Taipei, Taiwan, June 18^th, 2012 - GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced that GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 5 Technology utilizing award winning IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs has earned the Best of Computex 2012 award by leading tech authority, Tom's Hardware. The award falls into the ‘Systems and Components Innovation' category, and has been published on the Tom's Hardware website,  

http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/597-computex-awards.html.
 
GIGABYTE Ultra Durable^™ 5 technology includes high current capable components for the CPU power zone including the highest rated and awarded IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs from International Rectifier, 2X Copper PCB and high current Ferrite Core Chokes rated up to 60A, which together are able to deliver up to 60°C* cooler temperatures than traditional motherboards. Featured on a range of new motherboards based the Intel^® X79 and Z77 Express Chipsets, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 technology is the next evolution in quality motherboard design.
 
"We are extremely happy with the Best of Computex 2012 award from Tom's Hardware because Ultra Durable 5 is our most important new technology this year," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "We had overclockable Intel k sku CPUs in mind when we designed the Ultra Durable 5 CPU power zone, and this award provides excellent recognition for all the work that went into our new CPU power design."
 
"We like Gigabyte's promise that the PowIRstage IR3550, which is found on all motherboards with Ultra Durable 5 technology (UD5), increases efficiency and improves stability. This is particularly important in overclocked systems, where UD5 it could raise the bar for systems that run on liquid cooling. Such systems might not even require a CPU fan anymore, which today has to be used to cool the voltage regulators." said Benjamin Kraft, Managing Editor of Tom's Hardware Germany, representing Tom's Hardware worldwide at Computex.
 
About GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 5 Technology 
IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs
The award winning IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs feature greater power efficiency and are the highest rated Power Stage in the industry, able to provide up to 60A of power. This ensures the best power delivery to the CPU, for more stable operation and better overclocking performance. GIGABYTE Ultra Durable^™ 5 motherboards also use both IR digital PWM controllers and IR PowIRstage^® ICs, for a uniquely seamless power delivery system.
 
           
 
 
Single Package Design
IR has leveraged its world class packaging technology developed for the DirectFET^®, improving the thermal capability and layout of the PowIRstage^® significantly over that of other MCM packages.

 
Driver IC Developed by International Rectifier
IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs feature a specialized MOSFET driver IC which is tuned perfectly for the MOSFET pair. Many Driver MOSFET companies use drivers from other companies, thus the drivers are not always optimized for the MOSFETs. With co-packaged Driver+MOSFETs, IR has designed this driver to optimize this module for greatest efficiency.

 
IndustryLeading PeakEfficiency up to 95%

IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs are more efficient, with peak efficiency up to 95%, during normal operation. Even at higher Current levels, IR3550 PowIRstage^® ICs are able to maintain lower power losses. Lower power loss also means less heat as a byproduct.

_{* Testing result for reference only. Results may differ according to system configuration.VIN=12V, VOUT=1.2V, ƒSW = 300kHz, L=210nH (0.2mΩ), VCC=6.8V, CIN=47uF x 4, COUT =470uF x3, 400LFM airflow, no heat sink, 25°C ambient temperature, and 8-layer PCB of 3.7" (L) x 2.6" (W).} 
 
 
 
Cooler Temperatures = Higher Overclocks

_{* 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.
 
High Efficiency = Low Power Loss = Less Heat = Longer Lifespan
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.

 
High Capacity Ferrite Core Chokes and 2X Copper PCB

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable^™ 5 motherboards feature High Capacity Power Stages and Ferrite Core chokes rated up to 60A with GIGABYTE exclusive 2x Copper PCBs to provide the most stable power delivery.
 

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. 
 

 
Quality Inside and Out
Even though several of the high quality components used in GIGABYTE Ultra Durable^™ motherboards are not visible from the outside including the amazingly efficient IR3550 PowIRstage ICs from International Rectifier and the copper inside of our 2X Copper PCB, 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.
 

 
A related GIGABYTE 7 series video and supporting article can be found here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/computex-2012-gigabyte-motherboards-ud5,15889.html