The packaging for Z77X-UP5TH is the same as other Z77 motherboards and is very busy. On the front there are various logos to inform as to what this motherboard includes such as – 3D Power/BIOS. Ultra Durable 5, PCI-E Gen3, NVIDIA SLI. There are Intel logos printed on the front also to notify users that this motherboard supports Intel’s 3rd generation of CPUs (Ivy Bridge). GIGABYTE are keen to push their 5th generation of Ultra Durable 5 which includes even more features – more on this later!

On the back of the box, all of the features are broken down and given further explanation.



Inside the box, GIGABYTE have given the Z77X-UP5TH an array of items which consist of the following:

• 4x SATA cables (2x6GB/s 2x3GB/s)
• NVIDIA SLI bridge (flexible)
• Rear IO shield
• Front panel USB 3.0 adapter
• WiFi/BT PCI-E card and Antennas
• Documentation – User manual, multi-lingual guidebook, WiFi/BT guide
• Software CD
• GIGABYTE sticker

The Front panel USB 3.0 adapter is 3.5” and provides an additional 2x USB 3.0 ports but requires the internal motherboard header for such delivery. The WiFi/BT card is PCI-E and has accompanying antennas. This card is Bluetooth 4.0 + WiFi ready and is codenamed GC-WB300D which is offers support for Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi connectivity (up to 300 Mbps).



GIGABYTE have wowed us with their notorious stealthy matt black motherboards at the launch of Z77 but the new UP range has been given a facelift. The PCB is still matt black and much to our delight the ports and sockets are also still black but the heatsinks and DIMM slots have been redesigned to feature a much more neutral colour-tone of grey. Although I did like the Z77X-UD5H colour scheme the new Z77X-UP5TH is even more satisifying to the eye and will undoubtedly pair up with other devices much better since there is no primary colour featured.



Over on the next page we will take a closer look at each section of Z77X-UP5TH and reveal it’s feature-set.