What's "Alloy Choke" inductors, and how do I know why "it's better"? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: ESesame
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 09:33:33 pm
content: Hello there, I just registered my account, and this is my very first post.Not long ago, I was helping my friend to pick a motherboard, while everything went fine (no fanboy wars, price wars, etc..), something in the advertising have caught in my eyes.I realized a lot of motherboard manufacturers spent a lot of time to advertised about the electronic components were used in, such as "10K Metal Caps (or 12K)", "Next generation alloy choke", "isolated on-board sound system..", etc, etc.I start to felt headache after reading all of this, because I have no idea what were they talking about.So I decided to do some research, because of my curiosity. While capacitors are easy to find for the most time (and I could somehow tell it's a marketing gimmick or not), I had my trouble to find any of those conductors.As far as I know, those things were also known as chokes, but what's on the motherboard were called "Alloy chokes", and every manufacturer uses a different one -- Some said they're using Titanium, others said they're using "super fine alloys", etc...but all of them claimed that they're the "industry leader" ().And no suppliers list what so ever (or I didn't find any).---So wrap it up, I basically have questions:1. What are those "Alloy-Chokes" and what are they made of?2. Who are those inductor suppliers?(Since I got no clue what they're coming from, knowing the suppliers around the globe could give me some basic information)3. And, are those "marketing gimmick" does indeed have a better performance compared to "normal" chokes?I apologize that this is not a "electronic basics" kind of question, but since I've already made this far, I think perhaps I will just keep trying to find better answer (at least, I could understand about electronic industries better). I will be glad if someone can help me on this, thanks.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 10:39:59 pm
content: It sounds like a marketing gimmick to me. An alloy is just a mixture of different metals and I'd suspect the vast majority of inductors (chokes) have some kind of alloy core.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 10:58:44 pm
content: Here is one of the marketing sheets. Reading a bit into what they are saying, the most pertinent thing they are claiming is higher saturation. Ferromagnetic materials have a saturation level at which no stronger field can be induced. Once you reach that level they are no better than air. Hysteresis, which is a source of electrical loss is claimed lower. The claims on wider temperature range and stability to aging may be technically true, but are of much lesser impact or concern for most situations.Until numbers are applied to this it is just marketing. The saturation level might be 0.001 % higher, aging 0.001% slower, and temperature range may or may not make a difference. In a motherboard there is never going to be a need to operate at -60C, and the need for +150C is also questionable, but at least possible.http://www.ecs.com.tw/extra/ECS_Hyper_Alloy_Choke/03_comparison.html

author: ESesame
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 11:41:19 pm
content: Thanks for replying.Other than the actual performance (if any), I'm also wondering where are those inductors coming from. There is no supplier lists in this one, as well as many motherboard manufacturers, whether because of competition, or something else.So far, who are the manufacturers that making the inductors for the industries? Another thing is could it possible be that they are making their own inductors?

author: ESesame
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 02:05:59 am
content: Quote from: blueskull on April 13, 2017, 11:52:26 pmThat does sound like a lot. In the case of motherboard, almost every manufacturers have different inductors, at least in their shapes and sizes. I'm not sure whether they designed their own, or buying their own customized version from the suppliers.

author: ESesame
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 02:10:22 am
content: Quote from: CatalinaWOW on April 13, 2017, 10:58:44 pmSome manufacturers provided better diagrams, here's an example of it:https://rog.asus.com/articles/maximus-motherboards/overview-rampage-v-extreme-features-keeping-the-advantage/I don't know how much details this would provide, as I have trouble to really understand them due to my lack of knowledge of itIt has some charts and diagrams, but not sure who were they compared to, or is this a strong claim.Also, some of these motherboards were also meant to be used for extreme overclocking, but I doubt that will make the inductors as hot as 105c.

author: The Electrician
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 04:47:20 am
content: I would guess that they are using Metglas alloy cores. See:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metglashttp://www.metglas.com/tech/http://www.hitachimetals.com/materials-products/amorphous-nanocrystalline/microlite-inductor-cores.phphttp://hitachimetals.metglas.com/http://www.mkmagnetics.com/products.shtml

author: ESesame
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 04:46:16 pm
content: Quote from: The Electrician on April 14, 2017, 04:47:20 amThanks, I will take my time to check it out.Speaking of that, how to determine the performance of an inductor (There are certainly tons of graphs even in the link that I provide above, but I don't know what those things mean)?

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 05:07:09 pm
content: You can't define the performance of an inductor outside of a particular context. The general principal is how close does that inductor approach the ideal inductor used in all beginning classes and online tutorials. That is it shows purely inductance at all frequencies and power levels. No parasitic capacitance. No resistance. No sensitivity to amount of current. Since no inductor is perfect you have to compromise and the appropriate compromise is determined by the application.For choke filters in a power supply ability to operate at high current and low losses are generally important. But even there the trades are complex. Generally a low saturation value can be compensated by increasing the size of the core. The increased coil sizes associated with the larger core increase parasitic capacitance and resistive losses. Space may also be at a premium. If this particular motherboard is aimed at a compact package space will be a driving factor, and it also makes the reduced heat dissipation from smaller hysteresis more important.In many markets the ability to claim an advanced technology is often as important as the technical attributes. Even if the same performance can be achieved by some arrangement of older technology. Gaming computers are very likely such a market.