Gigabyte has announced its latest motherboard innovation, Ultra Durable 3 and the main feature is the addition of 2 ounces (56.7g) of copper in the power and ground layers, rather than 1 ounce per layer as previously. This, according to Gigabyte, should allow for lower thermals, better power saving and higher overclocks.

The first claim almost seem too good to be true, as the press release states that the extra thick copper layers will allow the Ultra Durable 3 motherboard to run up to 50 degrees C cooler than Gigabyte's previous generation of motherboards. This seems like a very bold claim, but if it really proves to be true, then this could be a huge benefit to both overclockers and those wanting a cooler, quieter PC.

The thicker copper layers also lowers the impedance in the Ultra Durable 3 motherboards, which according to Gigabyte improved the electrical power waste in the PCB by a factor of two and also reduced the heat generated from the power flowing through the board. Another side benefit is improved signal integrity, which allows for higher overclocking speeds which comes back to the lower impedance thanks to the thicker copper layer.

All Ultra Durable 3 motherboards will also feature solid capacitors from Japan with an estimated average life span of 50,000 hours (or 5.7 years). Gigabyte has also added support for DDR2 1,366MHz memory on its P45 Ultra Durable 3 motherboards and something called QuickBoost which is a three -step automatic overclocking feature, which will be part of EasyTune 6.

Gigabyte has a new line-up of motherboards that will support Ultra Durable 3 and they include the models below:

GA-EP45-UD3P	GA-EP43-UD3	GA-EP43C-UD3
GA-EP45-UD3R	GA-EP43-UD3R	GA-EP45T-UD3P
GA-EP45-UD3	GA-EP45C-UD3R	GA-EP45T-UD3R
GA-EP43-UD3P	GA-EP45C-UD3	GA-EP45T-UD3LR

You can find more details about Ultra Durable 3 here.