Intel DZ77GA-70K Motherboard

On-Board Peripherals

The Intel Z77 chipset is a single-chip solution, which 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). This motherboard has two additional SATA-600 ports, controlled by a Marvell 8
8SE9172 chip, which supports RAID 0 and 1. These ports are located at the motherboard’s edge and rotated 90°, so video cards won’t block them. Thankfully, Intel used different colors to identify which SATA ports are SATA-300 (black), SATA-600 controlled by the chipset (blue) or SATA-600 controlled by the additional chip (gray). See Figure 4.

Figure 4: The two SATA-600 ports controlled by the additional chip (gray), the four SATA-300 ports (black), and the two SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (blue)

This motherboard also has one independent eSATA-600 port, controlled by another Marvell 88SE9172 chip.

The Intel Z77 chipset supports 14 USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports. The Intel DZ77GA-70K offers 10 USB 2.0 ports, four available on the motherboard rear panel and six available through three headers located on the motherboard; and eight USB 3.0 ports, four located on the motherboard rear panel and four available through two headers located on the motherboard. The additional ports are connected to the USB 3.0 ports controlled by the chipset using two Genesys Logic GL3520 hub chips. The motherboard comes with a 3.5” panel with two USB 3.0 ports, so you can use the internal USB 3.0 connector if your computer case doesn’t have USB 3.0 ports using this kind of connector.

The Intel DZ77GA-70K has two FireWire (IEEE1394) ports, one soldered on the motherboard rear panel and one available through a header on the motherboard. These ports are controlled by a Texas Instruments TSB43AB22A 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 the new 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, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.) with this motherboard without adding any background noise.

The motherboard has on-board optical SPDIF output. A header labeled “SPDIF” also provides SPDIF output for you to install a coaxial SPDIF output or to route digital audio to older video cards that require this physical connection in order to have digital audio output in their HDMI connectors.

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 two Gigabit Ethernet ports, one controlled by the chipset using an Intel WG82579V chip to make the interface with the physical layer, and one controlled by an Intel WG82574L chip.

The Intel DZ77GA-70K also comes with a Bluetooth (2.1+EDR) and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b/g/n) module. This module, which is actually manufactured by MSI (model MS-3871), is a USB 2.0 device and must be connected to a USB 2.0 header of the motherboard.

In Figure 5, you can see the motherboard rear panel with a shared PS/2 connector for keyboard and mouse, four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire port, one eSATA-600 port, clear CMOS button, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, optical SPDIF output, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 5: Motherboard rear panel