Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH Motherboard

Voltage Regulator

The CPU voltage regulator circuit of the Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH has eight phases for the CPU main voltage (Vcc a.k.a. Vcore), two for the CPU VSA voltage (memory controller), and two for the CPU VTT voltage (PCI Express and DMI interfaces). Therefore, it uses an “8+2+2” configuration.

Each phase is driven by an IR3550M integrated circuit, which incorporates the three required transistors (“high side,” “low side,” and “driver”). These chips can use a switching frequency of up to 1 MHz (four times higher than the standard frequency of 250 kHz), allowing the motherboard voltage regulator to achieve higher efficiency (up to 95%, according to the chip manufacturer).

The voltage regulator is controlled by an IR3563A integrated circuit, using a digital design.

Figure 12: Voltage regulator circuit

The Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH uses solid electrolytic capacitors. All coils on this motherboard are solid, ferrite-core models, which can provide up to 20% improvement in efficiency.

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