titleNow that Intel has opened up the flood gates with Ivy Bridge we can finally take a full look at their latest chipset including testing with the i7-3770. When combining the two we get the latest CPU with the latest chipset and a load of new features. You can now take advantage of PCIe 3.0 along with USB 3.0 integrated into the chipset. We were very impressed with the DZ77GA-70K when we first took a look at it, let’s finally see how it performs!

 

Product Name: Intel DZ77GA-70K

Review Sample Provided by: Intel

Preview by: Wes and Adam

Pictures by: Wes

 

Intel 7 Series Chipset (Panther Point) Details

As discussed before, one of the largest differences between the 6 and 7 series is support for USB 3.0, which looking at the table below we see up to 14 USB ports available on both series, with the 7 series including up to 4 USB 3.0 ports as opposed to straight 2.0 on the predecessor. What this translates to is a faster communication from chipset to processor. Though we've seen USB 3.0 on boards previous to the launch of Panther Point, they were made possible through use of a third-party controller. When a controller is involved, it creates a middle-man of sorts, requiring that controller to communicate with the chipset, which then communicates to the processor. Those four USB 3.0 ports support directly on the chipset can skip that third step and talk directly to the processor, which means faster performance.

Item

6 Series

7 Series

CPU Support

Sandy Bridge / Ivy Bridge *

Ivy Bridge / Sandy Bridge

CPU I/F

DMI 2.0

DMI 2.0

Package

MB: 25 x 25 mm, DT: 27 x 27 mm

MB: 25 x 25 mm, DT: 27 x 27 mm

USB

14 USB 2.0

14 USB Ports (Up to 4 USB 3.0 )

PCIe

8 PCIe 2.0

8 PCIe 2.0

Storage

2 SATA Gen 3, RAID, 4 SATA Gen 2

2 SATA Gen 3, RAID, 4 SATA Gen 2

PCI

DT: 4 slots

DT: PCI on B/Q skus only

Display I/Fs

VGA, LVDS, DP, HDMI (w/ cost reduced LS), Wireless Display

VGA, LVDS, DP, HDMI (w/ cost reduced .LS), Wireless Display

Display Pipes

Dual Independent. Display Digital I/Fs

Three Independent. DisplayDigital I/Fs

Security

PAVP

PAVP

Manageability & FW

ME 7.0

ME 8.0

iRST

10.0 and 10.5 (Intelligent caching and Optical Read Ahead)

11.0 w/Intelligent caching

LAN

GbE MAC

GbE MAC

Integ. Clock

Yes

Yes

Along with the Z77 chipset, which is featured on the board we are previewing here, Panther Point will introduce five other SKU's to complete the 7 series. As you can see below, these are classified between mainstream, corporate, and the full-featured Z77. There are a few small differences between the 6 SKUs, including performance tuning available on only those SKUs targeted for, as you may have guessed, performance: the Z75 and Z77.

Features

H77

Z75

Z77

B75

Q75

Q77

Processor Support / Socket

LGA 1155

LGA 1155

LGA 1155

LGA 1155

LGA 1155

LGA 1155

CPU Performance Tuning

-

?1

?1

-

-

-

Processor Graphics Overclocking

?

?

?

?

?

?

Switchable Graphics (Dynamic Muxless Solution)2

?

?

?

?

?

?

Built-in Visuals

?

?

?

?

?

?

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 11

?

?

?

?3

?3

?

Intel® RST Smart Response Technology4

?

-

?

-

-

?

Intel® Smart Connect Technology

?

?

?

?

?

?

Intel® Rapid Start Technology

?

?

?

?

?

?

Intel® Wireless Display /Music

?

?

?

?

?

?

3 Independent Displays

?

?

?

?

?

?

Intel® Active Management Technology 8.0

-

-

-

-

-

?

Intel Standard Manageability

-

-

-

-

?5

?5

Intel® ME Firmware 8.0 SKU6

1.5MB

1.5MB

1.5MB

5MB

5MB

5MB

2012 vPro

-

-

-

-

-

?

2012 SIPP7

-

-

-

-

?

?

PCIe Configuration

1X16

1X16 or 2X8

1X16 or 2X8 or 1X8 +2X4

1X16

1X16

1X16

Total USB Ports (Max USB3 Ports)

14 (4)

14 (4)

14 (4)

12 (4)

14 (4)

14 (4)

PCI Express 2.0 (5 GT/s)

8

8

8

8

8

8

Legacy PCI

-

-

-

?

?

?

SATA Ports (Max# 6Gb/s)

6(2)

6(2)

6(2)

6(1)

6(1)

6 (2)

Regardless of the SKU, all of the 7 series not only supports USB 3.0, but all support a maximum of four ports, with the small business B75 chipset two USB 2.0 short of the rest. Though the 7 series chipset is capable of PCI Express 3.0, the speed is limited to PCI Express 2.0 while using Sandy Bridge based processors. Similarly, each SKU has at least one available SATA 6.0Gb/s ports, while the majority of the chipset, including H77, Z75, and Z77 support two, with four left for SATA 3.0Gb/s.

chip3

chip2

In addition to the newly added 7 series SKUs, the chipset is also backwards compatible with processors that worked with the 6 series chipset; in other words Sandy Bridge based CPUs.

The chipsets also included a few new software features, such as Intel's Smart Response Technology, Rapid Start Technology, and Smart Connect, which adapt to the user's behavior as well as aid in over all response and resume from hibernation or stand-by.

chip1

 

Specifications

Form factor

ATX

AA# (Altered Assembly)

G30742-XXX

BIOS ID string

GZZ7710H.86A with Intel Fast Boot Technology

Processor

At product launch, this Intel® Desktop Board DZ77GA-70K supports:

View all compatible Intel® processor numbers

Memory

  • •Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
  • •Support for DDR3 1600+ /1333 /1066 MHz DIMMs
  • •Support for up to 32 GB of system memory
  • Tested system memory

Chipset

Graphics

  • •Intel® HD Graphics, HDMI*
  • •Two PCI Express* 3.0 x16 connectors (one x8 electrical)
  • •Supports ATI CrossFireX* and NVIDIA SLI*

Audio

Intel® High Definition Audio (Intel® HD Audio) subsystem in the following configuration:

  • •10-channel (7.1 + 2 independent multi-streaming) audio subsystem with six analog audio outputs w/optical S/PDIF out port
  • •Supports Dolby* Home Theatre V4

LAN support

Dual Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mb/s) LAN subsystems using the Intel® 82579V Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Peripheral interfaces

  • •Eight SuperSpeedUSB 3.0 ports (4 external/4 header)
  • •Ten USB 2.0 ports (4 external (2 Hi-Current/Fast Charging) / 6 internal)
  • •Four Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, one eSATA 6.0 Gb/s
  • •Four Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
  • •Two IEEE 1394a ports/headers (1 external/1 header)
  • •Consumer infrared receiver and emitter

Expansion capabilities

  • •Two PCI Express* 3.0 x16 connectors (one x8 electrical)
  • •Two PCI Express 2.0 x 1 connectors
  • •One PCI Express 2.0 x 4 connector
  • •Two PCI Conventional* bus connectors


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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #24735 23 Apr 2012 20:03
Intel's DZ77GA-70K tested with Ivy

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