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8 Phase Power?

I

InternalStorm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2006
Messages
137
Hey,

Just wondering, I hear that the Asus P5WDG2-WS has an 8 phase power supply plug, and I have never heard of this before so I have a couple questions.

A) What CPU's need to use the 8 phase?
B) Do I need a new PSU to support 8 phase? I have a 535Watt SLI Enermax.
C) Any more info that is related that I could use.

Just need to know as I MAY be purchasing this board if it indeed deems to be a good Conroe upgrade path.

Thanks alot!
 
A. None. Having an high 'phase' power regulator on the motherboard just improves the stability, response and reduces the ripple in the CPU's power supply. At least it's easier to do so, the quality of components and design is going to influence that substantially. If the regulator is trash it doesn't matter how many phases it has, the power out is trash.
B. This has nothing to do with the PSU. Any power supply can be used without affecting the motherboard's voltage regulator (obviously the quality of power into the regulator is important...)
C. Plenty if you want to know how all this works. Not a lot if you're just looking to buy a motherboard.
 
Ahh okay thanks alot ;)

My PSU doesn't have the 8 prongs though for the plug, only the standard 4, so how would I use my existing PSU with a 8 phase motherboard?
 
You can use a 4 pin CPU power connector. According to the Asus manual, there's a 'cap' that goes over the other 4 pins to make sure you pick the right four.
(This doesn't have anything to do with the board using an 8 phase power circuit, other than I guess both are there because Asus intended the board to be able to deliver a lot of current to the CPU. )
 
8-phase has nothing to do with the 8-prong plug.

the 8 prong plug is a carry over from the server market.

The standard 4 prong plug is all you need.

Motherboards can have 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, whatever # of phases they want. Its just matter of smoother current with a higher # of phases.
 
Hmm...

Okay that makes total sense, thanks for clearing it up. So I guess the server power supplies use the extra prongs. Thanks alot ;)
 
The more fets onboard, the more the load is distributed, resulting in slightly cooler running fets or the ability to supply more juice reliably (particularly useful with dual cores) as the cooler the fets, theoretically the less resistance. In practice, a quiet fan blowing over a three phase setup is enough for even dual cores these days though.

I think I have the same Enermax (the "Whisper" one, nice unit for the cash) and it comes with the EPS (8-pin) plug, so you should be set.
 
hey, sry to kinda get off topic, but what's a fet? i've heard a lot about em but i have no clue what a Fet is.
 
StealthyFish said:
hey, sry to kinda get off topic, but what's a fet? i've heard a lot about em but i have no clue what a Fet is.
Click to expand...

Field Effect Transistor.
A voltage applied to the gate determines whether or not current flows through the channel.

This is opposed to a BiPolar transistor that uses a current on the base to control the flow of current through the transistor. (BiPolar are not popular choices for digital logic anymore because when 'on' they consume a lot of power).
 
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