unlocked to quad and STILL running stable), EPoX EP-9NPA+ Ultra, ASUS P5A with AMD K6-350 (severe electrical spike took it out after years of OCing - jumped the surge protector)!minlian - Sunday, August 12, 2012 - link
Is the reaction time DPC Latency error fixed on the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H-WB-WiFi version or are they just the same motherboard with just a wifi difference?Triniman - Sunday, August 12, 2012 - link
Ian Cutress wrote, "...a total of 10 USB 3.0 ports available (if you have enough USB 3.0 panels)."Does anyone know of any cases that will would allow you to use the 3 onboard USB 3.0 headers?
Also, is it correct that the Gigabyte doesn't include drivers for these VIA controllers?
ETruett - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - link
Hay. I am wondering if the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard will fit in the Dell E510 Case? Or which Case can i get? I would like to build a nice gaming pc that whill not break me. I dont have much money. My eMail is: etruett9@gmail.com..... :-))gkatsanos - Monday, November 26, 2012 - link
Hi, It's weird how in any of the reviews there was a word for the problems (bugs) this M/B has. I ordered it a week ago and even if I upgraded my BIOS to the latest version, it still suffers from problems.. I had for example to disable the Marvell sata controller and connect my drive to the intel chipset one for the system to shutdown properly... Other folks have had freezes etc. Google the model + problems and you'll see. I am thinking of changing it with an Intel m/b or something more stable..