Test Setup

Processor Intel Core i7-3770K ES (Stepping 9, Retail)
4 Cores, 8 Threads, 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo)
Motherboards ASRock Z77 Extreme4
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
MSI Z77A-GD65
ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe
ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional
Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-UD3H
Cooling Intel All-in-One Liquid Cooler
Power Supply OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series
Memory GSkill RipjawsZ 4x4 GB DDR3-2400 9-11-11 Kit
GSkill TridentX 2x4 GB DDR3-2666 11-13-13 Kit
Memory Settings XMP (2400 9-11-11)
Video Cards ASUS HD7970 3GB
ECS GTX 580 1536MB
Video Drivers Catalyst 12.3
NVIDIA Drivers 296.10 WHQL
Hard Drive Micron RealSSD C300 256GB
Optical Drive LG GH22NS50
Case Open Test Bed - CoolerMaster Lab V1.0
Operating System Windows 7 64-bit
SATA Testing Micron RealSSD C300 256GB
USB 2/3 Testing OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply, while in a dual 7970 GPU configuration.  This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, which is suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading.  This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency.  These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

Power Consumption - Two 7970s (Idle)

Power Consumption - Two 7970s (Video)

Power Consumption - Two 7970s (Metro2033)

Power Consumption - Two 7970s (OCCT)

Due to the size of the board and the lack of phase loading in any serious manner, the Gigabyte Z77MX-D3H does rather well in power usage especially at idle.  During video, the board is somewhat thwarted with it's bigger brother needing less power.

POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized.  A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized).  As part of our testing, we are now going to look at the POST Boot Time - this is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.)  These results are subject to human error, so please allow +/- 1 second in these results.

POST (Power-On Self-Test) Time

The controllers on board the Z77MX-D3H do not add much for POST times, and overall the Gigabyte is rather slow compared to its competitors.  The ASRock Z77 Extreme4 for example is in a similar price bracket but takes around half the time to POST.

Overclocks

Here at AnandTech we want to provide quick and easy ways to determine if a board is good for you (with in-depth analysis of course).  So here is a quick round up of our overclocking results.  Overclocks are tested for stability with PovRay and OCCT - while these may not be the most strenuous of stability tests, it does offer a quick check for memory errors under high load (and also balances testing time with getting the next board on for review!).

  CPU Speed
(MHz)
Voltage
(Volts)
PovRay Peak
Temp (ºC)
OCCT Peak
Temp (ºC)
Notes
ASRock
Fatal1ty Z77
Professional
4700 1.200 89 89 PLL Overvoltage enabled
ASRock
Z77 Extreme4
4700 1.175 86 86 LLC Level 1
ASUS
P8Z77-V Deluxe
4700 1.225 89 84 PLL Overvoltage enabled
ASUS
P8Z77-V Pro
4700 1.200 83 86 PLL Overvoltage enabled
Gigabyte
Z77X-UD3H
4700 1.200 82 86 LLC Extreme
Gigabyte
Z77MX-D3H
4700 1.200 80 84 LLC Extreme
MSI
Z77A-GD65
4700 1.250 90 - PLL Overvoltage enabled

 

Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H In The Box, Overclocking System Benchmarks
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  • Soulkeeper - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    I like gigabyte, nice review.

    However, those temperatures for the IB overclock remind me of prescott for some reason.
  • Night201 - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Works great. Running it with an Ivy Bridge i5-3450 with 8GB RAM and an older 8800gt GPU.
  • Iketh - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Aren't those asrock computation results interesting. The board requires the least volts for your stress tests, yet it appears this is because the board isn't allowing the CPU to stretch its legs.
  • zero2dash - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Looks like an even better board than the GB, and it looks like there might be more clearance for the front panel headers even with a 2nd GPU installed.
  • tuxRoller - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Can you confirm that F10 supports ecc ram?

    Thanks/liam
  • milkod2001 - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    are u guys planning to review: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H?

    Would love to see how much better it's compared to mobo u've just reviewed and how it stands against ASUS and MSI offerings
    xeers
  • IanCutress - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    We have one in, plan to review it at some point amongst all the others :)

    Ian
  • Patflute - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Interesting right?
  • Patflute - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    Oh its not the exact same
  • ctbaars - Thursday, May 24, 2012 - link

    1 x 8-pin 12V connector (In spec table) or 1 x 4-pin 12V connector (In photo)
    and does it really matter / have any effect on power delivery for CPU or SLI/Xfire anyway?

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