Review: Intel Z77 chipset and Gigabyte Z77-D3H motherboard

by Tarinder Sandhu on 8 April 2012, 08:04 4.0

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

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Final thoughts and rating

The Intel Z77 chipset is the natural successor to the Z68 and P67 chipsets that have been providing support for Intel's 2nd generation Core (Sandy Bridge) CPUs. Z77's incremental upgrades over Z68 aren't enough to convince sensible enthusiasts to make the jump over to the new chipset. assuming they already own a Sandy Bridge chip.

Z77's release is supposed to coincide with the launch of the 3rd generation Core (Ivy Bridge) processors. Intel, however, has pushed them back, making this a somewhat anachronistic release, and this mismatch between launches is what makes it difficult to evaluate Z77 in the right context.

Moving forward, Ivy Bridge chips and Z77 boards are sure to make for good bedfellows, so if you're in the market for a new PC build, soon, all the evidence suggests that this combination will be the mainstream standard setter for the remainder of 2012.

Our look at the Gigabyte Z77-D3H shows that the firm has taken the guts of its Z68 boards and transplanted them on to the Z77 chips, complete with flashy new BIOS. A decent performer in every regard with a Core i7-2700K in situ, we'll learn more once Intel finally releases the processors this board was designed for.

The Good

Solid layout
A decent BIOS, at last
Overclocks well

The Bad

No SLI support

HEXUS Rating

4/5
Gigabyte Z77-D3H motherboard on Sandy Bridge

HEXUS Awards


Gigabyte Z77-D3H motherboard on Sandy Bridge

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H is available from Scan.co.uk.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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how good is the fan control, what can be controlled how many etc. surely you can talk about this prior to IVB release?
I am not so sure about the chipset taking care of the fans.
007
I am not so sure about the chipset taking care of the fans.

why not? better than software, less likely to fail to account for a ‘locked up’ situation as it sits below windows, also consumes less resources because of that. Looking at some mobo's you can now graph the temp-speed curve, yes it'll be fiddly to get it right, but once set leave it alone.
13thmonkey
why not? better than software, less likely to fail to account for a ‘locked up’ situation as it sits below windows, also consumes less resources because of that. Looking at some mobo's you can now graph the temp-speed curve, yes it'll be fiddly to get it right, but once set leave it alone.

Yep, sounds like an improvement to me. Time to decide if its worth the upgrade…hmmm
Trying to figure out whether to upgrade to Ivy bridge, or wait for the next step… Got an I5 760 currently. I just wonder if i'll be kicking myself in about a year when they release the next tick…