The Truth about Ultra Durable 5 Plus Gigabyte Mother Boards

[SonDa5]

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 motherboards use IR3550 PowIRstage® ICs, which feature the industry's highest 60A rating, with Lower Losses, Higher Efficiency and Excellent Thermal Management.

http://www.gigabyte.us/microsite/312/images/PowIRstage.html

Then with the release of the Z87 chipset Gigabyte added the word Plus to the Ultra Durable 5 line of mother boards.

Ultra Durable 5 standard was IR3550 VRM parts.


The mathematical logic of the word plus is to add to the existing value.

The standard was the IR3550 part and adding the word plus to that standard should if anything mean it was improved upon.

There was nothing added by the word plus, instead the wording was just a marketing lie to make the buyer think that the new 8 series chipset with the Ultra Durable 5 IR3550 parts was some how improved upon but instead Gigabyte cheapened the overall quality of the mother board to save money on parts used and trick its market into thinking they were getting more value and quality in parts than the original definition of the line of products that defined the Ultra Durable 5 brand.

To me this is out right deception.

I bought a Gigabyte Z87X-OC that has this Ultra Durable 5 Plus deceptive marketing and I thought I paid into a high quality mother board but it turns out I didn't get the IR3550 parts instead I got a much cheaper VRM part that is found on much cheaper priced Gigabyte mother boards like the UD3H and the UD4H. UD4H actually has twice the number of phases that my more expensive Z87X-OC has.


I feel ripped off and I am totally unsatisfied with this marketing lie that I bought into.

The cheaper IR3553 parts that are found on UD3H, UD4H, and the Z87X-OC motherboard and each one of these mother boards along with a few more expensive Gigabyte mother boards use this cheaper IR3553 VRM part and are marketed as being Ultra Durable 5 Plus.

The Truth is Gigabyte has cheapened down the Ultra Durable 5 name by deceptively adding the word Plus making the buyer (me) think the quality is higher than Ultra Durable 5 quality when in reality it has gotten cheaper.


In the case of the Z87X-Force which costs over $400 Gigabyte has used the more expensive real Ultra Durable 5 VRM part IR3550 yet Gigabyte still uses the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 Plus Technology branding which in this case the word Plus really means you get the IR3550 part and a whole bunch of them.


Don't be a sucka to this double standard bogus marketing.

 

[DTOG]

Ultra Durable 5 "Plus"

I was curious, so I looked up what the difference is.

IR3550 is a 60A part.
IR3553 is a 40A part.

Seems Gigabyte should have used "version 2" instead of "plus".
This would have been a little bit more honest, at least. :shadedshu

 

[TheLaughingMan]

To be frank, I actually don't believe you at all. They may be using IR3553 on some parts of the board that are less important, but the CPU socket will have the IR3550 they promised. Besides, Intel moved the voltage regulation to the CPU so the voltage and current regulation on the motherboard itself is far less important on the board you bought.

 

[buildzoid]

Because intel intergrated the CPU VRM the motherboard VRM has to output 2 to 3 volts so the current output can be much lower.
Ivybridge 1 to 1.2 V 77W about 60A
Haswell 2 to 3V 84W about 40A

 

[SonDa5]

To be frank, I actually don't believe you at all. They may be using IR3553 on some parts of the board that are less important, but the CPU socket will have the IR3550 they promised.

I wish it did have the IR3550 part.

I have the Gigabyte Z87X-OC MB and here is a photo of the VRM IR3553.

 

[SonDa5]

Because intel intergrated the CPU VRM the motherboard VRM has to output 2 to 3 volts so the current output can be much lower.
Ivybridge 1 to 1.2 V 77W about 60A
Haswell 2 to 3V 84W about 40A

Peack efficiency for the IR3550 part is right around 1.2v output. http://ec.irf.com/v6/en/US/adirect/ir?cmd=catSearchFrame&domSendTo=byID&domProductQueryName=IR3550

The entire part is more efficient and offers the very best clean DC output available from IR. Its the best part and it was the signature part that Gigabyte put on the Ultra Durable 5 brand up until the Plus came along.


Adding the part would not hinder Haswell performance but it would run cooler and provide cleaner power for the CPU.

This isn't about Gigabyte making a choice on a part used to improve performance. The better VRM part is the IR3550.

 

[EarthDog]

I thoguht that was in context of the controller IOR part, not the bits?

 

[newtekie1]

The Plus is because of the following:

1. Improved Heatsinks with Integrated WaterCooling Option.
2. All Ultra Durable 5 Plus boards have Dual-BIOS.
3. Ultra Durable Plus boards no use a International Rectifier Digital PWM Controller instead of one from a different company. This allows the Controller to better match the PWM parts.

 

[Micro]

The Plus is because of the following:

1. Improved Heatsinks with Integrated WaterCooling Option.
2. All Ultra Durable 5 Plus boards have Dual-BIOS.
3. Ultra Durable Plus boards no use a International Rectifier Digital PWM Controller instead of one from a different company. This allows the Controller to better match the PWM parts.

Yes, The UltraDurable nomenclature is used for the entire "package", but it's actually more than just those 3 items that have changed -
http://www.gigabyte.us/press-center/news-page.aspx?nid=1211