Cool Power, Inside and Out |
 |
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.
|
|
 |
The layout and packaging use copper connections for all power paths rather than wire bonds, reducing losses due to high resistance wire bonds as well as high inductance which causes ringing and high AC losses.
|
Power connections between the MOSFETs use very low loss copper, reducing losses and helping to spread the heat. |
Specialized MOSFET driver IC by International Rectifier. |
High side MOSFET (Control FET) has very low gate charge. Low side MOSFET (SyncFET) has an integrated Schottky Diode for even higher efficiency.
|
The current has very short paths from the bottom of the device, through either the control FET (duty cycle ON) or the Sync FET (Duty cycle OFF) and through the copper clip. This is another reason the device is so durable and can handle 60A.
|
Custom Copper leadframe conducts heat away from the silicon. |
|
|
Traditional CPU Power Zone Design |
PWM controller |
MOSFET Drivers |
Traditional High and
Low side MOSFETs |
Choke |
Capacitor |
CPU |
|
| |
CPU Power Zone Q & A
|
| |
What is the CPU Power Zone ?
The CPU Power Zone contains the various components of a motherboard that are responsible for delivering power to the CPU (PWM controller, MOSFET Drivers, High and Low side MOSFETs , Chokes, Capacitors and related circuitry).
What is a MOSFET ?
A MOSFET is one of the most critical components of the CPU power zone, as it is a switch that first allows or disallows electric current to flow to the CPU. Its switching is controlled by the MOSFET driver and PWM controller. It is also one of the most expensive components of the power design.
What is a Power Stage ?
A Power Stage is a single chip that includes the MOSFET driver, 1 high side MOSFET and 2 (or sometimes 1) Low Side MOSFETs . Power Stages are made using a more advanced manufacturing process, and are therefore more efficient.
What is a Traditional MOSFET (Also known as D-Pak MOSFET...) ?
A Traditional MOSFET is a less advanced MOSFET design that is used in a traditional CPU power zone where the MOSFET drivers and High and Low Side MOSFETS are each individual chips (multi-chip MOSFET design). They are less expensive and less efficient than single chip Power Stages. |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
IR has leveraged it's world class packaging technology developed for the DirectFET®, improving the thermal capability and layout of the PowIRstage® significantly over that of other MCM packages. |
| |
Single Package Design* |
vs. |
Multi-Chip Design |
|
| |
Driver IC |
| |
|
*patent pending |
|
|
|
Other MOSFET layout implementations use a multi-chip, side-by-side arrangement of the high and low side MOSFETs and driver IC, taking up significant board real estate and creating more electrical leakage. |
 |
High Side MOSFET
(Traditional MOSFET) |
| |
Low Side MOSFET
(Traditional MOSFET) |
| |
Driver IC
(MOSFET Driver) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
Ultra Cool, Ultra Efficient, Ultra Performance |
High Efficiency = Low Power Loss = Less heat = Longer Lifespan |
| |
| |
IR's IR3550 PowIRstage® are more power efficient and operate cooler than competing MOSFETs, resulting in longer component lifespan and more head room for greater overclocking performance.
|
| |
Traditional MOSFET
Comparison Sample |
Lower RDS(on) MOSFET
up to 40°C Lower |
IR3550 PowIRstage®
up to 60°C Lower |
|
|
|
OK |
Good |
Best |
|
| |
* Testing result for reference only. Results may differ according to system configuration.
* Up to 60° C lower temp. obtained using 4 phase IR3550 PowIRstage® with 2x Copper PCB vs. 4 phase D-Pak MOSFET @ 100A load 10 mins lab testing without heatsink |
| |
| |
IR3550 PowIRstage® ICs remain cooler than other MOSFET designs, allowing users to overclock to greater levels of performance. Each power component has a maximum thermal operational temperature, and once it is reached, adding more voltage will only result in a failed overclock. Since IR3550 PowIRstages® are able to operate at cooler temperatures at higher voltages than traditional designs, overclockers are able to have more headroom to increase voltages, resulting in higher potential overclocks.
|
Cooler temps. = Higher Overclocks |
MOSFET Overclocking Stability |
|
Overheat |
Not enough power
for overclocking |
|
|
 |
IR3550
PowIRstage® |
Best |
|
 |
Lower RDS(on)
MOSFET
(Also known as WPAK, PowerPak MOSFET...) |
Good |
|
 |
Traditional MOSFET
(Also known as D-Pak MOSFET... ) |
OK |
|
|
|
| |
Quality Inside and Out |
Even though several of the high quality components used in GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards are not visible from the outside, rest assured that they are working hard to provide better efficiency, greater power savings, lower system temperatures, better overclocking performance and extended system longevity. That’s the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ guarantee.
|
|
PCB (Printed Circuit Board)
2x copper PCB = 2 oz copper PCB = weight of copper layer
30.48 cm x 30.48 cm (1 square foot) PCB is 56.7 g (2 oz)
|
Copper Layer |
Thickness |
2x copper |
0.070mm (70 µm) |
1x copper |
0.035mm (35 µm) |
|
|
High Capacity
Ferrite Core
Choke |
|
Solid Capacitor |
| |
|
Power Stage |
|
2x Copper
Inner Layer |
Signal Layer |
|
|
Power Layer |
|
|
| |
|
|
New Glass Fabric |
|
|
Ground Layer |
|
|
Signal Layer |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
The Benefits of 2 oz Copper PCB design
|
|
Lower
Temperature |
Better
Overclocking |
Better Power
Effciency |
2x Lower
Impedance |
Lower EMI |
Better ESD
Protection |
|
| |
GIGABYTE's exclusive 2X Copper PCBs design provides sufficient power trace paths between components to handle greater than normal power loads and to remove heat from the critical CPU power delivery area. This is essential to ensure the motherboard is able to handle the increased power loading that is necessary when overclocking. |
