GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H Review: Choose Your Storage Option
by Ian Cutress on May 14, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Gigabyte
- Z97
GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H In The Box
When we made the jump from Z77 to Z87 chipsets, behind the scenes we were informed that this switch increased the price of the chipset quite considerably. We were unable to find out exact numbers, but one would assume that as the Z87 and Z97 chipsets are relatively similar (I have seen Z97 referred to as Z87 rev.2), I would assume that high price to still be present. This means that for a competitive motherboard manufacturer trying to produce a highly functional product and in a lower price point than expected, something might have to give way. Usually that means the in-the-box contents, especially for mainstream products like the UD5H. If this was a gaming motherboard, or an overclocking motherboard, there would be scope for customization.
Nevertheless, the Z97X-UD5H contains the following:
Driver Disk
Rear IO Shield
Manual
Four SATA Cables
Flexi-SLI Bridge
With features like SATA Express and M.2 now taking center stage with the larger motherboards, I wonder if the smaller motherboards with fewer connectors will start to become more worthy recipients for in-the-box additions and out-compete the larger models. However, these additional contents are perhaps apt for the UD5H: with only one USB 3.0 header, there was never going to be a USB 3.0 bracket, and other brackets for COM/USB 2.0 headers are left for EVGA to play with. More SLI bridges are not required – this motherboard (like most Z97) supports only two NVIDIA cards, although they can support three AMD GPUs. At $190, I imagine that some of the other motherboards around this price point will carry WiFi connectivity, which GIGABYTE has redirected that investment into the dual network capabilities.
GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H Overclocking
Experience with GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H
Because we are using our i7-4770K sample from the first Haswell launch, unless motherboard manufacturers have found a trick I was highly doubtful that basic overclocking headroom would change. Haswell processors are characteristically warm, and the temperature becomes the limit before the voltage does on most forms of PC system cooling. The main difference might be at the high end, where extreme overclockers use liquid nitrogen for world records, but GIGABYTE has motherboards for that purpose (such as the Z97X-SOC Force).
Overclocking on the Z97X-UD5H actually mirrored the experiences with the Z87 counterparts, especially with our sample. Auto-overclocking options used a lot of voltage to ensure compatibility with more CPUs, however some strong cooling is needed for the higher options. Auto tuning was also aggressive, to the point where it failed our stability tests at 4.6 GHz. Manual overclocking gave a 4.6 GHz peak, in line with some of our Z87 motherboards, while reaching a toasty 95C during an OCCT load.
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.
Automatic Overclock:
Manual Overclock:
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Ian Cutress - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link
At this point, it is more up to the motherboard manufacturer and what they implement.The chipset diagrams will show you how the slots are arranged, and which can be used at the expense of others. We will try and add these as we go forward.
As for protocols, it is all AHCI right now.
Jon-Tech - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link
I wanted to ask about USB controllers. Are all the USB 2.0 ports using one controller? Are the USB 3.0 ports on the same controller? Also from the sounds of it, the extra USB 3.0 ports are just using a hub rather than an extra controller? Due to my setup I often run into USB bandwidth issues with lots of ports on one controller. So I'm looking at motherboards that have as many as possible for more flexibility and none of the review sites ever seem to mention how many there are!Regarding the z97 chipset, it appears that the xHCI Host Controller supports up to 6 USB 3.0 and 14 USB 2.0, this sounds like one controller. It also has two EHCI Host Controllers which support up to 14 external USB 2.0, though it doesn't look like any of the motherboards are using these. From the sounds of it this motherboard runs all the ports off the single controller? That strikes me as being daft and therefore unlikely, could you shed any light onto what the actual USB controller set up is please? I'm also unclear on how USB affects the PCIe lanes...
repoman27 - Thursday, May 15, 2014 - link
The Z97 chipset contains one xHCI which supports 14 USB ports, up to 6 of which can be USB 3.0. It also contains 2 legacy EHCI host controllers which can be used in lieu of the xHCI for USB 2.0 ports, but there are still only external connections for 14 USB ports total.With this board, it appears that Gigabyte has connected a motherboard header and the two back panel USB 3.0 ports above the HDMI port directly to the PCH xHCI, and then used a Renesas USB 3.0 hub chip to expand an additional PCH xHCI connection to support the other four back panel ports.
The PCH is connected to the CPU via a DMI 2.0 x4 link, which is equivalent to PCIe 2.0 x4, and thus provides a maximum of 16 Gbit/s less protocol overhead of total bandwidth for all PCH attached devices. Obviously the nominal bandwidth of just 6 USB 3.0 ports is greater than that. What isn't so obvious is how the various controllers within the PCH are connected to the PCIe bus internally. From the benchmarks I've seen of previous chipsets, it would appear that the xHCI only has the equivalent of an x2 connection. This still makes it one of the fastest USB 3.0 controllers out there since the only discrete controller I know of with an x2 back end is the Etron EJ198. Seeing as most motherboard manufacturers use discrete controllers with x1 back ends and connect them to PCIe lanes coming from the PCH, the performance generally sucks. If you need more than 785 MB/s of USB 3.0 bandwidth, you'd be better off buying a card like the HighPoint RocketU 1144C and sticking it in a slot that uses some of the PEG lanes coming from the CPU.
Jon-Tech - Thursday, May 15, 2014 - link
Thanks repoman, you've been the most insightful into this from all the various places I've asked! That HighPoint card looks spot on though it's rather pricey, especially considering my old mobo has 3 controllers on it for the 2x USB 3.0 and 12x USB 2.0. Though I only know the amount of controllers cause I have it and can check.Seems the only way I'm going to actually find out controllers per motherboards is to ask owners on forums to check for me. It's a really quick test that reviewers could do and its just as annoying it's never listed in the official mobo specs! Alternatively I could buy and try them out for myself though that doesn't seem practical.
Adriak - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link
Why are there still (conventional) PCI slots on motherboards? Didn't they become obsolete when PCIe arrived in 2004? I understand these slots are likely added for legacy reasons, but are people still using PCI cards? What type of cards are they? Was the ISA bus supported for this long after it was effectively rendered obsolete? I am genuinely curious.Nathan539 - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link
This would save me some money for my new comp that im buildingpeterfares - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link
Are people still using PCI devices on consumer boards? What could you possibly need to add that goes into PCI for home use?fluxtatic - Thursday, May 15, 2014 - link
Sound cards. If you're not using the Asus Xonar or a Turtle Beach card, odds are good your discrete card is PCI.Luay79 - Thursday, May 15, 2014 - link
Do you lose the 16 lanes for the single video card if you use M2/SAta Express SSDs?DanNeely - Thursday, May 15, 2014 - link
No. See the block diagram at the bottom of the first page. The 16 CPU lanes go to the 16x physical slots. The M2/SataExpress connectors use lanes from the southbridge.