GIGABYTE Z77X-UP5 TH Review

Details: Category: GIGABYTE Z77X-UP5 TH Review; Created on Monday, 30 July 2012 07:10; Published on Monday, 30 July 2012 07:10; Written by Super User

Page 1 of 11

GIGABYTE Z77X-UP5 TH Review

Back in June at Computex 2012 I saw some really cool featured motherboards from GIGABYTE, of them three where for the Z77 platform; the Z77X-UP4-TH, the Z77X-UP5-TH, and of course the Z77X-UP7. I would love nothing more than to bring you a wonderful review on all of them, but for now I just received the Z77X-UP5-TH and while it might not be the UP7 we all want to see, it still is a cutting edge weapon of technology. Straight out of the story books, the Z77X-UP5 boasts the best if not one of the best voltage regulators to ever solder its joints on a motherboard, dwarfing everything before it and setting the bar a bit too high for everything after it.

GIGABYTE isn’t blind to this fact either, in fact that is what Ultra Durable 5 is all about, Ultra Power, something I am relieved to see in lower phase count models. As always GIGABYTE keeps on bringing firsts to the motherboard market as well as their lineup. Their Z77X-UP5 TH is their first board to feature dual 10GBps ThunderBolt ports, these ports are what add the TH to the end of the model name. However you guys know me better, I look really deep at every motherboard to see what else it has in store, so I will tell you what I have been holding back, this is the first GIGABYTE motherboard to feature a true 8 phase VRM. What does that mean? It means that an 8-phase PWM is driving each of the 8 CPU Phases individually, something that is extremely rare with 8 phase VRMs. Take for instance typical $150 8-Phase budget board with nice heatsinks and gold capacitors, you might think it also has 8 phases run by an 8 phase PWM, however that isn’t the case, it has a 6+1 phase PWM, and only 4 of those 6 phases are used and they are doubled. That is just one of the many examples of how phase doubling can trick you. However in this case GIGABYTE isn’t playing the virtual game, they are being true to the concept of the phase, as well as laying down the ground work for the next generation of voltage regulators. The Ultra Durable 5 moniker is all about the VRM; from the 8-Phase Digital VRD12.5 certified PWM to the 60A IR3550 power stage and out the 60A custom ferrite inductor, the UP5's power delivery is going to blow you away.

TOC: