GA-Z77X-UP5 TH - Compatible PSU

[ozzape]

I just bought a complete kit yesterday, based on the NoFilmSchool Hack Pro, which has the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard.

The problem is that the PSU I bought (Corsair CX 750) doesnt work with it.

So, my question is, for anyone who is using the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard: what power supply do you use?

That's it.. thanks!

 

[Going Bald]

I just bought a complete kit yesterday, based on the NoFilmSchool Hack Pro, which has the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard.

The problem is that the PSU I bought (Corsair CX 750) doesnt work with it.

So, my question is, for anyone who is using the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH motherboard: what power supply do you use?

That's it.. thanks!

The CX750 is a standard PSU. In what way does it "not work" with the mainboard? Did you remember to connect both the 24 pin board power cable (center right next to the RAM slots) and the 8 bin CPU power cable (upper left next to the VGA DSUB)? Both must be connected for the board to work.

 

[SmugBaldy]

I'm using a Corsair HX750, and it works fine. I'm working on a new build, and still need to get the BIOS right so I can boot from SSD, but I'm having no problems with the PSU. Do make sure that you have the 24-pin power connector as well as the 8-PIN CPU connector seated completely. That CPU connector is in a tight spot, and it's easy to miss it.

 

[Ment0r]

I am also having the same problem.

The CX750 is a standard PSU. In what way does it "not work" with the mainboard?

I would think so too, but for a certain reason this motherboard seems to have compatibility issues with some power supplies, and I can't wrap my head around it. I first bought this MB with a Seasonic Platinum 860W power supply. With it, the computer POSTed fine for the first boot and I thought everything was A-OK, but on the second boot the computer wouldn't display or do anything. The internal motherboard light, however, remained on.

I googled for an answer and all I found out was that a computer not POSTing was 'either a motherboard or power supply issue'. I borrowed my friend's Cooler Master 500W power supply to test this, and on the first boot I got a 'fixing corrupted bios' message, everything working fine then on. I assumed it was all a PSU issue and exchanged it a week later.

What I ended up exchanging the Seasonic for is a Corsair AX860i power supply. Again I installed it into my computer replacing my friend's Cooler Master and everything worked perfectly... the first time around. I left the computer on overnight and when I came back to it, it had shut off. This was predictable behaviour, as I thought the computer had simply gone into sleep mode. However, it became apparent that the entire thing had turned off, and again I could no longer turn it on for more than a fraction of a second (slightly better than the Seasonic that gave no indication of anything turning 'on' at all).

None of the wires had been loosened or moved in any way (although I did double-check them to make sure they're fitted in properly) and I was getting the exact same problem as before. Once again the internal motherboard light remained on with nothing else working. Now Seasonic and Corsair are both very reputable companies for their power supplies, and the chance that each of their top-tier PSUs failed in a few days is pretty much nil. Additionally, the Corsair has a self-test button that passes with the PSU turning on when it's UNPLUGGED from the motherboard.

This fiasco is driving me nuts. The Cooler Master 500W worked perfectly for the week that I was using it, while Seasonic's and Corsair's 860W power supplies seem to only work for the first boot or so before failing for no reason. While I didn't test the Seasonic afterwards, the Corsair's self-test suggests that the power supplies DO remain functional and are not damaged by the motherboard. It should also be mentioned that while I was using the Cooler Master power supply that did work, I upgraded the Gigabyte motherboard firmware to F11 (latest). Also, a reviewer here describes the exact same problem, but there is no mention of it anywhere else. My best guess is that 'large' wattage PSUs are corrupting the MoBo's BIOS after the first boot, but I'm still dumbfounded by the idea.

 

[Going Bald]

RMA the board. The PSUs are not the problem.

 

[guido79]

Just finished a build and I'm using a CX430 from Corsair. Works great for 4 SATA devices. If you're going bigger, go with a 650 or bigger.

 

[richfiles]

The issue appears to stem from the digital power management that the 77 boards use. It has differences to traditional power management. Older motherboards and PSUs used to put most of the amps on the 3.3 volt and 5 volt rails. As CPU power requirements increased, and CPU core voltages dropped, amperage has risen considerably. Due to the nature of electrical resistance, you can more efficiently send a higher voltage through a wire than a higher current, so modern motherboards and PSUs focus on putting the most amps on the 12 volt rail and then letting the motherboard handle voltage regulation. The resistance of the copper traces of the PC board add up and those traces would have to be massive to handle the heat generated by the losses of sending low voltage, high current over distance. This is why the power MOSFETs are placed so near to the CPU. It means the wiring between he regulated voltage output and the CPU is very short, and thus has an incredibly low resistance, reducing losses in the form of heat.

The problem with the Z77's method of voltage regulation MAY stem from the way certain types of power supplies deliver their 12 volts. some higher wattage supplies have multiple rails. That means that rather than have one very powerful, high amperage 12 volt supply, it has multiple lower wattage 12 volt supplies in parallel that provide power in a distributed manner. If some supplies are splitting the rails between the ATX and CPU connector to do this, the Z77's power management fails to regulate, and the motherboard powers down before POST.

This seems to be the general idea behind most of this incompatibility. Supplies that put hard drives and peripherals on one rail and the CPU and mobo entirely on another rail may work. cheaper supplies have notoriously fared better than high end ones. It seems absurd, but this seems to be the believed reason.

Now I just need to find a supply that is CURRENTLY in stock, and is known to work on this board, as I've been struggling for a YEAR on this mobo, trying to never power down. I spent an hour trying to force a power up. I imagine I power cycled over 300-400 times before getting it to stick... which also nuked my BIOS, requiring a restore from backup and reconfiguring of settings...

Awful!

If not for Gigabyte's excellent Hackintosh compatibility, I might have sworn off Gigabyte as a brand over this, but i also know new technologies can have a fair share of bugs.

I guess, at this point, I want to either find a guaranteed compatible supply, or abandon this awful Z77 platform and move to a newer board.