The first area to focus on is the CPU socket. Being laden with the Intel Z77 chipset the UD5H is LGA1155 and has support for Intel’s 2nd and 3rd generation of processors (Sandy and Ivy Bridge). The thermal heatsink design is interesting; for the VRMs it consists of two large aluminium heatsinks with a single heatpipe that runs directly to the heatsink covering the Intel Z77 chip.

Behind the heatsinks is an 8-pin EPS/CPU power socket. Those with a desire for the finer specifications should know that this board has a digital phase power design; the CPU having: 12+2+1, PCH: 1 and memory: 2.



Next on the agenda is the memory. Here there is support for dual channel DDR3 from 1066MHz up to 2400MHz (OC) and a maximum capacity of 32GB. There is also support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP).

The memory region also contains some interesting features. In the corner GIGABYTE have mounted a large power button along with smaller reset button (green) and a reset CMOS (black). These controls are only really useable if you have the system on a test bench, ideally I would have liked to see the reset CMOS towards the back of the motherboard; on the rear IO section for example, as at least here its accessible for the vast majority of folk who have their system inside a computer chassis. GIGABYTE have also included LED debug – which allows the user to identify problems on POST. This is a useful feature and a good choice to include. Beneath this there are voltage check-in points for the more advanced users.



Moving along the motherboard UD5H has a variety of SATA storage ports covering SATA 2 and SATA 3. The 4x black ports are SATA 2; the 2x white ports are SATA 3 (via Intel Z77) and the 2x grey ports are SATA 3 (via Marvell 88SE9172).

Those with an eye for detail will notice there is a strange looking port next to the HDD storage – this is a PCI-E power connector and it provides auxiliary power to the PCI-E x16 slots. If a user is going down the multi-GPU route and adding more than one graphics card it’s recommended to take advantage of this power to sustain and stabilise overall power. Simply attach a SATA power cable from the PSU to this port. This is a handy feature to have and it doesn’t take up unnecessary space.



At the bottom of the motherboard there are a number of USB 3.0 headers meaning that you can populate the front of your computer chassis with the provided adapter and use your computer cases’ USB 3.0 ports too. GIGABYTE have put another SATA 3 port at the bottom, and as the colour signifies this is delivered via Marvell.

The large heatsink in the very middle of the picture below shows the gigantic thermal solution for Intel’s Z77 chip. Although this heatsink covers a large area its actually fairly short because it needs to be due to graphics card clearance.



Turning our attention to the PCI-E slots there are numerous options here to satisfy all users. Available in this area are:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
• 3 x PCI Express x1 slots
• 1 x PCI slot

Those who do go for a multi-GPU configuration will have the bandwidth drop to x8 or x4 respectively.



Some of you may have already noticed the mSATA feature on this motherboard – GIGABYTE have integrated a connector for mSATA (Solid State Drive). This is controlled by Intel Z77 and allows for SATA 3GB/s mSATA drives to be connected.



Finally onto the rear IO ports. Again, here there are a pleasant assortment of features and connectivity. From left to right there is:

• 1 x D-Sub port
• 1 x DVI-D port
• 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 1 x HDMI port
• 1 x DisplayPort
• 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s connector
• 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports
• 2 x USB 2.0/1.0 ports
• 1 x IEEE 1394a port
• 2 x RJ-45 ports
• 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out, Rear Speaker Out, Side Speaker Out, Line In/Mic In, Line Out)