Updated: Taiwan-based component manufacturer adds UD4 to their motherboards.
With competition between manufacturers at a fever pitch, many are striving to differentiate their products with construction quality in a move atypical to the previous trend of feature one-upmanship.
GIGABYTE is one such manufacturer, whose Ultra Durable 3 branding brought solid capacitors, ferrite chokes, and double-thickness copper layers for additional stability and cooling.
Today's announcement brings the launch of Ultra Durable 4 Classic, debuting on the disappointingly mainstream H61 motherboard range, but with further claims towards manufacturing quality improvements that will be spread across the entire range.
The first notable change implemented in UD4 is what GIGABYTE are calling 'Humidity Protection', further described as a "Glass Fabric PCB technology" that appears to be a modification of the industry-standard FR-4 Laminate PCB material.
GIGABYTE's Glass Fabric results in a tighter fibreglass weave than preceding circuit boards, which GIGABYTE claim gives "much better protection from short circuit and system malfunction caused by humid and damp conditions."
Though a tough feature to test in the Labs, in practice this should add longevity to systems in humid areas of the world – but will do little to stop corrosion of metallic components attached to the new PCB.
The second feature touted in the UD4 press release is 'Electrostatic Protection', claiming the integrated circuits chosen are all rated for Electrostatic Discharge of up to three times the average component. Again, hard to quantify, but nice enough to have.
Third on the list is 'Power Failure Protection', a mix of old technology rebadged – such as their dualBIOS (a redundant BIOS chip in case of failure) – and new technology, such as "special anti-surge ICs that protect your motherboard, and your PC, from any surge in power delivery that may occur."
For those in areas of unreliable power who experience surges or frequent lightning activity, or who have ever had a PC die from other high-voltage electrical issues, this is a good feature to have indeed.
The fourth and final feature claimed to be part of the Ultra Durable 4 release is 'High Temperature Protection', though we're sceptical as the components listed have been in service since UD2 and are not especially noteworthy.
While Ultra Durable 4 does not bring any particularly attractive features for overclockers or power users past the practical benefits of having the protection methods outlined above, it's certainly nothing to sneeze at and only adds value to the GIGABYTE products.
We note that this announcement is only for motherboards at this stage, as graphics cards are covered underneath a separate Ultra Durable VGA Series branding.
Update 09/09/2011: We have received additional explanation as to how the Glass Fabric weave functions, as quoted below:
"The problem with traditional PCB manufacturing is a process known as Conductive Anodic Filament. or CAF. This basically describes a situation where the copper conductive filament forms a laminate dielectric between the adjacent conductors. This can be a major source of electrical failure and is believed to be caused primarily by humidity or moisture, which causes a hydrolytic reaction with the copper within the motherboard overtime. Moisture is thought to enter the PCB via the holes in the board where IC components are attached."
GIGABYTE have also shared that the ESD protection on the USB ports is typically rated for 2Kv+, while theirs is rated three times higher, at 6Kv+. If you've ever seen that spark between the I/O panel and your drive you'll know this is certainly better than nothing.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012