Gigabyte has a new flagship on the horizon with the massive Z77X-UP7

Nick Mertes 30 Aug, 2012 at 8:51pm ET Article published in Tech

Motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte has just launched a new flagship LGA1155 motherboard, and it’s a big’un.

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 features the industry’s most robust 32+3+2 phase power design with Ultra Durable 5 high current capable components including 60A rated IR3550 PowIRstage chips from IR. The phase breakout is 32 for the CPU, 3 for the Intel HD Graphics, and 2 VTT (integrated memory controller) phases. Thanks to these features, the Z77X-UP7 is able to deliver over 2,000W of power while operating at low temperatures.

For those who enjoy building insane gaming rigs, the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 supports both 4-way AMD CrossfireX and NVIDIA SLI. The four orange slots each provide eight PCI Express 3.0 lanes thanks to a PLX8747 controller. Those with a single GPU can use the black native PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot connected directly to the CPU, bypassing the PLX chip.

The BIOS has been designed completely in-house and targets both novices and advanced users. Novices are offered a 3D mode with mouse navigation that helps more clearly understand the areas of the motherboard that are affected through the BIOS settings, gaining a more clear understanding of how their system works. Advanced mode provides an interface designed specifically for overclockers who want maximum control of their hardware.

Also included is the Dual UEFI BIOS, which automatically recovers BIOS data from a backup when the main BIOS crashes or otherwise fails. Users are also able to directly select which BIOS they use through an onboard switch, allowing easy comparison of system settings.

OC Touch provides a set of buttons on the motherboard to allow both the CPU ratio and BCLK to be raised and lowered easily while the computer is running. Onboard voltage measurement modules are included to help monitor individual component voltages while overclocking.

The tl;dr version: this board promises serious overclocking capabilities and support for the most insane gaming builds. And it’s orange and black.

Pricing and availability data have not yet been released, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting it.

Comments

30 Aug 2012 ~ 9:19pm Thrax Let me count the ways I want this motherboard.
30 Aug 2012 ~ 9:21pm fatcat oooooohhhhhh black and orange, two favorite colors... WANT!

also, make me a mini-ITX version as well kthx
30 Aug 2012 ~ 10:07pm Tushon I wants it.
30 Aug 2012 ~ 10:37pm azraelw3x CrossFireX *and* SLI compatibility? I wasn't aware that it was even possible for one board to support both. Have other manufacturers been doing this?
31 Aug 2012 ~ 12:24am Straight_Man Gigabyte is board mfr, but Intel Chipset Z77 supports this. You can, to be clear, either CrossfireX or SLI, board is not triple video card board unless I am mistaken. Thus not both at once.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 9:05am mertesn
CrossFireX *and* SLI compatibility? I wasn't aware that it was even possible for one board to support both. Have other manufacturers been doing this?
Beginning with the X58 chipset, Intel platforms have supported both SLI and CrossfireX. AMD's 900-series chipsets introduced SLI support for non-NVIDIA chipsets. AMD allows anyone to use CrossfireX, but NVIDIA wants a license for SLI, which is why you don't see official support on a lot of pre-900 AMD motherboards. Of course there are ways around the NVIDIA block, but those involve driver modification and may not always work as intended.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 9:07am mertesn
Gigabyte is board mfr, but Intel Chipset Z77 supports this. You can, to be clear, either CrossfireX or SLI, board is not triple video card board unless I am mistaken. Thus not both at once.
Triple GPUs are supported as long as you have the PCI Express slots, CrossfireX/SLI bridges, and GPUs to run it.

I'm pretty sure you cannot have both SLI and CrossfireX operating in the same system at the same time.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 11:12am ytsoc Ok, for those of us who have a certain amount of electronics knowledge it just doesn't cut it to show some button pressing and say you just draw 800amps .
I wanna see how you connected to the motherboard, how you tricked it to deliver that power, and most of all i want to see the wires that deliver those 300amps to each of those machines
31 Aug 2012 ~ 11:41am mertesn That was a Gigabyte-produced video. I have no knowledge of their setup.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 12:13pm Tushon I've been around the internet and seen quite a few shops in my time ... so ... the pixels
31 Aug 2012 ~ 2:50pm Thrax Nick is correct: all Intel chipsets since X58 have an SLI license. CrossFire doesn't need a license, so any dual X16 (or better) board well do.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 6:53pm RootWyrm Got excited when I saw 4 DIMMs on the forward edge of the board.
Got depressed when I realized there was no matching 4 set on the rear edge of the board.
"Oh wait, 1155. DANGIT."

4 DIMMs = No Sale.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 8:02pm shwaip
Got excited when I saw 4 DIMMs on the forward edge of the board.
Got depressed when I realized there was no matching 4 set on the rear edge of the board.
"Oh wait, 1155. DANGIT."

4 DIMMs = No Sale.
Ugh totally. I'm ALWAYS running over 32GB of ram.

wait. no. i'm not.
31 Aug 2012 ~ 8:19pm mertesn
Got excited when I saw 4 DIMMs on the forward edge of the board.
Got depressed when I realized there was no matching 4 set on the rear edge of the board.
"Oh wait, 1155. DANGIT."

4 DIMMs = No Sale.
If memory serves, LGA1155 only supports a maximum of 4 DIMMs
31 Aug 2012 ~ 8:46pm Straight_Man Right, Dual Channel, 2 Dimms per channel.