ABIT NF7-S nForce2 motherboard

"ABIT has been touting its 3-phase switching voltage regulator as superior to the 2-phase power solution used by some of the other manufacturers. Well, in a way, it is superior. A 3-phase voltage regulator will run much cooler than a 2-phase voltage regulator since the workload is divided into three phases or power channels, instead of just two. However, whether they improve stability or not depends on whether there's sufficient capacitance.

It could very well be just another marketing ploy, feeding off a need to cut costs in capacitors. This is because the more phases the switching voltage regulator has, the smoother the flow of power. In a two-phase system, larger capacitors are used to even out the flow of power. Because the three phase system itself provides a smoother flow of power, less capacitance is actually required for a stable power supply. Therefore, ABIT may have taken the 3-phase road to cut costs and not to improve stability. Let's take a look..."

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