Intel Unveils New Z77 Motherboards

[btarunr]

Intel silently enabled the product pages of several of its 7-series chipset-based LGA1155 motherboards, including three based on the Z77 Express. These include the Extreme Series DZ77GA-70K, Media Series DZ77BH-55K, and Media Series DZ77SL-50K. The DZ77GA-70K is a top-tier model that's built for built for heavily-overclocked gaming PCs. Intel paid due attention to areas such as a strong VRM, and a broad range of connectivity options. With power-delivery, we spy a 10+2 phase VRM backed by Intel's phase-shedding technology. Apart from four DDR3 DIMM slots, the LGA1155 socket is wired to two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8, when both are populated).

Other expansion slots on the DZ77GA-70K include one open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI. To ensure there are sufficient PCIe lanes for these slots, and the plethora of third-party onboard devices, Intel implemented a PLX PCI-Express bridge chip that increases the lane budget of the board. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and one eSATA.



The DZ77GA-70K provides a total of eight USB 3.0 ports, four on the rear-panel, four via internal headers. 8-channel HD audio, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Firewire, and comeback-kid PS/2 mouse/keyboard combo connector (PS/2 keyboards have zero-NKRO by design, and can be dirt-cheap), complete the connectivity. The lone display output is an HDMI connector. Intel is working on a variant of this board, called DZ77RE-75K, which basically features Thunderbolt (that empty 15x15 mm chip spacer under the audio jack cluster, room for a "Cactus Ridge" L3510L controller).



The Media Series DZ77BH-55K sees some love in the aesthetics department, with its blue anodized aluminum heatsinks, and heatsinks to the VRM to start with. This board uses a simpler 6+2 phase VRM to power the LGA1155 CPU. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated), three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes four internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports (two from the PCH, two from a third-party controller), three SATA 3 Gb/s from the PCH, and one eSATA 3 Gb/s, wired to the PCH. This board has six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two via header), one gigabit Ethernet interface, Firewire, 8-channel HD audio, and display outputs that include HDMI and DisplayPort.



Lastly, there's the DZ77SL-50K, a value Z77 motherboard under the same Media Series. It has the same 6+2 phase VRM, but using more cost-effective components. Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16, open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and three legacy PCI. The PCH handles the entire SATA port budget, with two SATA 6 Gb/s, three SATA 3 Gb/s, and one eSATA 3 Gb/s. Display connectivity includes just the HDMI. The PCH also handles the USB 3.0 port budget entirely, with two ports on the rear panel, two via header. 6-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it.



Source: VR-Zone

[NHKS]

PCI-E x4 is niicee!
skimping on display ports in understandable for the extreme GA board..

[Maban]

When will they learn that the PCH needs more than 8 PCIE lanes?

[v12dock]

Looks like board I get from dell

[sanadanosa]

Can anyone tell me the difference between Z77 and Z68? I have a Z68 board from asrock, it have PCI E 3.0 and asrock say it's support ivy bridge processors. Seriously, I have no idea about this.

[TheLostSwede]

Well, the Z77 chipset supports Smart Response 2.0, Smart Connect and Rapid Start. It also supports three display outputs, in theory, but no motherboard to date supports it. Then there's support for a x8, x4, x4 lane configuration when using an Ivy Bridge CPU, native support for faster memory with an Ivy Bridge CPU and of course native USB 3.0 support. I think that's about it.

[micropage7]

i dunno why most intel boards looks not promising, looks plain and less features

[Protagonist]

DZ77RE-75K is what i am waiting for, mainly coz of thunderbolt, please tpu when DZ77RE-75K is available to you please show full photos and list of all the features in detail. i really want to upgrade my rig, Motherboard (By Intel as Usual), Processor (Hopefully i7 3770K) and a new GPU (GeForce 6xx or Radeon 7xxx) was waiting for motherboard and processor first then GPU after.

[ensabrenoir]

You would think with all the near alien tech they have to make uber processors...that thieir boards would match......and have secret sauce to pull even more performance from their cpus.

[1c3d0g]

I like these boards. Intel makes ultra stable motherboards for those of us who load their PC's 100% 24/7.

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Very nice, now if they could just work on the color scheme.