Return of Gigabyte OC series - GA-Z87X-OC - LGA 1150 - Haswell

[I.M.O.G.]

PCI slots are a really weird addition on this board. Its the OC version, so its supposed to lack some things.... Weird to me as well to see those included.

 

[Woomack]

Actually all Z87 boards that I saw so far look worse than Z77 boards and offer nothing above that we have now.
That GB Z87 OC board is just sample without finished cooling etc that's why there are no heatsinks. Still I see nothing special in this board than we couldn't see in older products.
There are still 3 months till we see finished boards and probably also a bit different PCB for some of them.
I don't know if it's me or all are exciting about GB OC series but later most who want to OC are getting something else like ASUS ROG series.

 

[EarthDog]

oh I see what you are saying. Right below the RAM (to the left in the picture) I would guess?

Maybe the new heatsink will reach up that far from the chipset?

Maybe...but again I dont see mounting holes there. If it is heatpipe attached, there are still mounting holes to hold them down. Perhaps that isnt for power and maybe filtering and doesnt require one? Or perhaps its really early in design.

 

[wingman99]

Does Haswell have VRM in the CPU?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I don't know if it's me or all are exciting about GB OC series but later most who want to OC are getting something else like ASUS ROG series.

The only other OC series was x58 and it came too late. I'm interested in this as it might launch when the platform is still relevant. I like the physical buttons on board as well, I would definitely use those, like in Vantage and 3D06, drop multi for CPU tests, bring it back up for graphics tests.

 

[Humanoid1]

heh funny timing.
I just accidentally google'd Ross' review looking for info on the Marvel controller on my GB X58A-OC which lead me to stevenb's super in depth review
- there I was Just saying I would buy a future OC motherboard if they came out with another xD

Kinda made my day this

 

[Bobnova]

RAM power almost never has heatsinks. It's only dealing with maybe 20w at extreme OCing. Compare that to CPU bits that are doing ten times that.

That row of MOSFETs by the RAM slots are almost certainly memory power, plus maybe IMC power from the look of things. I don't see it elsewhere.

It's worth noting that Someone Who Should Know said that the board is going to be significantly different by the time it's released.

What I'm curious about are the CPU power MOSFETs, they are a very strange package.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Thanks for commenting on that.

I think that statement made by SWSK was smoke and mirrors - a lot should be similar by that time, with minor design element changes. I'm guessing he said that because they didn't want it prematurely judged before it has all its bling. June release is less than a few months away, so if they want to build volume and fill the channels, it needs to go into full production sooner than later.

Isn't the ram power often siphoned from a couple phases just north of the CPU socket?

 

[Humanoid1]

(EDIT: nvm, I do remember the correct thought flickering through my mind as I read the above posts earlier... think I have been reading a little too much today and time for a break, still good low power stuff though : )

Also stuff like Samsung's Green 30nm RAM does not even need heatsinks. Even overclocked to 2.4GHz it only gets mildly warm.

Soon there RAM will start the mass migration and we won't Have to waste money on HS' for them at all.

Before this stuff became popular it was Very Cheap. Think this set was something like $36.99 compared to now @ $57.99 and is almost always sold out lol

(I would have this stuff, but there was the "sole" UK importer of OC.uk charging a premium early on.)
My Kingston LoVo RAM is actually 30nm also, but does not OC like that Samsung stuff as I hoped it would, still pretty good on my mild attempts so far - but as reported can go high, but not tight. (Samsung can go Tight as well as High and variations of each balance)


Oh, and many use those old PCI slots for a simple GFx card while OCing as certainly on the X58 chipset it was common for higher OC's to be obtainable when you pushed the PCIe frequencies beyond what most GFx cards like. Everything was kinda inter-related on that chipset effecting possible OCs

 

[Bobnova]

RAM power is usually on the far side of the RAM slots from the CPU (right by the ATX24P connector). VCCSA/VCCIO/VTT/Whatever we're calling it is typically on the PCIe end of the CPU VRM bank on higher end boards, and on the top edge of the board on lower end boards.

 

[BlackJack10]

I spy with my little eye 8-pin + 4-pin connectors! I wonder how much power those Haswells are going to suck?

 

[Bobnova]

Not nearly enough to justify that

My guess, 70-85w tdp.

At 7 amps/pin (the rating for the mini-fit jr pins used) the 8P CPU connector can do 8 amps, or 336w at 12V. Of course that assumes a good fit.

 

[BlackJack10]

Who in their right mind is gonna be running 504w through a brand new Haswell chip? My PSU can't even put out 500w!

And looking at the X58A-OC, with 2 8P connectors... 672w! Okay, someone here needs to run 672w through an i7 just to say they did.

 

[Bobnova]

That was a Gulftown board, those were clocked at a sustained 500w+ load on LN2

 

[BlackJack10]

That was a Gulftown board, those were clocked at a sustained 500w+ load on LN2

They better have gotten some solid clocks if they were running that much power through that poor CPU.

 

[madhatter256]

They better have gotten some solid clocks if they were running that much power through that poor CPU.

The LGA1366 could handle that much power due to the larger die than the newer chips. They are pure power hogs. I'd wager that my i7 920 @3.8ghz is sucking about 150watts of power alone under full load.

 

[wingman99]

The LGA1366 could handle that much power due to the larger die than the newer chips. They are pure power hogs. I'd wager that my i7 920 @3.8ghz is sucking about 150watts of power alone under full load.

You could check HWMonitor and see what the CPU is using for watts under load.

 

[wagex]

yea im gonna wait a few months atleast to be sure theres not another fiasco with a transistor thats supposed to kill everyones boards... mine still works fine.. besides the usual crap that alot of the GA-p67-udx boards had (overclock resetting almost every reboot)

 

[EarthDog]

The LGA1366 could handle that much power due to the larger die than the newer chips. They are pure power hogs. I'd wager that my i7 920 @3.8ghz is sucking about 150watts of power alone under full load.

That's a fair bet...considering it started at 130W stock and you have a ~1.2GHz overclock.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

You could check HWMonitor and see what the CPU is using for watts under load.

No, that isn't accurate at all. I don't think HWMonitor has the ability to get the proper readings to calculate ACTUAL CPU wattage.