1.3Special features

1.3.1Product highlights

LGA1155 socket for Intel® 3rd/2nd Generation Core™ i7 / Core™ i5 / Core™ i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® Processors

This motherboard supports Intel® 3rd/2nd generation Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors in the LGA1155 package, with iGPU, memory and PCI Express controllers integrated to support onboard graphics output with dedicated chipsets, 2-channel (4 DIMMs) DDR3 memory and 16 PCI Express 3.0/2.0 lanes. This provides great graphics performance. Intel® 3rd / 2nd generation Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors are among the most powerful and energy efficient CPUs in the world.

Intel® H77 Express Chipset

The Intel® H77 Express Chipset is a single-chipset designed to support the 1155 socket Intel® 3rd / 2nd generation Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium® / Celeron® processors. It provides improved performance by utilizing serial point-to-point links, allowing increased bandwidth and stability. Additionally, H77 chipset provides 4 USB 3.0 ports for 10 times faster data retrieval speed.

Moreover, Intel® H77 Express Chipset can also enable iGPU function, letting users enjoy the latest Intel® integrated graphic performance.

Dual-Channel DDR3 2200(O.C.)* /2133(O.C.)* /2000(O.C.)* /1866(O.C.)* / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz Support

The motherboard supports DDR3 memory that features data transfer rates of DDR3 2200(O. C.)* /2133(O.C.)* /2000(O.C.)* /1866(O.C.)* / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz to meet the higher bandwidth requirements of the latest 3D graphics, multimedia, and Internet applications. The dual-channel DDR3 architecture enlarges the bandwidth of your system memory to boost system performance.

*Due to the CPU behavior, DDR3 2133/1866MHz memory module will run at DDR3 2000/1800MHz frequency as default.

**DDR3 1600MHz and higher memory frequency is supported by Intel® 3rd generation processors.

PCI Express® 3.0

PCI Express® 3.0 (PCIe 3.0) is the latest PCI Express bus standard with improved encoding schemes that provide twice the performance of the current PCIe 2.0. The total bandwidth for a x16 link reaches a maximum of 32Gb/s, double the 16 Gb/s of PCIe 2.0 (in x16 mode). As such, PCIe 3.0 provides userss an unprecendented data speeds, combined with the convenience and seamless transition offerred by complete backward compatibility with PCIe

1.0and PCIe 2.0 devices. PCIe 3.0 will become a must-have feature for users who wish to improve and optimize graphic performance, as well as have the latest technology available to them.

* PCI 3.0 speed is supported by Intel® 3rd generation CoreTM processors.

S/PDIF out connector at the back I/O

This motherboard provides convenient connectivity to external home theater audio systems via the optical S/PDIF (SONY-PHILIPS Digital Interface) out connecor at the back I/O. The

1-2

Chapter 1: Product introduction