Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Motherboard Review

To test the Gigabyte Z87-D3HP, we paired it with an Intel Core i7 4770K processor and 8GB of 2133MHz memory from Patriot. We will be outlining the Gigabyte Z87-D3HP motherboard's performance with the Core i7 4770K CPU at its stock frequency of 3.5GHz and when overclocked to 4.5GHz.

We will be comparing the Gigabyte Z87-D3HP motherboard's performance to that of MSI's Z87 XPower and ASRock's Z87 Extreme9/ac. All motherboards are partnered with identical hardware and software, so the results are directly comparable.

By default, the Gigabyte Z87-D3HP motherboard forces the 4770K to a constant 3.9GHz. This will be displayed as the ‘stock’ setting.

One performance aspect that we need to mention is the Z87-D3HP motherboard's insistence on setting the Patriot memory timings to 9-11-11-30, rather than the XMP profile's configuration of 11-11-11-30. Luckily, this didn't affect system stability as our Patriot memory could handle the slight overclock. With a different set of memory, system stability may have been affected.

Motherboard Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 4770K 3.50GHz.
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper Xtreme Division 2 2133MHz.
• Graphics Card: nVidia GTX 760 2GB.
• System Drive: 500GB Samsung 840 Series SSD.
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i.
• Case: NZXT Phantom 630.
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000W.
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Compared Z87 Motherboard(s):

• Gigabyte Z87-D3HP (BIOS F4 – newest non-BETA).
  
• MSI Z87 XPower (BIOS v1.0).
• ASRock Z87 Extreme9/ac (BIOS v1.70).

Settings:

• Gigabyte Z87-D3HP BIOS F4.
• GeForce 320.49 VGA drivers.
• Intel 9.4.0.1017 chipset drivers.

Software Suite:

• 3DMark
• 3DMark 11
• PCMark 8
• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
• SiSoft Sandra 2013 SP4
• Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
• Super Pi
• VLC Media Player 2.0.7
• CyberLink Media Espresso 6.7
• HandBrake 0.9.9
• ATTO
• Battlefield 3
• Metro 2033
• Sleeping Dogs

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