Z77X-UD3H Firmware
Gigabyte produces stable firmware for solid overclocking, yet manages to annoy some of us by spreading its settings over the broadest number of submenus we’ve encountered. It’s main M.I.T. menu shows nothing but system status and a list of these submenus.
The Advanced Frequency Settings submenu, for example, shows nothing more than CPU base clock, CPU multiplier, and DRAM multiplier. Jumping in one more submenu brings CPU power and per-active-core controls.
We reached a stable 4.76 GHz at 1.30 V using 47 x 101.32 MHz.
Intel XMP modes work well in the Advanced Memory Settings submenu, but an additional level of submenus is required to change timings. Changing DRAM Timing Selectable to Quick ties both channels to the same settings, while Expert mode allows per-channel timing manipulation.
Our best efforts pushed a pair of G.Skill’s DDR3-2666 to DDR3-2721 using its rated voltage and timings.
The Z77X-UD3H’s Advanced Voltage Settings submenu brings up another list of submenus that, for most purposes, could have been combined. A 1.305 V setting got us to an actual 1.30 V, and setting VCore Load Line Calibration to Turbo kept our CPU voltage consistent under changing loads.