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Gigabyte's 7-series mini-ITX boards finally official, available soon

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z77n_wifi_box.jpgIt's said that patience is a virtue, but we're pretty sure that those of you that are waiting for Gigabyte's 7-series mini-ITX motherboards have close to used up all the patience you have. Today the company finally put up the GA-H77N-WIFI and the GA-Z77N-WIFI on its website which means that they should hit retail in a week or two depending on where you live.

We've covered both models in detail already, so we're not going to cover the specs here, but you can either visit Gigabyte's website in the links below or read our earlier coverage to get the full details. We just want to reiterate a couple of things here, as we've seen some discussion in the forums with regards to what chips are being used. Both boards are using Realtek for both audio and networking, so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues here. Note that you'll have to swap out the Intel Wi-Fi card with a working one to get Wi-Fi support in OS X, but both boards are using a standard half-size mini PCI Express slot.
h77n_wifi_box.jpg
The only downside of these boards is that they're limited to 1920x1200 display output using Intel's integrated graphics due to lack of a DisplayPort connector, so if you're planning on using a higher resolution display than this, then you need to look at getting a discrete graphics card. The boards will use the same UEFI as all of Gigabyte's other 7-series boards and hopefully we won't be seeing any of the teething issues we've seen with some of the earlier 7-series boards from Gigabyte. Always check for new UEFI/BIOS updates at Gigabyte's site before you start using your board, as they do continually issue updates.

We should be getting our hands on a board later this week and we'll be doing some testing ASAP and give you all the details as soon as it arrives. Keep in mind that the GA-Z77N-WIFI is going to be sub $140 retail which makes it the cheapest Z77 mini-ITX board out there and the GA-H77N-WIFI is the cheapest H77 mini-ITX board with a mini PCI Express slot (included Wi-Fi for Windows users) for under $120. Not long to go now and hopefully the slight delay (which is not hardware related by the way) has allowed those of you waiting to save up some extra cash.

Source: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI, GA-Z77N-WIFI

Related:
Exclusive: Hands on with Gigabyte’s upcoming mini-ITX motherboards
Photo surfaces of Gigabyte's upcoming H77N-WIFI mini-ITX motherboard
Gigabyte's H77 mini-ITX board unveiled, of sorts
 
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Can you tell me in one sentence what is the difference between these two boards?
 
Article: Gigabyte's 7-series mini-ITX boards finally official, available soon

The chipset :D

If that wasn't enough of an explanation, the Z77 model will offer some - albeit limited due to the fairly basic power regulation - overclocking if you put a K series CPU in the board. So if you're not planning on overclocking, the H77 is just fine.
 
Article: Gigabyte's 7-series mini-ITX boards finally official, available soon

Can you tell me in one sentence what is the difference between these two boards?


Different chipsets, Z77 and H77, Z77 being more suitable for over clocking and other pretty subtle differences.
 
Article: Gigabyte's 7-series mini-ITX boards finally official, available soon

Can you tell me in one sentence what is the difference between these two boards?

One uses the H77 and one uses the Z77 chipset. The main difference is that you can overclock with Z77 and cannot with H77. Z77 also supports Crossfire or SLI but on a mini itx that obviously doesn't matter.
 
as far as i know , the native intel usb 3 port in H77 chipset will work with both usb2/3 devices .. but the native intel usb 3 port in Z77 chipset will work only with usb3 devices
 
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