Test System

Initial Setup

Setting up the Gigabyte Z77-UD5H WiFi went by without any issues, no different than any other motherboard, with the JEDEC 1333 MHz 9-9-9-24 1.5V profile of my G.Skill DIMMs booting right up. The OS install went perfectly, and no issues were noticed at any point during the testing period, even when overclocking. I updated to the most recent BIOS, "F7", using the utility inside the BIOS, and noticed no issues with that either.

PWM Power Consumption

Since one of our first tasks was to truly verify system stability, while doing so we measure CPU power consumption. We isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector using an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings, as well as total wattage passed through it. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design.


There's not much I can say about the power consumption at this point. I did notice that the board itself pulled about 74 W on its own with the XFX HD 6950 installed, and pretty much every board I've tested has run within 3-5 W of that, although I normally see most sitting just above 75 W. I noticed that idlle power consumption was a few Watts higher than expected, which made me investigate things a bit further. It seems that that PWR_FAN fan header is powered via the EPS-pin, something that I personally disapprove of. However, since I saw that there was just a 44 W increase from idle to load pulled via the 8-pin, I can understand why this design choice was made, but I still don't approve of having that fan header powered from the CPU's 8-pin connector.