How many P45 options? Let me count the boards. //End pun for Liberal Arts nerds//
In all seriousness, the high-end hardware market has seen more implementations of Intel’s final LGA 775 chipset than almost any other (especially from ASUS), and weeding out the kings from the courtiers and lowly jesters proves a daunting task for even the most hardware-savvy. The chosen few that have proven themselves above all others for sky-high OC’s are Biostar’s TPower I45, DFI’s LP JR P45-T2RS (others from their P45 line as well), and Gigabyte’s EP45-Extreme. However, Gigabyte’s latest P45 release, GA-EP45-UD3P, implements a new motherboard manufacturing process, tagged UD3 or ‘Ultra Durable 3’, that ups the ante on Gigabyte’s promise of superb quality, and claims to offer huge gains in OC capabilities.
So what’s all the fuss about? How is this change supposed to give the ultimate clocks? The gains come from the thicker copper power distribution and ground layers; exactly two times thicker, using 2oz copper per layer instead of the traditional 1oz.
Fully understanding the gains this provides requires some cursory knowledge of PCB design. Designing the power distribution layers of the board is often the most challenging aspect of PCB design, as the power lanes need to be as wide as possible to reduce impedance, but must serve complicated signal layers without interfering with each other. The goal of this stage of design is to produce a board that offers ‘stiff’ (reliable) power distribution. With the thicker copper layers of Gigabyte’s UD3 process, power can be distributed much more freely and accurately across the board. Better power distribution leads to a better board in ever aspect. For example, rather than use a 16 phase pwm circuit like many ASUS designs, Gigabyte can use a 6 phase pwm circuit with a much higher switching rate than most analogue circuits. This will lead to more reliable signal switching and theoretically higher clocks.
Copper is also a great thermal conductor and Gigabyte makes claims that these thicker layers result in significantly reduced temperatures around the socket area. This seems like a godsend for expected product lifespan, but for my purposes I could care less; the mosfets Gigabyte uses are rated to operate at temperatures as high as 125°C, so I’m not too worried about heat.
