Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Motherboard

On-Board Peripherals

The Intel Z77 chipset is a single-chip solution that is also known as a PCH (Platform Controller Hub). This chip supports two SATA-600 ports and four SATA-300 ports, supporting RAID (0, 1, 10, and 5). Differently from the Z77X-UP4 model, the portrayed motherboard has an additional SATA-600 controller (Marvell 88SE9172 chip), adding one internal SATA-600 port and an eSATA-600 port.

As previously mentioned, the “SATA2 5” port is shared with the mSATA slot, so this port can’t be used when an mSATA SSD is installed.

The SATA ports controlled by the chipset are located at the motherboard’s edge and rotated 90°, so video cards won’t block them. See Figure 6. The SATA-600 port controlled by the additional chip is located on the motherboard’s left edge (as seen with the motherboard rear connectors facing up).

Figure 6: SATA-300 (black) and SATA-600 (white) ports

The Intel Z77 chipset supports 14 USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports. The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH offers six USB 2.0 ports, two located on the motherboard rear panel and four through two headers located on the motherboard; and 10 USB 3.0 ports, four located on the motherboard rear panel and six available through three headers located on the motherboard. This is another difference between the UP5 and the UP4 models, as the UP4 comes with eight USB 3.0 ports. However, the additional USB 3.0 ports available on the Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH are not “real” USB 3.0 ports; they are connected to the four USB 3.0 ports controlled by the chipset using two VIA VL810 hub chips.

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH has two FireWire ports, one on the motherboard’s rear panel and another available through a header. The UP4 model doesn’t come with these ports.

The two Thunderbolt ports are controlled by an Intel DSL3510L chip.

This motherboard supports 7.1+2 audio format, i.e., eight channels plus two independent channels for audio streaming. On this motherboard, the audio is generated by the chipset using a Realtek ALC898 codec, which is an outstanding solution, providing an impressive 110 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs, and up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both inputs and outputs, with 24-bit resolution. This means you are able to capture and edit analog audio (e.g., converting LPs to CDs or MP3 files, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.) with this motherboard without adding any background noise.

The codec used is another major difference between the UP5 and the UP4 models, as the UP4 model uses the Realtek ALC892, which provides lower signal-to-noise ratio (i.e., lower audio quality).

The motherboard has on-board optical SPDIF output. Additionally, there are two headers, labeled “SPDIF_IN” and “SPDIF_O,” which can be used to add SPDIF ports if necessary. It is important to point out that it is uncommon for a motherboard to have SPDIF input, so this may be an advantage if you are looking for a motherboard with this feature, even if it is not supported out of the box.

The analog audio outputs are independent only if you use a 5.1 analog speaker set. If you install a 7.1 analog speaker set, you will need to use either the “mic in” or the “line in” jacks.

The portrayed motherboard has one Gigabit Ethernet port controlled by the chipset using an Intel WG82579V chip to make the interface with the physical layer. The UP4 model uses a Realtek RTL8111E controller.

Another highlight of this motherboard is the presence of a PCI Express x1 expansion card containing wireless network (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth 4.0 (24 Mbps) capabilities, which doesn’t come with the UP4 model. This expansion card supports the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standards and is a dual-band device, i.e., it supports the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. Its two antennas allow you to reach higher transfer speed when using the IEEE 802.11n standard compared to single-band devices operating at 2.4 GHz. The Bluetooth 4.0 and dual-band Wi-Fi are important features to understand when comparing this motherboard to competing products.

Figure 7: The Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module

In Figure 8, you can see the motherboard rear panel with VGA output, DVI-D output, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA-600 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt ports, an optical SPDIF output, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 8: Motherboard rear panel