Hardware Secrets

Uncomplicating the complicated

Gigabyte X79-UD3 Motherboard

Voltage Regulator

Contents

The CPU voltage regulator circuit of the Gigabyte X79-UD3 uses a digital design and is controlled by an IR3567 chip, providing eight phases for the CPU main voltage (Vcc a.k.a. Vcore), two for the CPU VSA voltage (memory controller), and one for the CPU VTT voltage (PCI Express and DMI interfaces). Therefore, it uses an “8+2+1” configuration.

Gigabyte X79-UD3 motherboardFigure 9: Voltage regulator circuit

Gigabyte X79-UD3 motherboardFigure 10: Voltage regulator circuit

This motherboard uses solid capacitors and ferrite-core coils, which provide less energy loss, improving efficiency up to 20 percent. It also uses low RDS(on) transistors, which improve efficiency.

One of the unique features present on the Gigabyte X79-UD3 is the presence of over voltage protection (OVP) for the CPU and memory. The over voltage protection levels are configured in the motherboard setup.

The voltage regulator used for the memory modules also uses the same high-end design.

If you want to learn more about the voltage regulator circuit, please read our tutorial on the subject.