Final Thoughts
I was a little skeptical about the Z87X-UD3H when I started reviewing it. Being the lowest priced Z87 board Gigabyte offers you really cannot expect that much, but during the course of this review I was pleasantly surprised. It has many things you would not expect from an “entry level” motherboard to have, and half of them are really not advertised either.
Starting with the basics you have 8 SATA 6GB/s ports, 10 USB 3.0 ports, support for multi-GPU setups and a very attractive design. Beyond that you have things like power, reset and clear CMOS buttons right on the motherboard. We normally do not see those on lower-end motherboards. Beyond that there are voltage checkpoints as well as a debug LED so you can easily do some overclocking and be able to check your voltages.
Talking about overclocking this board did quite well with our Core i7-4770K. We achieved a 1.1 GHz overclock up to 4.6 GHz. The system actually booted all they way up to 4.8 GHz, but was only stable at 4.6 GHz. That is the same 4.6 GHz overclock that we achieved on ASUS’s Z87 Sabertooth board. There are quite a few different ways to overclock as well, which is nice if you are a beginner.
One thing that really impressed me was that Gigabyte did a complete overhaul of their UEFI BIOS. It is sure a change from the Z77 generation UEFI BIOS’s that we saw. It is very attractive and there is a lot of information on the screen, but it does take some time to learn where all of the options are if you are used to the older UEFI BIOS. Gigabyte does give you the ability to go back to the old BIOS if you like. The new BIOS is definitely an improvement and a step in the right direction, but I did find that it would freeze from time to time, which could get annoying. I am hoping than an updated BIOS will fix that issue.
Another thing that Gigabyte’s overhauled was their motherboard companion software. On previous generations their motherboard software was sort of dated and useless. They have unified all of the software into their “App Center” which makes everything easy to access. The new EasyTune software offers a lot more features and is much easier to understand and use. I really seems like Gigabyte has brought their UEFI as well as their software up to date with their competitors.
At the end of the day this is not the most powerful or best overclocking Z87 motherboard out there, but it is sure one hell of a value considering its features. Many other companies will try to sell you on gimmicks or features you just don’t need. This motherboard does not do that, it has everything you need and not many extras that 90% of people won’t use. Right now you can pick up this motherboard for only $139.99! Overall ThinkComputers gives the Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H motherboard a 9 out of 10 score and our Good Value Award.
Pros:
– Completely overhauled UEFI BIOS
– Has everything most users would want
– Price
– Decent overclocking
– Good performance
Cons:
– UEFI BIOS did freeze at times
