GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H Review: Choose Your Storage Option

GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H Conclusion

For a lot of our readers, Z97 will look a lot like Z87 with a few new storage bells and whistles in the form of SATA Express and M.2. What makes the situation less appealing is the lack of these devices available for consumers right now, meaning that for Z87 users there seems little reason to upgrade. The simple benefit that a Z97 motherboard offers for most people now is upgradability – buy one now with your current processor/a Haswell Refresh processor and install a Broadwell CPU when they are released (or a Devil’s Canyon / Pentium-K CPU).

However I see it somewhat in a more different light. While the ultimate functionality on the motherboard itself may not feel that different, it means a lot for design. By having more things to attach to chipset PCIe lanes (of which there is a maximum of eight, and M.2/SATA Express take two each) means that motherboard manufacturers might have to release more versions to keep everyone happy. If a motherboard manufacturer wants to include a SATA Express port for example, that uses two lanes from the CPU and two SATA ports, leaving six PCIe lanes. If that manufacturer then wants to add a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, then that leaves two lanes for everything else. Either there needs to be some form of switch such that the user cannot have more than one of these features at once, or motherboard manufacturers have to be creative. It makes it more important that users research what they want in a product, and what features are disabled if they use XYZ.

The UD5H gets around the M.2/SATA Express issue by using a switch. The user has to decide if they want two SATA 6 Gbps, SATA Express or M.2. In order to save lanes even further, instead of using a USB 3.0 controller that would consume a lane, GIGABYTE uses a USB 3.0 hub instead. While that may limit the peak speeds of the USB 3.0 ports when used together, it at least saves some design specifications and I can imagine other manufacturers going down this route. Users can argue if the PCI slots are needed at all, as that requires a PCIe 2.0 x1 lane by itself.

Another branch to the Z97 ecosystem is that it gives many of the motherboard manufacturers a chance to launch significant updates to their BIOS and software. On this front, GIGABYTE has added a Startup Guide mode to their BIOS and completely reworked their APP Center software. While the Startup Guide still needs some work, the APP Center has improved in bounds to be easier to use and easier to digest for newer users.

Performance of the Z97X-UD5H has a number of positive areas. The default boot time marks the best out of the Z97X motherboards we have seen so far, and the DPC Latency is nice and low. In fact the DPC Latency is lower for Z97 overall, meaning that Intel has probably fixed the issue they had with Z87. OCCT Power consumption on the Z97X-UD5H was around the lowest of the Z97X motherboards we have tested, and CPU performance was comparable. The manual overclocking performance was good as we hit 4.6 GHz on our i7-4770K, however the automatic presets seemed overly aggressive.

We did have an issue with the audio, where it gave high distortion at 100% output. This is not a solitary incident, at least one other motherboard I have currently tested also had this issue but it was solved with a driver fix. I am awaiting GIGABYTE to do something similar, given that they use the same codec.

The Z97X-UD5H positions itself near the top of GIGABYTE’s channel line of motherboards at $190, with only the Z97X-UD7 TH above it which adds in Thunderbolt for only $220. These are aggressively priced products, and it looks like GIGABYTE is focusing its energy more on the gaming range (G1.Gaming) and overclock motherboards (SOC/SOC Force) – particularly the gaming range that goes near the $400 mark. 

There are several things about the UD5H I would change, such as fan header placement, WiFi over dual NICs and perhaps some adjustments in the BIOS, but there is nothing here that would stop a user in their tracks. I must commend GIGABYTE in their APP Center redesign, and give kudos to exploring new types of application that they can combine into their package. I like the fact that extra VGA power comes from a SATA port rather than a molex in a bad place, and using USB hubs might be the way forward for many motherboard manufacturers. Unless you have a specific need in your system, buying the GIGABYTE Z97X-UD5H should satisfy the majority of users who want to embrace the GIGABYTE ecosystem. I have plans to see if this stretches up and down the GIGABYTE product stack, so stay tuned for more Z97X reviews.