Abit IX38 QuadGT promises next generation digital PWMs

Posted at: 12:58pm 15th October 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

What’s a PWM, you ask?

Abit obviously has a lot of confidence in its latest enthusiast motherboard, the IX38 QuadGT Speedster, as there isn’t even a tiny hint of Fatal1ty about the packaging. The new IX38 motherboard is all about Abit’s own innovations, and the big deal, apparently, is digital PWMs.

In case you’re not up to speed on your tech acronyms, PWM stands for ‘pulse width modulation,’ and it’s a common term used when talking about adjusting the sound of analogue synthesizers. When it comes to motherboards, however, PWM controls the voltage and current supplied to the CPU by rapidly pulsing (switching on and off) the voltage supply to the load. Depending on the duration of the pulse and the frequency of the switching, the voltage can be very tightly controlled, which is crucial for high-performance motherboards, particularly when it comes to overclocking.

Digital PWM circuitry generally allows for more fine-grained control of voltages and higher currents (while also occupying less space on the PCB compared to analogue PWM) and is nothing new, but Abit reckons its latest digital PWM circuit on its IX38 board goes a step further.

Abit’s channel sales manager for the UK, Mani Bath, explained to Custom PC that ‘with this new technology, the power switch frequency can effectively be 4x faster, bringing improvement in the stability of the voltage supply to the CPU.’ She also added that ‘this second generation digital PWM is a highly integrated circuit, offering more precise and consistent voltage for reduced power consumption, less heat and increased life of components. Next Generation Digital PWMs overall use less space, produce less heat, operate more power and provide maximum accuracy.’

Abit claims that the digital PWM system means that the ‘current can be regulated more accurately,’ and also says that its ceramic capacitors will reduce power consumption and electrical noise because of their low resistance. The board’s capacitors are solid state, and Abit says that they ‘consist of conductive polymer, and therefore offer a vast range of advantages such as higher temperature tolerance, higher ripple current and improved frequency characteristics over conventional electrolytic capacitors.’ The idea is that these will help to increase the lifespan of your motherboard, particularly if you’re overclocking.

The motherboard features Intel’s new X38 chipset, and Abit says that it will handle a 1,600MHz front side bus with no problems too.

See here for more details.