Introduction

Now that we've got Ivy Bridge CPUs to test with, and they are widely available on the market, it is time to take a closer look at supporting board products, starting off with Gigabyte's Z77X-UD5H WiFi. Gigabyte has been a part of the tech industry for as long as I can remember, but over the past couple of years their design focus has changed considerably, culminating in the products now carrying the "Ultra Durable 4" moniker, fresh on the shelves in the past several weeks. The Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H WiFi is a high-end enthusiast product that carries with it every feature that Intel's Z77 Express has to offer, combined with a few Gigabyte-designed innovations that are sure to meet the needs of even the most discerning consumer.

Specifications

Intel Z77 Express Chipset

Intel launched their latest desktop platform in the first half of April 2012, just a little while ago, beginning with board products. The Intel Z77 Express platform is an incremental upgrade from previous platforms, adding additional features and providing a wider level of functionality, while adding full support for the 3rd Generation Core i5/i7 family of CPUs, commonly called Ivy Bridge in enthusiast circles.


The Ivy Bridge CPUs are made using a new 28nm process technology that lowers power consumption as well as offering a bit more performance-per-clock than previous Intel 2nd Generation Core i5/i7 products. Also changed is the onboard GPU that's part of the Ivy Bridge silicon, which now takes up more of that slice of silicon that sits under the integrated heatspreader.


The integrated PCIe bus on the CPU is also upgraded, and can be split differently than with Sandy Bridge CPUs, with Ivy Bridge natively supporting three devices over a single bus with 16 lanes of PCIe 3.0 connectivity, compared to the two devices and PCIe 2.0 link that is found inside Sandy Bridge products. Taking advantage of that added PCIe functionality requires a motherboard design change from previous Sandybridge-supporting motherboards, yet backwards and forwards component compatibility for both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge platform products including CPUs and chipsets is possible with updated firmware for older Socket 1155 board products. Using a new IvyBridge CPU with an older P67 Express or Z68 Express motherboard may limit PCIe functionality, and naturally, with SandyBridge only supporting two devices, the tertiary slot provided on some Z77 Express boards will not work on some products when a SandyBridge CPU is installed.

The Gigabyte GA-Z77-UD5H-WB not only offers all the functionality needed to make the most of your new IvyBridge CPU, but also adds an mSATA port as well as WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. These features aren't required for Z77 Express products, yet they definitely help fill out the capabilities of the Intel Z77 Express chipset and help set the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H WiFi apart from some of the other recently released board products.

Packaging

The Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H WiFi comes in a bright white box, like many other recent products from Gigabyte, a clean and simple look that seems to very much be a large part of Gigabyte's overall design mantra that is carried across all products they've got on the market today. All the usual technology logos and such are found, as is the product name, although the name itself is a bit small this time. The rear of the box also features a simplified layout, with a picture of the board itself in the middle, and explanations of the included tech surrounding it.


Inside the outer box we find another white box, this time made of bleached cardboard. Opening the flap, we are greeted by yet more cardboard, and we are happy to see such a high-end product nice and secure inside its box.


Lifting the inner flap reveals the board itself, covered with the usual anti-static bag. Removing the board pulls its entire box out, and below we find all of the board's literature and accessories, separated from each other by cardboard partitions.