Phase Design, Power Management and BIOS Gallery
12 Phase CPU power is provided with full phase control through the BIOS (3D BIOS) which can allow for cooler case temperatures, more stable CPU operational current and better overclocking potential. Getting deep into the actual function and phase design is rather encumbering and almost moot. Without strong digital control on the newer processors (which are sensitive to fluctuation of tenths of thousandths of a volt) they may never reach their maximum overclocked potential. We have found that the Gigabyte website does a decent job of explaining their base implementation of Digital power management; therefore, instead of bloating this review with with the information that is already provided on the Gigabyte product page we feel a link with an explanation of the why is more appropriate. :LINK:
To show the level of control here we use examples of the 3D Power area of the 3D BIOS
These tools are a tweakers delight permitting fine tuning that can allow one to cool things down on the low end or gain full stability in a 24/7 overclock.
The Why of Digital Control
The power is absolutely the one thing that can kill any attempt at a stable system. By moving to a digitally controlled power system, manufacturers can better clean the power going to the system components. It has been quite a few years since I sat in an electronics engineering class but the one thing that will always stick with me is the need for clean power for sensitive electronics.
As the process shrinks (22nm currently) power regulation demands increase. The number one reason necessitating this improved regulation is…physics. There is no need to go into any detail here because I may hurt myself; but, suffice to say as transistors become smaller and (hopefully) faster they also become fragile as it pertains to damage they can receive from dirty power. Dirty power is, in short, any electrical current that falls outside of established parameters. These parameters have tolerances that are constantly shrinking just as the manufacturing process shrinks. So it is not because the components are power hungry; as noted above, it is because they are on a special diet that must be strictly adhered to.
BIOS Gallery
Advanced________________________________________________________________
3D BIOS__________________________________________________________________
