Gigabyte GA-Z77-UP4 TH (Z77) Motherboard Review

To test power consumption, we monitor the overall power of the system through a plug-in electricity usage monitor at an idle and load state. This allows us to show the fluctuation between how much power draw the system takes at idle and at load. By monitoring the overall usage of the whole system, it gives an easy comparison if you wish to do the same yourself as opposed to buying very expensive individual testing equipment.

With this board aimed more at the mainstream market and the lower end of the gaming market, we can expect the power figures to be a little higher and this is exactly the case. At idle a mere 73W is required which is right in the energy conscious groups and fully loaded on our bench things wasn’t as low but for a board of this style 236W isn’t that bad going. Overclocking was in increase in power requirements of around 25-30W at both idle and load states.