So, every new technology cycle means an automatic refresh for motherboard design. This technology upgrade cycle has greatly benefitted the industry and consumers alike (new products for the manufacturers to sell and new features and technologies for consumers) and has been the leading drive of innovation on the motherboard side for a long time.

For the past several years, GIGABYTE has taken a critical look at its own motherboard design philosophy. While design focusing on incorporating all of the latest and greatest technologies is still a top priority, GIGABYTE realized that more innovation on the motherboard level itself was not only possible, but was critical in order to maintain the health of the industry. So, GIGABYTE went back to the very basics of motherboard design and said how can we do it better? In 2006, GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable design philosophy was born.

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable design is simple. Improve on the basics of the motherboard, and you can fundamentally change not only the performance of the board, but the durability and lifespan of the board. Longer running motherboards allow customers to choose when they want to make an upgrade, rather than a dead motherboard telling them they have to. This might seem not so great for motherboard manufacturers, as generally they would like to see customers upgrade as often as possible. In addition, with large volume business, the incentive for manufacturers is to cost down, not up. By using cheaper components, manufacturers can save a few dollars per board. It doesn't seem like a lot per board, but multiply that by the number of boards sold, and you are talking millions of dollars. Then move your manufacturing operations to developing countries where labor wages are low, and you are able to save even more money.

GIGABYTE sees it differently. The benefits of using higher quality components outweigh the higher cost of those components. For example, better durability means less costs associated with RMA, both in terms of material/labor/shipping costs, but also the cost of having an unhappy customer with a dead board. In addition, the happier customers are with the quality, performance and lifespan of their board, the more likely their next motherboard purchase will be from your company. Makes sense, right?

The number of copper layers of a motherboard is dependent on the amount of components and trace paths required as well as the amount of power running through the system. Today's fully loaded high-end motherboards are typically either 6 or 8 layers, as they usually feature many more components and require more power to run them, therefore more layers to connect and power them.

Each layer of a traditional motherboard is made up of 1oz of copper for both the Signal layers and Power/Ground layers. GIGABYTE's Ultra Durable 3 technology doubles the amount of copper for each of the Power/Ground layers, making them 2oz each. The images below show both a GIGABYTE P45 motherboard with 4 layers and a GIGABYTE X58 motherboard featuring 8 layers. Notice that both of the ground layers on the P45 motherboard are each 2oz of copper, whereas all 4 of the power and ground layers are each 2oz.