Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 Motherboard
Voltage Regulator
Contents
The CPU voltage regulator circuit of the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 is one of the motherboard’s highlights. It has 32 phases for the CPU main voltage (Vcc a.k.a. Vcore), two for the CPU VSA (a.k.a. system agent) voltage, and three for the embedded GPU (VAXG). Therefore, it uses a “32+2+3” configuration. The voltage regulator uses a full digital design, with each phase driven by an IR3550 integrated circuit, which combines the three required transistors (driver, low side, and high side) in a single package, providing higher efficiency.
Figure 12: Voltage regulator circuit
Figure 13: Voltage regulator circuit (heatsinks removed)
Figure 14: Solder side
The Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 uses solid electrolytic capacitors. All coils on this motherboard are 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.