Introduction

There is little doubt in my mind that Gigabyte has been making a big splash in the industry as of late and another box, ready to surprise me yet again, showed up on my doorstep just when I thought they were done. I've covered many Gigabyte products recently, ranging from the entry-level B75M-D3H to the X79S-UP5 WiFi, a workstation-oriented storage behemoth carrying 14 SATA ports; both show that Gigabyte has really focused their design philosophies. Their changes seem to be making an impact on the market as well, with news showing that they've been eating into the market share of other OEMs.

I have to be honest. This board landed on my doorstep many months ago. It sat on a shelf next to my desk, stoically waiting for its turn on my test bench. Not only that, the shipping box it came in held two boards, not one, and you will see the other board on these pages shortly. The Gigabyte team managed to secure a couple of HWBOT records by using yet another product I covered since the Z77-UP7 package arrived; you can find my other review here. So what about this one, the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7?

If you take a look at any local retailer right now, you should find that Gigabyte's products, motherboards and VGAs alike, are all priced quite competitively and that each of their segments offers a little bit more than some other offerings by other OEMs. Gigabyte's success is, in a large way, simply due to this facet alone, but not everything they do is value-oriented. The Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 is Gigabyte's ultimate multi-GPU overclocking board. It is over-built in every way, and it includes a 32-phase CPU VRM design with a triple-phase memory VRM. A PLX PEX8747 PCIe 3.0 bridge chip also adds support for up to four discrete GPUs, and whether you prefer the Red or Green Team doesn't matter. It is ready for whatever beating you want to give it.

Specifications