techPowerUp! Forums

Go Back   techPowerUp! Forums > www.techpowerup.com > News

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old Jun 4, 2012, 12:25 PM   #1
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
 
btarunr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hyderabad, India
Posts: 14,981 (7.31/day)
Thanks: 788
Thanked 12,896 Times in 5,648 Posts
Send a message via AIM to btarunr Send a message via MSN to btarunr

System Specs

GIGABYTE Shows Off Z77X-UP7 Motherboard with 32-Phase CPU VRM

It's good to see GIGABYTE back to doing high-end motherboards with overkill CPU power designs. Its latest creation, the Z77X-UP7, was shown to sections of the media, at a private exhibition, ahead of Computex. The Z77X-UP7 is the company's first motherboard to feature its Ultra Durable 5 motherboard construction technology, which is basically Ultra Durable 4 augmented with higher current 60A chokes, and International Rectifier PowIRStage IR3550 ICs (a highly potent driver-MOSFET implementation). The Z77X-UP7 is based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, and supports Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors in the LGA1155 package.



The Z77X-UP7 implements an over-the-top 32-phase VRM to power the CPU, which draws power from two 8-pin EPS connectors. The VRM utilizes ferrite core chokes and PowIRstage IR3550 driver-MOSFETs. GIGABYTE is yet to finalize the board's heatsink design, which gives us the opportunity to give its components a closer look. The board utilizes a PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip, which is wired to the PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link of the processor on one end, and gives out two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 links, which are distributed among six PCI-Express x16 slots using an array of lane switches. 4-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX are supported. The board includes support for LucidLogix VirtuMVP. Its display outpputs include DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and D-Sub.

Its expansive storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and one mSATA 6 Gb/s. Other connectivity includes dual gigabit Ethernet interface (one each of Intel and Qualcomm-Atheros PHYs), 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 8+2 channel HD audio (Realtek ALC898, 110 dBA SNR), and 10 USB 3.0 ports (six on the rear panel, four via headers). GIGABYTE will launch the Z77A-UP7 a little later this year.
btarunr is offline  
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to btarunr For This Useful Post:
Old Jun 4, 2012, 12:37 PM   #2
treboRR
25 Posts
 
treboRR's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 73 (0.07/day)
Thanks: 6
Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts
Send a message via MSN to treboRR Send a message via Skype™ to treboRR

System Specs

i mby wrong but i see 36 chokes there....
treboRR is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:14 PM   #3
Scatler
25 Posts
 
Scatler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 64 (0.10/day)
Thanks: 0
Thanked 20 Times in 10 Posts

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by treboRR View Post
i mby wrong but i see 36 chokes there....
I think there's a typo in the news title or Gigabyte forgot how to count.
Scatler is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:17 PM   #4
Jstn7477
2000 Posts
 
Jstn7477's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Sarasota, Florida, USA
Posts: 3,118 (2.29/day)
Thanks: 386
Thanked 1,177 Times in 799 Posts

System Specs

It's likely a 32+4 setup, as modern CPUs require 2 or more voltages to be provided to them (32 phases to the CPU cores, 4 phases to the northbridge/memory controller). My Z68 board has an 8+4 digital VRM configuration.
__________________
Intel Crunchers (30 threads): 2x 3770K 4.3G (12t), 2600K 4G (6t), X3210 (3t), P-M 735A, P4 HT 3G
AMD Crunchers (13 cores):1100T 3.6G (3t), 1045T 3.4G (2t), X3 8550 2.5G, X2 4400+ & 4200+, T64 ML-37
AMD Folders (6272 GCN cores): 2x 7950 1125/1475, 7970 1150/1650, 7770
NV Folders (2336 GF10x + 1344 GK104 cores):GTX 470 & 465 720/1715, 4x 460 768MB 825/2000, GTS 450, 660Ti 1228/6000

HEATWARE
Jstn7477 is offline  
Crunching for Team TPU More than 25k PPD
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:20 PM   #5
Dj-ElectriC
1000 Posts
 
Dj-ElectriC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Trollithia
Posts: 1,578 (1.56/day)
Thanks: 141
Thanked 643 Times in 300 Posts

System Specs

That's just ridicules...
__________________


Battletag: HolyDiver#1664
Dj-ElectriC is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:24 PM   #6
Huddo93
200 Posts
 
Huddo93's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Perth, WA, Australia
Posts: 286 (0.49/day)
Thanks: 49
Thanked 56 Times in 53 Posts

System Specs

I hope world records will be set on that board, has gotta be the cleanest power out there!
__________________
Heatware: http://heatware.com/eval.php?id=77797
Huddo93 is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:25 PM   #7
radrok
1000 Posts
 
radrok's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Italy
Posts: 1,876 (3.28/day)
Thanks: 138
Thanked 454 Times in 356 Posts
Send a message via Skype™ to radrok

System Specs

Well maybe they found a way to protect their mobos from their bad bios software by going overkill on the VRM section

Anyway such design would have more sense on X79 which has power hungry six cores (hopefully 8+ by January)
radrok is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:33 PM   #8
blibba
500 Posts
 
blibba's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 774 (0.59/day)
Thanks: 109
Thanked 165 Times in 112 Posts

System Specs

So the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th slots share the 16 lanes from the CPU? Does that make the 2nd x16 slot a x4, usable only with IB CPU?
__________________
Heatware.
eBay feedback.
blibba is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:40 PM   #9
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
 
btarunr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hyderabad, India
Posts: 14,981 (7.31/day)
Thanks: 788
Thanked 12,896 Times in 5,648 Posts
Send a message via AIM to btarunr Send a message via MSN to btarunr

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by treboRR View Post
i mby wrong but i see 36 chokes there....
Rest are ancillary/NB phases.
__________________

Gadgets, Phones, Tablets, Cameras, TVs, HiFi...NextPowerUp
btarunr is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:40 PM   #10
heky
500 Posts
 
heky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Slovenia, Europe
Posts: 873 (0.65/day)
Thanks: 888
Thanked 144 Times in 122 Posts
Send a message via MSN to heky

System Specs

This 32phase power delivery is bulls**t. I talked to a engineer once, and he said it is not the quantity of the phases that matter, but the quality, and the way they are implemented. So this board could have 60+ phases and it doesnt mean it has the cleanest power delivered.
heky is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 01:42 PM   #11
Maban
1000 Posts
 
Maban's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,914 (1.01/day)
Thanks: 797
Thanked 550 Times in 359 Posts

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by blibba View Post
So the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th slots share the 16 lanes from the CPU? Does that make the 2nd x16 slot a x4, usable only with IB CPU?
The second slot is directly wired to the CPU. The other four slots (1/3/5/7) are wired to the switch. Putting a card in any of those four slots disables the second slot. 1 and 5 become x16, switchable to x8/x8/x8/x8 for 1/3/5/7. It's personally my favorite layout.
Maban is offline  
More than 25k PPD
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 02:33 PM   #12
Laurijan
1000 Posts
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Oulu, Finland
Posts: 1,935 (0.84/day)
Thanks: 270
Thanked 352 Times in 282 Posts
Send a message via MSN to Laurijan Send a message via Skype™ to Laurijan

System Specs

Worldrecord board in terms of power-phases! I have 8+2+2 and even that is enough even for big OCs.
__________________


If you want to quit smoking tobacco this is a must see:
☆☆☆The Electronic-Cigarette Club☆☆☆ @ GN.net

Laurijan´s Heat
My worldwide sales thread
Laurijan is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 05:42 PM   #13
Random Murderer
3500 Posts
 
Random Murderer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Florida, where it's hot as hell.
Posts: 4,091 (1.74/day)
Thanks: 991
Thanked 671 Times in 503 Posts

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by heky View Post
This 32phase power delivery is bulls**t. I talked to a engineer once, and he said it is not the quantity of the phases that matter, but the quality, and the way they are implemented. So this board could have 60+ phases and it doesnt mean it has the cleanest power delivered.
exactly what i was coming in to say.
__________________
“People just need a reason to live. Some peoples reason is to bitch on the Internet. W1zz is just giving these sad souls a reason to live. Hes like a saint. Saint W1zzard.” -TheMailMan78
Mars: Apparently I have been there before, but I don't recall.
Not all who wander are lost...
Random Murderer is offline  
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Random Murderer For This Useful Post:
Old Jun 4, 2012, 07:38 PM   #14
Kantastic
3500 Posts
 
Kantastic's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: The Big Apple
Posts: 4,976 (3.39/day)
Thanks: 1,252
Thanked 930 Times in 739 Posts

System Specs

It better come with a molex to 8pin adapter.
__________________
Heatware
Kantastic is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 4, 2012, 11:05 PM   #15
Hayder_Master
3500 Posts
 
Hayder_Master's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: IRAQ-Baghdad
Posts: 4,860 (2.62/day)
Thanks: 388
Thanked 639 Times in 444 Posts
Send a message via MSN to Hayder_Master Send a message via Yahoo to Hayder_Master

System Specs

that's what i talking about, back to p45 times
Hayder_Master is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 01:12 AM   #16
Jurassic1024
75 Posts
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 163 (0.37/day)
Thanks: 4
Thanked 21 Times in 15 Posts

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by radrok View Post
Well maybe they found a way to protect their mobos from their bad bios software by going overkill on the VRM section

Anyway such design would have more sense on X79 which has power hungry six cores (hopefully 8+ by January)
Good luck finding room for them all on an already cramped X79.
Jurassic1024 is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 01:26 AM   #17
Jurassic1024
75 Posts
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 163 (0.37/day)
Thanks: 4
Thanked 21 Times in 15 Posts

System Specs

36-phase VRM? Oh god. I think it's safe to assume these aren't high performance alloy-based chokes a la the ASUS Z77 Sabertooth. It's pretty busy around that socket. I can't wait to see what the VRM heatsink(s) will look like.
Jurassic1024 is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 01:49 AM   #18
radrok
1000 Posts
 
radrok's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Italy
Posts: 1,876 (3.28/day)
Thanks: 138
Thanked 454 Times in 356 Posts
Send a message via Skype™ to radrok

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jurassic1024 View Post
Good luck finding room for them all on an already cramped X79.
Well, the Big Bang Xpower II X79 has 22 Phases which still are a lot I'm pretty sure they could find the space for more if the wanted to.
radrok is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 02:59 AM   #19
nleksan
200 Posts
 
nleksan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ohio
Posts: 228 (0.54/day)
Thanks: 67
Thanked 29 Times in 29 Posts

System Specs

It seems overkill in that there seems to be no overclocking issues with current motherboards, rather its the chips themselves that are handicapped...
nleksan is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 03:23 AM   #20
Steven B
500 Posts
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 571 (0.20/day)
Thanks: 11
Thanked 50 Times in 33 Posts

what is ridiculous about this board is the phase count, that is too many phases. This board I am told is a statement to show what GIGABYTE engineers can do. You are talking about the best MOSFETs IR makes, the won some award at CES, they also have a retail cost of $4-5 a pop. The cost of the VRM alone on the UP7 is more than an entry level asrock board.
Steven B is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 03:33 AM   #21
de.das.dude
3500 Posts
 
de.das.dude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Wild Wild East
Posts: 4,525 (4.22/day)
Thanks: 2,306
Thanked 1,312 Times in 899 Posts
Send a message via Skype™ to de.das.dude

System Specs

overkill much?
__________________
Cheers!
de.das.dude is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 5, 2012, 07:28 AM   #22
heky
500 Posts
 
heky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Slovenia, Europe
Posts: 873 (0.65/day)
Thanks: 888
Thanked 144 Times in 122 Posts
Send a message via MSN to heky

System Specs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven B View Post
what is ridiculous about this board is the phase count, that is too many phases. This board I am told is a statement to show what GIGABYTE engineers can do. You are talking about the best MOSFETs IR makes, the won some award at CES, they also have a retail cost of $4-5 a pop. The cost of the VRM alone on the UP7 is more than an entry level asrock board.
All they did was add driver MOSFETs to their boards. Big deal. MSI and ASUS have been doing that for ages.
heky is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 6, 2012, 01:37 AM   #23
Steven B
500 Posts
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 571 (0.20/day)
Thanks: 11
Thanked 50 Times in 33 Posts

Driver MOSFET is a type of powerstage, but all powerstages are deff not driver mosfets. You don't call volterra or ti powerstages DrMOS because they aren't, just like IR's powerstages aren't. DrMOS that output 60A don't exist, and if they did they probably couldn't' do it at high frequencies like this power stage.

Also GB was the first to use these, but others will too.

Show me asus board that uses DrMOS??????

GB also used DrMOS on X58 and Z68.

Last edited by Steven B; Jun 6, 2012 at 01:49 AM.
Steven B is offline  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 6, 2012, 07:48 AM   #24
heky
500 Posts
 
heky's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Slovenia, Europe
Posts: 873 (0.65/day)
Thanks: 888
Thanked 144 Times in 122 Posts
Send a message via MSN to heky

System Specs

Have you even read the article?

Quote:
Originally Posted by btarunr View Post
International Rectifier PowIRStage IR3550 ICs (a highly potent driver-MOSFET implementation)
And where does it state that a single phase can output 60A? The chokes can take a higher current, but that doesnt mean a single phase can take 60A.

Next time, read.
heky is online now  
Reply With Quote
Old Jun 6, 2012, 07:53 AM   #25
MxPhenom 216
Knowledgeable Posting Whore
 
MxPhenom 216's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 5,733 (5.77/day)
Thanks: 1,267
Thanked 1,077 Times in 830 Posts

System Specs

__________________
Motocross is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle.

File Server: Intel Pentium G630, 8GB PNY 1600, AsRock H77M Micro, Corsair CX430M, Vertex 2 90GB (OS), 2x WD Red 2TB in RAID1
“We will never know our full potential, unless we push ourselves to find it. -Travis Rice”
MxPhenom 216 is online now  
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Cheapest possible 1155 board with 8 phase vrm? reverze Motherboards & Memory 3 May 14, 2012 08:15 AM
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H and Z77X-UD5H Pictured, Too btarunr News 5 Apr 8, 2012 04:07 AM
Intel shows off CPU with 48 cores Hunt3r General Hardware 0 Dec 6, 2009 07:45 PM
Zotac Beefs-Up GeForce GTX 200 with 15 Phase VRM Design btarunr News 26 Jul 21, 2009 11:25 AM
Gigabyte Shows off its Premium X58 Motherboard btarunr News 32 Aug 21, 2008 06:36 PM


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:11 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
no new posts