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@ 2012/04/02Intel silently enabled the product pages of several of its 7-series chipset-based LGA1155 motherboards, including three based on the Z77 Express. These include the Extreme Series DZ77GA-70K, Media Series DZ77BH-55K, and Media Series DZ77SL-50K. The DZ77GA-70K is a top-tier model that's built for built for heavily-overclocked gaming PCs. Intel paid due attention to areas such as a strong VRM, and a broad range of connectivity options. With power-delivery, we spy a 10+2 phase VRM backed by Intel's phase-shedding technology. Apart from four DDR3 DIMM slots, the LGA1155 socket is wired to two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8, when both are populated).
Other expansion slots on the DZ77GA-70K include one open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI. To ensure there are sufficient PCIe lanes for these slots, and the plethora of third-party onboard devices, Intel implemented a PLX PCI-Express bridge chip that increases the lane budget of the board. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and one eSATA.
Other expansion slots on the DZ77GA-70K include one open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI. To ensure there are sufficient PCIe lanes for these slots, and the plethora of third-party onboard devices, Intel implemented a PLX PCI-Express bridge chip that increases the lane budget of the board. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, two from third-party controller), four SATA 3 Gb/s, and one eSATA.
