Ultra durable 3 vs ultra durable 3 classic?

[leman russ]

What is the difference between these?

I am looking to buy a new 1156 Mobo and I have it down to either:
Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L or Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3. other than the minor Slot differences etc, the only difference I can see is that the US3L is "ultra durable 3 classic" while the UD3 is "ultra durable 3".

What's the difference between these two? I have tried to find it on the Gigabyte site with no luck

 

[Mongox]

This is strictly a guess. But I'd say they are the same and there's another newer one called "ultra durable supreme" or some such nonsense. Making the plain ud3 and the UD3Classic the same thing.

I've got a chart somewhere I was working on with the Gigabyte model codes on it, I'll try to post it later. But I think...

U - Ultra? not sure
D - Durable, solid capacitors
S3 - Speed, Smart, Safe this is a series code
R - Raid support
L - no Raid

Might check out the Raid capabilities of the two boards if that's something you may want. I'll try to find the full list.

 

[bilbat]

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_ComparisonSheet.aspx?ProductID=3168,3164

http://www.gigabyte.co.id/Products/Motherboard/GeeksColumn.aspx

 

[leman russ]

Yeah, I hadn't seen that page before...

That doesn't actually answer my question, which is what is the difference between UD3 and UD3C.

 

[bilbat]

Looking at the comparison page - very little; apparently, the main discernable difference is the way the slots are laid out; GB is notorious for creating way too many boards for way too many hiche markets! Best thing is to use the product pages to download manuals for the boards you are interested in, and give 'em a read!

 

[Mongox]

The C should mean Combo of memory slots. So this board should take either DDR2 or DDR3. Just found out myself there was such a beast.

 

[bilbat]

The 'C' chipset is one of Intel's rare real screwups - something to stay away from - never did work right...

 

[leman russ]

Yeah, I am not going near a C board. By UD3C i meant UD3Classic.

I am starting to suspect that UD3 is all Solid Capacitors while UD3Classic is just Solid on the CPU VRM.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Both boards use all Solid Caps. Both Gigabyte and ASUS does this.

The only difference is the Parallel/MIDI ports. One of them(UD3L) has it, but the other one doesn't(normal UD3). Look at the pics on Gigabyte website.

Also, by the looks of it, the UD3L seems to have a bit better quality chokes.

 

[leman russ]

Wow, ok, so it looks like it's the cheaper US3L for me!
That was my main concern, that if the Capacitors were poorer on the US3L I'd scrounge the extra cash for the UD3, but looks like I had no reason to worry.

Thank you all for your help

 

[bilbat]

The whole capacitor thing has been a non-issue for five years already - except for every MOBO manufacturer's marketing BS since then...

Early in 2002, stories began appearing in on-line news services and news groups about the high failure rates of electrolytic capacitors used on PC motherboards. Technicians were reporting that the capacitors were rupturing, leaking and even exploding like never before.

Initially, there were only two clues to the mystery. First, the failing capacitors were more often that not to be found in the power supply section of motherboards. The capacitors used in this area are characterised by their need to have very low ESR.

Second, most of the failing capacitors were identified as Taiwanese in origin. That's not too surprising at first glance, as Taiwan manufactures about 30% of the world's aluminium electrolytics (22.5 billion a year).

In September, "Passive Industry Components Magazine" published a story that exposed the reasons behind the unusually high failure rates. They reported that the failures were directly related to the use of faulty electrolytes in the manufacturing process.

Industrial espionage?
The story describing how the electrolytes came to be faulty reads like a lot of fiction. It begins in Japan, at a major capacitor manufacturer. A materials scientist for the Japanese company resigned and went to work for a Chinese capacitor manufacturer. While there, he reproduced one of the electrolytes used in his former employer's premium (low-ESR) aluminium electrolytic products.

Staff working with the scientist then defected, taking the secret electrolyte formula with them. They used the formula to manufacture their own electrolyte, which they subsequently flogged to major Taiwanese capacitor manufacturers at bargain prices. Unfortunately, their reproduction of the formula was flawed and the rest is history.

 

[Mongox]

And so this is also why you see the Taiwanese manufacturers mention that certain components on their boards are now made with real Japanese capacitors.

From my GA-MA785GM-US2H Overview:

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 3 Classic motherboards are equipped with the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable signature features including Japanese Solid Capacitors boasting an operational life time of more than 50,000 hours

I thought it odd for a Chinese to mention Japanese technology as being superior to theirs. So this is them trying to make it clear that rather than using the defective stolen technology for the capacitors - they're using the real thing, genuine Japanese parts.

 

[bilbat]

That's because there are only a few American discrete component manufacturers left, and they're mostly in high margin (like mil-spec specialty items) niches - and the Japanese are the only ones who are really capable of manufacturing design, i.e., the automated processes that make the stuff... The Koreans and Chinese mostly buy their manufacturing technology from us (or from the Japanese...); people don't get the trading realities - we buy memory chips and controllers from Samsung, we buy all kinds of WalMart plastic crap from the Chinese, and we sell them wafer-fabs... But, yeah, since the original debacle, everybody makes sure to stress that the use only high-quality Japanese capacitors - when the whole issue disappeared years ago!

 

[Shadow703793]

^The caps are still a problem Esp. in the PSU area where a few manufactures had gotten faked stocks and had problems.

 

[bilbat]

The last problem like that I could locate was 2007; the majority from '05 or earlier; there are still occasional board pops, but there's a difference between getting a defective cap, and running a system waaayyyy past its rated specs...