Gigabyte Z87-D3HP (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

In the UK the Gigabyte Z87-D3HP is priced at £104.98 from Scan Computers and £109.99 from Overclockers UK with a free Prolimatech Panther CPU cooler. In the USA it costs $129.99 USD from Newegg and in Canada it costs $139.99 CAD at NCIX.

Final Thoughts

Gigabyte’s Z87-D3HP is an impressive motherboard for its price point. Generally everything we’ve seen from Gigabyte in this Z87 generation has been very good and the Z87-D3HP is certainly no exception. The motherboard is probably one of my new favourite entry level Z87 motherboards because it really does have everything. Gigabyte offer you all the Z87 chipset connectivity plus some extra USB 3.0 and PCI connections to ensure you have enough connectivity. Gigabyte use high quality components across the entire motherboard which is indicated at by the sturdy build quality and solid overclocking performance. The motherboard itself is one of the best looking motherboards at its price point and has a very clean looking layout. The UEFI BIOS implementation is also one of the best, alongside the ASUS one. I was also impressed by how much audio performance Gigabyte were able to extract from the ageing ALC 892 Realtek codec – having reviewed another ALC 892 based board recently this one performed noticeably better.

There are a few cons with the board worth mentioning – firstly upward facing SATA connectors won’t appeal to everyone and six SATA ports may also not be enough, a couple extra might of been welcomed by consumers – even if just SATA II 3Gbps  ports for optical drives and mechanical hard drives. Secondly, I think PCI express connectivity could be better thought out. With your dual slot graphics card in the main PCI express slot you lose a PCIe X1 slot. I would rather Gigabyte made it so a PCI slot is lost as most buyers are likely to have more PCIe cards than PCI cards in my opinion. Its also worth noting Gigabyte only offer two PCIe X1 slots while MSI’s Z87-G43 offers three and at a lower price point – so connectivity could of been improved there.

Pros

• Strong audio performance
• Great looking motherboard
• Competitive pricing
• Excellent UEFI BIOS implementation
• Solid overclocking potential
• Reasonably useful software offerings
• Slimmer than full ATX, easier cable management

Cons

• Could do with more PCI Express connectivity due to poor PCIe 1X placement
• A few extra SATA ports would have been nice
• Quite a sparse accessory pack – more SATA cables would have been nice

“If you want a premium performing and premium looking motherboard without the premium (price) then the Z87-D3HP has got to be among the best options on the market. While there is certainly some tough competition out there the Z87-D3HP from Gigabyte certainly holds its own against equivalent offerings from MSI, ASRock and ASUS. The Z87-D3HP benefits from great aesthetics, a fantastic UEFI implementation and strong audio performance. If you’re looking for a Z87 motherboard at the £110/$130 price point then this is definitely one to consider.”

Thanks to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.