Nutrition phases - quantity, practical benefits of quantity. Power phases for the processor on the motherboard - how many do you need? CPU power How many phases are needed to power the processor

Methodology and stand

Today's testing involved a large number of computer equipment, to show how much energy real-life gaming systems consume. In this regard, I relied on the collections of the “Computer of the Month” section. A complete list of all components is given in the table below.

Test bench, software and auxiliary equipment
CPU	Intel Core i9-9900K Intel Core i7-9700K Intel Core i5-9600K Intel Core i5-9500F AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AMD Ryzen 5 2600X AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
Cooling	NZXT KRAKEN X62
Motherboard	ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI FORMULA ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula ASUS ROG STRIX B450-I GAMING
RAM	G.Skill Trident Z F4-3200C14D-32GTZ, DDR4-3200, 32 GB Samsung M378A1G43EB-CRC, DDR4-2400, 16 GB
Video card	2 × ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti OC ASUS Radeon VII ASUS DUAL-RTX2070-O8G NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX570-4G-GAMING AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 ASUS PH-GTX1660-6G
Storage device	Samsung 970 PRO MZ-V7P1T0BW
power unit	Corsair CX450 Corsair CX650 Corsair TX650M Corsair RM850x Corsair AX1000
Frame	Open test bench
Monitor	NEC EA244UHD
operating system	Windows 10 Pro x64 1903
Software for video cards
NVIDIA	431.60
AMD	19.07.2005
Additional software
Removing drivers	Display Driver Uninstaller 17.0.6.1
FPS measurement	Fraps 3.5.99
	FRAFS Bench Viewer
	Action! 2.8.2
Overclocking and monitoring	GPU-Z 1.19.0
Overclocking and monitoring	MSI Afterburner 4.6.0
Optional equipment
Thermal imager	Fluke Ti400
Sound level meter	Mastech MS6708
Wattmeter	watts up? PRO

The test benches were loaded with the following software:

Prime95 29.8— Small FFT test, which loads the central processor as much as possible. A very resource-intensive application, in most cases programs that use all cores are not able to load the chips more.
AdobePremierPro 2019— 4K video rendering using the CPU. An example of resource-intensive software that uses all processor cores, as well as available RAM and storage reserves.
"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt"— testing was carried out in full-screen mode in 4K resolution using maximum graphics quality settings. This game heavily loads not only the video card (even two RTX 2080 Ti in the SLI array are 95% loaded), but also the central processor. Eventually system unit is loaded more heavily than, for example, using FurMark “synthetics”.
"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" +Prime95 29.8(Small FFT test) - a test for maximum system power consumption when both the CPU and GPU are 100% loaded. And yet it should not be ruled out that there are more resource-intensive connections.

Energy consumption was measured using a watts up? PRO - despite such a comical name, the device can be connected to a computer, and with the help of special software it allows you to monitor its various parameters. So, the graphs below will show the average and maximum energy consumption levels of the entire system.

The period of each power measurement was 10 minutes.

⇡ What power is needed for modern gaming PCs

Let me note again: this article is to a certain extent tied to the “Computer of the Month” section. Therefore, if you are visiting us for the first time, I recommend that you at least familiarize yourself with. Each “Computer of the Month” covers six assemblies, mostly gaming ones. I used similar systems for this article. Let's get acquainted:

The combination of Ryzen 5 1600 + Radeon RX 570 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the starting assembly (35,000-37,000 rubles per system unit, excluding the cost of software).
The combination of Ryzen 5 2600X + GeForce GTX 1660 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the basic assembly (50,000-55,000 rubles).
A combination of Core i5-9500F + GeForce RTX 2060 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of the optimal assembly (70,000-75,000 rubles).
A combination of Core i5-9600K + GeForce RTX 2060 + 16 GB of RAM is another option for an optimal build.
A combination of Ryzen 7 2700X + GeForce RTX 2070 + 16 GB of RAM is an analogue of an advanced build (100,000 rubles).
The Ryzen 7 2700X + Radeon VII + 32 GB RAM combination is similar to the maximum build (130,000-140,000 rubles).
A combination of Core i7-9700K + Radeon VII + 32 GB of RAM is another option for the maximum build.
A combination of Core i9-9900K + GeForce RTX 2080 Ti + 32 GB of RAM is an analogue of an extreme build (220,000-235,000 rubles).

Unfortunately, I was not able to get Ryzen 3000 processors at the time of conducting all the tests, but the results obtained will not become less useful. The same Ryzen 9 3900X consumes less than the Core i9-9900K - it turns out that within the framework of an extreme build, studying the power consumption of an 8-core Intel processor will be even more interesting and important.

And also, as you may have noticed, the article uses only mainstream platforms, namely AMD AM4 and Intel LGA1151-v2. I did not use HEDT systems such as TR4 and LGA2066. Firstly, we abandoned them in the “Computer of the Month” a long time ago. Secondly, with the advent of the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X in the mass segment and in anticipation of the imminent release of the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, such systems have become extremely highly specialized. Thirdly, because the Core i9-9900K still gives everyone a run for their money in terms of power consumption, once again proving that the calculated thermal power declared by the manufacturer tells the consumer little.

Now let's move on to the test results.

To be honest, I present the results of testing in programs such as Prime95 and Adobe Premier Pro 2019 more for information purposes - for those who do not play or use discrete video cards. You can safely rely on these data. Basically, here we are interested in the behavior of test systems under loads close to maximum.

And here some very interesting things are observed. In general, we see that all the systems considered do not consume very much energy. The most voracious, which is quite logical, was the system with Core i9-9900K and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, but even it in stock (read - without overclocking) consumes 338 W when it comes to games, and 468 W at maximum PC load. It turns out that such a system will have enough power supply for an honest 500 W. It is so?

⇡ It's not just about watts

It would seem that we can end the article here: recommend to everyone a power supply with a capacity of 500 honest watts - and live in peace. However, let's conduct a few additional experiments to get a complete picture of what is happening with your PC.

In the screenshot above we see that the power supplies operate most efficiently at 50% load, that is, half of the declared power. It may seem to some that the difference between a device with a basic 80 PLUS certificate with a peak efficiency of about 85% on a 230 V network and, say, a “platinum” power supply with an efficiency of about 94% is not so great, but this is misleading. my colleague Dmitry Vasiliev points out quite accurately: “An energy source with an efficiency of 85% wastes 15% of its power on heating the surrounding air, while a “breadwinner” with an efficiency of 94% converts only 6% of its power into heat. It turns out that the difference is not “ some there"10%, but x2.5." Obviously, in such conditions, a more efficient power supply is quieter (there is no point in the manufacturer setting the device’s fan to maximum speed) and heats up less.

And here is the proof of the above words.

The graphs above show the efficiency of some power supplies participating in the tests, as well as the rotation speed of their fans at different load levels. Unfortunately, the equipment used does not allow us to accurately measure the noise level, but by the number of revolutions per minute of the built-in fans we can judge how noisy the power supply will be. It is imperative to note here that this does not mean at all that the power supply will stand out “from the crowd” under load. Still usually the noisiest components gaming computer are the processor cooler and video card.

Practice, as you see, agrees with theory. Power supplies really operate at their most efficient at about 50 percent load. Moreover, in this regard, I would like to note the Corsair AX1000 model - this power supply reaches its peak efficiency at a power of 300 W, and then its efficiency does not fall below 92%. But other Corsair blocks on the graphs have a completely expected “hump”.

At the same time, Corsair AX1000 can operate in semi-passive mode. Only under a load of 400 W does its fan begin to spin up at a frequency of ~750 rpm. The RM850x has the same characteristic, but in it the impeller begins to rotate at a power of ~200 W.

Now let's look at the temperatures. To do this, I disassembled all the power supplies. The fans from the top cover were removed and installed on a homemade tripod so that the distance between it and the rest of the power supply was approximately 10 cm. I am sure that in terms of cooling the device did not work any worse, but this design allowed me to take pictures with a thermal imager. In the graph above, "Temperature 1" refers to the maximum internal temperature of the power supply when the fan is running. “Temperature 2” is the maximum heating of the power supply... without additional cooling. Please do not repeat such experiments at home on your equipment! However, such a bold move allows you to clearly show how the power supply heats up and how its temperature depends on the rated power, build quality and the component base used.

Heating of the CX450 model to 117 degrees Celsius is a completely logical phenomenon, because this power supply operates at almost maximum with a load of 400 W, and is not cooled in any way. The fact that the power supply passed this test at all is a great sign. Here is a high-quality budget model.

Comparing the results of other power supplies, we can come to the conclusion that they seem quite logical: yes, the Corsair CX450 model heats up the hottest, and the RM850x the least. At the same time, the difference in maximum heating rates is 42 degrees Celsius.

It is important to define the concept of “honest power” here. Here the Corsair CX450 model can transmit 449 W of energy via a 12-volt line. It is this parameter that you need to look at when choosing a device, because there are models that do not work as efficiently. In cheaper units of similar power, noticeably fewer watts can be transmitted over a 12-volt line. It comes to the point that the manufacturer claims support for 450 W, but in fact we are talking only about 320-360 W. So let’s write it down: when choosing a power supply, you need to look, among other things, at how many watts the device produces via a 12-volt line.

Let's compare the Corsair TX650M and CX650, which have the same claimed power but are certified to different 80PLUS standards: gold and bronze, respectively. I think the thermal imager images attached above speak louder than any words. Really, support for a specific 80 standardPLUS indirectly speaks about the quality of the power supply element base. The higher the certificate class, the better the power supply.

It's important to note here that the Corsair TX650M delivers up to 612 watts over a 12-volt line, while the CX650 delivers up to 648 watts.

In the pictures above you can compare the heating of the RM850x and AX1000 models, but already at a load of 600 W. There is also an obvious difference in temperature here. Overall, we see that Corsair power supplies cope well with the load placed on them - and even in stressful situations. At the same time, I think it is now clear why the graph above did not show the temperature of the AX1000 - it does not heat up much, even if you remove the cover with the fan.

Considering the results obtained, you can see that it would be absolutely no shame to use in the system a power supply with a power twice the maximum power of the PC itself. In this mode of operation, the power supply heats up less and makes less noise - these are facts that we have just proven once again. It turns out that for a starter assembly a power supply with an honest power of 450 W is suitable, for a basic one - 500 W, for optimal - 500 W, for advanced - 600 W, for maximum - 800 W, and for extreme - 1000 W. Plus, in the first part of the article, we found out that there is not such a big difference in price between power supplies, the declared power of which differs by 100-200 W.

However, let's not rush to final conclusions.

⇡ A few words about the upgrade

The builds in the “Computer of the Month” are designed not only to work in default mode. In each issue, I talk about the possibilities of overclocking some components (or the pointlessness of overclocking in the case of some processors, memory and video cards), as well as the possibilities for subsequent upgrades. There is an axiom: the cheaper the system unit, the more compromises it has. There are compromises that will allow you to use a PC here and now, but the desire to get something more productive, quiet, efficient, beautiful or comfortable (underline as necessary) will still not leave you. Captain Obviousness suggests that in such situations, a power supply with a good watt reserve will be very useful.

I will give a clear example of upgrading the starting assembly.

I took the AM4 platform. 6-core Ryzen 5 1600, Radeon RX 570 and 16 GB DDR4-3000 RAM were recommended. Even when using a standard cooler (cooling system that is sold complete with the CPU), our chip can be easily overclocked to 3.8 GHz. Let's say I did something radical and changed the CO to a noticeably more efficient model, which allowed me to increase the frequency from 3.3 to 4.0 GHz when all six cores were loaded. To do this, I needed to raise the voltage to 1.39 V, and also set the fourth level of Load-Line Calibration of the motherboard. This overclock essentially turned my Ryzen 5 1600 into a Ryzen 5 2600X.

Let's say I bought a Radeon RX Vega 64 video card - on the Computeruniverse website a month ago you could get it for 17,000 rubles (excluding delivery), and even cheaper. And in the comments to “Computer of the Month” they talk so sweetly about used GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, sold for 25-30 thousand rubles...

Finally, instead of the Ryzen 5 1600, you can take the Ryzen 2700X, which has become noticeably cheaper since the release of the third-generation AMD family of chips. There is no particular need to overclock it. As a result, we see that in both cases of the upgrade I proposed, the system’s power consumption more than doubled!

This is just an example, and the actors in the situation described may be completely different. However, this example, in my opinion, clearly shows that even in a starter assembly, a power supply with an honest power of 500 W, or better even 600 W, would not hurt at all.

⇡ Overclocking and everything connected with it

Since we're talking about overclocking, I'll give an example of the power consumption of stands before and after overclocking. Frequencies have been increased for the following systems:

Ryzen 5 1600 (@4.0 GHz, 1.39 V, LLC 4) + Radeon RX 570 (1457/2000 MHz) + 16 GB RAM (DDR4-3200, 1.35 V).
Ryzen 5 2600X (@4.3 GHz, 1.4 V, LLC 4) + GeForce GTX 1660 (1670/2375 MHz) + 16 GB RAM (DDR4-3200, 1.35 V).
Core i5-9600K (@4.8/5.0 GHz, 1.3 V, LLC 4) + GeForce RTX 2060 (1530/2000 MHz) + 16 GB RAM (DDR4-3200, 1.35 V).
Ryzen 7 2700X (@4.3 GHz, 1.4 V, LLC 4) + GeForce RTX 2070 (1500/2000 MHz) + 16 GB RAM (DDR4-3200, 1.35 V).
Ryzen 7 2700X (@4.3 GHz, 1.4 V, LLC 4) + Radeon VII (2000/1200 MHz) + 32 GB RAM (DDR4-3400, 1.4 V).
Core i7-9700K (@5.0/5.2 GHz, 1.35 V, LLC 5) + Radeon VII (2000/1200 MHz) + 32 GB RAM (DDR4-3400, 1.4 V).
Core i9-9900K (@5.0/5.2 GHz, 1.345 V, LLC 5) + GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (1470/1980 MHz) + 32 GB RAM (DDR4-3400, 1.4 V).

“Gaming PCs do not need 1 kW units” - commentators under articles on the site

We often see comments like this when it comes to gaming PCs. In the vast majority of cases - and we have found this out in practice - this is so. However, in 2019 there is a system that can amaze with its energy consumption.

We are, of course, talking about an extreme build in its, so to speak, maximum combat form. Not long ago, an article “” was published on our website - in it we talked in detail about the performance of a couple of the fastest GeForce video cards in 4K and 8K resolution. The system is fast, but the components are selected in such a way that it is very easy to make it even faster. In addition, it turned out that overclocking the Core i9-9900K to 5.2 GHz is completely useful in the case of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti SLI array and Ultra HD games. Only at its peak, as we see, such an overclocked configuration consumes more than 800 W. Therefore, for such a system under such conditions, a kilowatt power supply will definitely not be superfluous.

⇡ Conclusions

If you carefully read the article, you have identified several main points that you need to keep in mind when choosing a power supply. Let's list them all again:

Unfortunately, it is impossible to rely on the TDP indicators declared by the manufacturer of the video card or processor;
the energy consumption of computer equipment does not change much from year to year and is within certain limits - therefore, a high-quality power supply purchased now will serve for a long time and will definitely come in handy during the assembly of the next system;
the needs for cable management of the system unit also influence the choice of a power supply of a certain power;
not all power connectors are on motherboard nessesary to use;
a power supply with a lower power is not always more profitable (in terms of price) than a more powerful model;
when choosing a power supply, you need to look, among other things, at how many watts the device produces via the 12-volt line;
support for a certain 80 PLUS standard indirectly indicates the quality of the element base of the power supply;
There is absolutely no shame in using a power supply whose honest power is twice (or even more) the maximum power consumption of the computer.

Quite often you can hear the phrase: “ More - no less" This very laconic aphorism perfectly describes the situation when choosing a power supply. For your new PC, take a model with a good power reserve - it definitely won’t be worse, and in most cases it will only be better. Even for an inexpensive gaming system unit, which consumes about 220-250 W at maximum load, it still makes sense to take good model with honest 600-650 W. Because this block:

it will work more quietly, and in the case of some models - absolutely silently;
it will be colder;
will be more effective;
will allow you to easily overclock the system, increasing the performance of the central processor, video card and RAM;
will allow you to easily upgrade the main components of the system;
will survive several upgrades, and also (if the power supply is really good) will live in the second or third system unit;
It will also allow you to save money during the subsequent assembly of the system unit.

I think few readers will refuse a good power supply. It is clear that it is not always possible to immediately buy a high-quality device with a large reserve for the future. Sometimes, when buying a new system unit and having a limited budget, you want to get a more powerful processor, faster video cards, and a higher-capacity SSD - all this is understandable. But if you have the opportunity to buy a good power supply with a reserve, there is no need to save on it.

We express our gratitude to the companiesASUS andCorsair, as well as the Regard computer store for the equipment provided for testing.

#Number_of_lines_+12V

You can independently identify how many lines there are in a particular power supply unit by looking at its label - if there are more than one lines, then the maximum load in amperes is indicated separately for each +12V circuit, which are designated as “+12V1, +12V2, etc.” The actual output lines in English are called “rails”, and, accordingly, a power supply with one output line will be called “single rail PSU”, and with several - “multiple rails PSU”.

PSU with one +12V line

PSU with several +12V lines

There are several PSU models that actually have two +12V voltage sources, but these are usually very high power PSUs (from 1000W). And in most cases, these two outputs are again divided into four, five or six lines for safety reasons. (But, for example, they don’t share, and this is not so bad, which will be discussed further)

In some even rarer cases, the two original +12V lines can be combined into one powerful output.

So why actually separate the +12V lines?

Safety. For the same reason, houses, as a rule, have more than one fuse switch (popularly called “switches”). The ultimate goal is to limit the current in one circuit to 20A so that the temperature of the conductor carrying it does not become dangerous.

Short circuit protection only operates when complete absence resistance in a shorted circuit (i.e., for example, when a bare wire reaches ground), and in more complex cases, when the short circuit occurs on a printed circuit board or in an electric motor, the resistance in the circuit remains sufficient so that the short circuit protection does not operate . In this case, it becomes very huge pressure on the circuit and a rapid increase in current strength in the conductors leads, first of all, to melting of the insulation and subsequently to a fire. Limiting the current in each line eliminates this problem, i.e. This explains the need to divide the outputs into separate lines with individual limiters.

Is it true that in some power supplies with declared multiple +12V lines there is no line separation at all?

Yes it is. Fortunately, this is the exception to the rule, not the norm. This is done to reduce development and production costs. Why is it stated that there are several lines - in order to fully comply with the ATX12V specification, because in other characteristics it is observed.

Why do such power supplies remain on the market, and manufacturers do not have problems with their certification?

Yes, because Intel recently removed the requirement to separate +12V lines from the specification, but did not widely announce this fact. They just changed “required” to “recommended”, leaving manufacturers slightly puzzled.

Does splitting the +12V lines produce "cleaner and more stable voltages"?

The truth is that marketers constantly emphasize this fact, but usually this is not the case, it just seems more euphonious than “This power supply is unlikely to cause a fire.” And since, as mentioned above, all lines in most cases originate from one source, and no additional filtering is performed, the voltages remain the same even if there was no division.

Why do some people claim that a power supply with a single +12V output is better?(just a great example -)

There have been several companies that have produced four-lane 12V power supplies, which in theory should provide more than enough current for a high-end gaming station, and have run into a lot of problems. By making the power supply in accordance with the EPS12V server specification, all PCI-E 6-pin connectors were derived from common +12V lines with a load capacity of 18A, instead of a separate one. This line was easily overloaded by two powerful video cards along with other possible consumers, which led to the PC shutting down. Instead of a “civilized” solution to the problem, these manufacturers completely abandoned the division of +12V outputs.

Now “enthusiast” power supplies with several +12V lines either have an inflated maximum load capacity of the line intended for PCI-E connectors (and nothing else is connected to it), or two such lines are distributed over four or even six connectors. And certification of a power supply for SLI in any case requires the presence of at least a separate +12V line for PCI-E connectors.

Making a power supply with line separation costs 1.5 - 3 US dollars more for the manufacturer, and in most cases this amount is not passed on to the buyer, which already forces marketers to put forward theories that a power supply with +12V lines without separation is no worse and even better .

But nevertheless, there are statements that, for example, power supplies with one +12V line are better suitable for overclocking, etc. But this is more like a placebo effect that arose due to the fact that, for example, their previous power supply was faulty, was not powerful enough, or the load was not distributed correctly across the lines.

So it turns out that a power supply with +12V load distribution over several lines does not have any specific disadvantages?

No, actually, that's not true. Let's look at two examples:

Example #1:

One power supply model rated at 700W formally has sufficient power for any SLI system consisting of two single-chip video cards. But this power supply only has two PCI-E connectors, each of which hangs on its own +12V line. The problem is that these lines can deliver a current of 18 amps, which is almost three times more than the maximum current that a 6-pin PCI-E connector for video cards is designed for. Accordingly, when you try to install two video cards that require two of these connectors, problems begin.

It would be ideal if two connectors were soldered to each of the lines, but instead you have to use adapters from the “regular” 4-pin Molex to PCI-E 6-pin, which leads to overloading the circuits from which the rest of the system is powered block, while the actual “video card” circuits remain greatly underloaded. The problem could be solved by a 6-pin PCI-E -> 2x 6-pin PCI-E adapter in two copies, but it cannot be called widespread. So in such a situation, the best solution to the problem (besides replacing the power supply) is to independently solder two PCI-E connectors to the two corresponding lines.

Example #2:

Thermoelectric coolers (also called Peltier coolers) consume a lot of power and are usually powered by Molex connectors. Some models even use their own separate power supply.

So, if you use a power supply with separation of lines and powered your Peltier element from one of the Molexes, then it ends up on the same line with drives, fans, etc., then it is also possible to overload this line, since transferring it to other lines, designed to power video cards is impossible without significant tweaks. Naturally, a power supply with one +12V line would not have any problems in such a situation.

Typical configurations for multiple +12V lines:

2 x 12V lines, example -
This is the original ATX12V specification for dividing +12V lines. One is for the processor, the other is for everything else. It is very unlikely that a modern high-end video card with high power consumption can fit into the “everything else”. Such a division could only be seen on power supplies with a power of less than 600W.
3 x 12V lines, example -
Modifications to the ATX12V specification taking into account the use of PCI-E connectors for powering video cards. One line per processor, one for PCI-E connectors and a third for everything else. Works great even with some SLI configurations, but is not recommended for two video cards that require four PCI-E connectors in total.
4 x 12V lines (EPS12V), example -
Originally, this configuration was required by the EPS12V specification. Since typical applications of such power supplies involve their use in dual-processor systems, two +12V lines are intended exclusively for powering processors through 8-pin connectors. Everything else, including drives and video cards, falls on the two remaining lines. Currently, nVidia does not certify such power supplies for SLI, since such power supplies do not have a separate +12V line for video cards. In the segment of power supplies not intended for servers, there will no longer be such power supplies; several 700-850W models made using this architecture for the gaming PC market have already been discontinued.
4 x 12V lines (The most popular layout in the "PC for enthusiasts" segment), example -
An "upgraded" ATX12V, similar to 3 x 12V, except for the fact that two to six PCI-E connectors are distributed between two additional +12V lines. This scheme is most often found in power supplies with a power of 700 to 1000 Watts, although with a power of 800 Watts or more, some of the lines can account for much more than 20 Amperes, which is not entirely standard, but seems to have already become common practice, for example -
5 x 12V lines, for example -
Such power supplies can be called a hybrid EPS12V/ATX12V. Two processors with their own power lines, and two lines go to PCI-E connectors. The power of such power supplies usually ranges from 850 to 1000 Watts.
6 x 12V lines, example -
The most attractive and universal option, since it, meeting the requirements of the EPS12V specification, can have four to six PCI-E connectors without exceeding a current of 20A on any of the lines (although in practice this limitation, as you have already seen, is interpreted very loosely). Two lines go to processors, two to video cards, two to everything else. This configuration can be seen in power supplies with a power of 1000 Watts or more.

As a conclusion, we can note the fact that 99% of users will never think about whether their power supply has a common or separate +12V lines. Perhaps marketers will continue to praise the merits of both options, but the criteria for purchasing a power supply will still remain the same:

Sufficient power for the selected configuration.
Sufficient number of suitable connectors for the selected configuration.
SLI or CrossFire certification when using the appropriate MultiGPU configuration.

Processor power phases (processor power phase) is a quantitative characteristic indicating the number of power phases on the motherboard intended for the processor (this also applies, but in that case the printed circuit board is not the motherboard).

For what?

In theory, the more quantity per phase, less heating and more stable power supply in load throws, as well as higher durability. That is for overclocking processor, a large number of phases - simply necessary. After all, the load on the phases increases significantly and high stability is required to achieve maximum results.

How to visually determine the number of phases?

The number of power phases for a processor or video card can be determined by the inscription on the product box or printed circuit board, or by the number on the board.

The chokes look like they are wrapped around ferrite or just copper wires twisted into coils that have a fairly thick cross-section. More often they are packed in small boxes in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped For decrease quantities losses, interference And AMY. Two or one of these boxes should be slightly to the side - these are phases for power supply, they do not need to be counted. The coils are either in groups or together.

Trick

Not always number of chokes and the words on the box reflect reality quantity real phases. It happens that the manufacturer uses doublers and forms half virtual phases(best case scenario).

To accurately determine the number of phases, you need to look at VRM module characteristics And -controller. Phases virtual, at best provide 30% those characteristics that real ones give. It often happens that the power phases, for example 24 , but actually real 12 or 6 , but using doublers and triplers. That is, they can be considered as “improved” 12 or 6 phases, but not 24.

What number of power phases on an MP can be considered optimal?

Motherboard Division Intel claims that for work 4-core the processor is enough without overclocking 4 phases. Also according to them, properly designed 4 phases food with quality ingredients, often win on power stability, at incorrectly designed 16 phases nutrition. For an overclocked multi-core processor, this is quite enough 8 full phases processor power, or 16 phases, which use the method of dividing by 2, resulting in 8 full-fledged improved phases. It also follows that in terms of quantity failures, polyphase circuits are in the lead due to design complexity And a large number components used.

Phase switching technologies

(power phase switching)

These technologies, built on special controllers, measure how much power the processor currently requires, and turn on or off blocks with phases. This allows increase service life equipment, reduce energy consumption And AMY. Very often implemented indication included phases on the motherboard and even the degree of load on them (as in the image above).

CPU power connectors

Power to the CPU comes from a device called the Voltage Regulator Module (VRM), which is found in most motherboards. This device Provides power to the processor (usually through pins on the processor socket) and self-calibrates to ensure the proper voltage is supplied to the processor. The VRM is designed to be powered by either +5V or +12V input voltage.

For many years, only +5V was used, but since 2000, most VRMs have moved to +12V due to the lower requirements for operating at that input voltage. In addition, other PC components can also use the +5 V voltage supplied through the common pin on the motherboard socket, while only disk drives are “hung” on the +12 V line (at least, this was the case until 2000).

Whether the VRM on your board uses +5V or +12V depends on specific model boards and voltage regulator designs. Many modern VRMs are designed to accept input voltages from +4 V to +26 V, so the final configuration is determined by the motherboard manufacturer.

For example, we somehow came across a FIC (First International Computer) SD-11 motherboard equipped with a Semtech SC1144ABCSW voltage regulator.

This board uses +5V voltage, converting it to a lower voltage according to the needs of the CPU. Most motherboards use VRMs from two manufacturers - Semtech or Linear Technology. You can visit the websites of these companies and study the specifications of their chips in more detail.

The motherboard in question used an Athlon 1 GHz Model 2 processor in the Slot A version and was specified to require 65 W of power at a nominal voltage of 1.8 V. 65 W at 1.8 V corresponds to a current of 36 ,1 A.

When using a VRM with an input voltage of +5 V, 65 W of power corresponds to a current of only 13 A. But this situation is obtained only under the condition of 100% efficiency of the voltage regulator, which is impossible. Typically, VRM efficiency is about 80%, so to ensure the processor and voltage regulator operate, the current must be approximately 16.25 A.

When you consider that other power consumers on the motherboard also use the +5V line - remember that ISA or PCI cards also use this voltage - you can see how easy it is to overload the +5V lines on the power supply.

Although most VRM designs on motherboards are derived from Pentium III and Athlon/Duron processors that use +5V regulators, most modern systems use VRMs rated at +12V because higher voltages reduce current levels. We can verify this using the example of the AMD Athlon 1 GHz, which was already mentioned above:

As you can see, using the +12V line to power the chip requires a current of only 5.4 A, or 6.8 A, taking into account the efficiency of the VRM.

Thus, by connecting the VRM module on the motherboard to the +12V power line, we could gain a lot of benefits. But, as you already know, the ATX 2.03 specification assumes only one +12 V line, which is transmitted through the main power cable of the motherboard.

Even the short-lived auxiliary 6-pin connector was deprived of contact with +12 V, so it could not help us. A current of more than 8 A on a single 18-gauge wire from the +12 V line on the power supply is quite effective way melt the contacts of the ATX connector, which according to the specification are designed for a current of no more than 6 A when using standard Molex contacts. Thus, a fundamentally different solution was required.

Platform Compatibility Guide (PCG)

The processor directly controls the current passing through the +12 V pin. Modern motherboards are designed to support as much as possible more processors, however, the VRM circuits on some boards may not provide sufficient power for all processors that may be installed in the socket on the motherboard.

To eliminate potential compatibility issues that could lead to PC instability or even component failure, Intel has developed a power standard called the Platform Compatibility Guide (PCG).

PCG is mentioned on most boxed Intel processors and motherboards produced from 2004 to 2009. It was created for PC builders and system integrators to provide them with information about the power requirements of the processor and whether the motherboard meets these requirements.

PCG is a two- or three-character designation (for example, 05A), where the first two digits indicate the year in which the product was introduced, and an additional third letter corresponds to the market segment.

PCG markings that include a third character A correspond to processors and motherboards belonging to the low-end market (require less power), while the letter B refers to processors and motherboards belonging to the high-end market segment (require more power ).

Motherboards that support high-end processors, by default, can also support lower-end processors, but not vice versa.

For example, you can install a processor marked PCG 05A into a motherboard marked 05B, but if you try to install a processor 05B into a board marked 05A, you may well encounter unstable work system or other, more severe consequences.

In other words, it is always possible to install a less powerful processor on an expensive motherboard, but not vice versa.

4-pin +12 V processor power connector

To increase the current on the +12V line, Intel created a new ATX12V power supply specification. This led to the appearance of a third power connector, which was called ATX +12 V and was used to supply additional +12 V voltage to the motherboard.

This 4-pin power connector is standard on all motherboards that comply with the ATX12V specification and contains Molex Mini-Fit Jr. pins. with female plugs. According to the specification, the connector complies with the Molex 39-01-2040 standard, the connector type is Molex 5556. This is the same type of pins used in the main ATX motherboard power connector.

This connector has two +12 V contacts, each of which is rated for current up to 8 A (or up to 11 A when using HCS contacts). This provides a current of 16 A in addition to the contact on the motherboard, and in total both connectors provide a current of up to 22 A along the +12 V line. The pin locations of this connector are shown in the following diagram:

Using standard Molex pins, each pin on the +12V connector can carry up to 8A of current, 11A with HCS pins, or up to 12A with Plus HCS pins. Even though this connector uses the same pins as the main connector, the current through this connector can reach higher values because fewer pins are used. By multiplying the number of contacts by the voltage, you can determine the maximum current power for a given connector:

Standard Molex contacts are rated at 8A.

Molex HCS contacts are rated at 11A.

Molex Plus HCS contacts are rated at 12A.

All values are for a set of 4-6 Mini-Fit Jr pins. when using 18 gauge wires and standard temperatures.

Thus, if standard contacts are used, the power can reach 192 W, which, in most cases, is sufficient even for modern high-performance CPUs. Consuming more power can lead to overheating and melting of the contacts, therefore, when using more power-hungry processor models, the +12 V plug to power the processor must include Molex HCS or Plus HCS contacts.

The 20-pin main power connector and the +12V processor power connector together provide a maximum current level of 443 W (using standard pins). It is important to note that the addition of a +12V connector allows you to use the full power of the 500W power supply without the risk of overheating or melted contacts.

Adapter for +12 V processor power supply connector

If the power supply does not have a standard +12 V connector for powering the processor, and the motherboard has a corresponding socket, there is a simple way out of the problem - use an adapter. What nuances might we encounter in this case?

The adapter connects to the connector for peripheral devices, which is found in almost all power supplies. The problem in this case is that the peripheral connector has only one +12 V pin, and the 4-pin CPU power connector has two such pins.

Thus, if the adapter involves the use of only one connector for peripheral devices, using it to provide voltage on two pins of the +12 V connector for the processor at once, then in this case we see a serious discrepancy between the current requirements.

Since the pins on the peripheral connector are only rated at 11A, loading more than this may cause the pins on the connector to overheat and melt. But 11 A is below the peak current values for which the connector pins should be designed in accordance with Intel PCG recommendations. This means that such adapters do not meet the latest standards.

We made the following calculations: considering VRM efficiency at 80%, for an average processor by today's standards, consuming 105 W, the current level will be approximately 11 A, which is the maximum for a peripheral power connector.

Many modern processors have TDPs in excess of 105 W. But we would not recommend using adapters that use only one connector for peripheral devices with processors that have a TDP above 75 W. An example of such an adapter is shown in the following figure:

8-pin +12 V processor power connector

High-end motherboards often use multiple VRMs to power the processor. To distribute the load between additional voltage regulators, such boards are equipped with two sockets for a 4-pin +12 V connector, but they are physically combined into one 8-pin connector, as shown in the figure below.

This type The connector was first introduced in the EPS12V specification version 1.6, released in 2000. Although this specification was originally aimed at file servers, the increased power demands of some high-end desktop processors have brought this 8-pin connector into the PC world.

Some motherboards that use an 8-pin CPU power connector to provide correct operation must receive voltage on all connector pins, while most motherboards of this type can work even if you use only one 4-pin power connector. In the latter case, there will be four free contacts on the motherboard socket.

But before starting a computer with this connector configuration, you need to read the motherboard user manual - most likely, it will reflect whether one 4-pin power connector can be connected to an 8-wire socket on the board or not.

If you are using a processor that draws more power than a single 4-pin power connector can provide, you will still need to find a power supply that has an 8-pin connector.

Adapter 4-pin -> 8-pin CPU power connector +12 V

If the motherboard requires voltage on all eight pins, but you are using a processor that is not too power hungry and your power supply does not have an 8-pin connector, then an adapter from a 4-pin to an 8-pin connector can come to the rescue. It looks like this:

There are adapters that work in the opposite direction - that is, they convert the signal from an 8-pin connector to a 4-pin connector.

But they are rarely required, since you can do it easier by connecting the 8-pin connector to four sockets on the motherboard.

To do this, you just need to move the connector to one side. You cannot do without an adapter if the physical layout of the board does not allow you to install an offset 8-pin connector plug.

Now let's move on to an equally important part of any PC - the motherboard.

1. The color of the motherboard is important, and it is best to take black

A funny myth with a very simple story: large vendors, such as Apple or Asus, began painting their expensive motherboards black about 10 years ago. Of course, they broke less often than simpler “colored” boards from competitors, hence the belief that “black goez fasta” came from. In fact, the color of the board can be absolutely any - yellow, green, white, blue, black - because this is a banal painting that in no way affects the internal characteristics of the PCB. For example, in the 90s, PCB was often not painted at all, and most of the boards - both expensive and cheap - had a dirty yellow color. So the difference between a black and white board is exactly the same as between a black and white iPhone - only in color and nothing more.

2. Heating the processor power circuits up to 90 degrees is critically high

Mosfets are highlighted in red - the hottest elements of the CPU power supply circuit.

Do not confuse the processor itself and its power circuits - indeed, for silicon CPUs, temperatures above 90-100 degrees are critical and will lead to rapid failure. But for power circuits this is not true: for example, their hottest part - the so-called mosfets (field-effect transistors with an insulated gate) - have operating temperatures of up to 150-175 degrees, so 90 degrees on them, of course, is a lot, but not critical. All other elements of the power circuits, such as capacitors and chokes, heat up significantly less and are often not covered by radiators because of this.

3. Internal peripherals on boards are always of low quality and need to be purchased separately

A myth that comes almost from the 90s, when sound and network controllers on boards really left much to be desired. However, now this is not the case for a long time: 99% of boards are equipped with gigabit LAN controllers from Intel or Realtek, and given the fact that the speed home internet on average an order of magnitude lower, there will be no problems with them.

With sound, everything is somewhat more serious - now boards are mainly equipped with controllers from Realtek. It would be hard to call them audiophile, but if you listen to music from streaming services and play games, there will definitely be no problems with sound quality.

4. All sorts of expensive boards with a bunch of ports and heatsinks are not needed, since even the cheapest solutions on the Z370 chipset support my Core i9 - I’ll choose from them

Of course, there is always a desire to save money, and you can often take a cheaper board without, for example, built-in Wi-Fi or m.2 slots, saving up to a couple of thousand rubles. But, alas, further savings usually begin to affect the circuit design of the board - namely, manufacturers begin to reduce the number of CPU power phases on the board from 6-10 down to 3-4. Why is this scary? If previously the energy needed to power the processor passed through 10 phases, heating them not very much, now it will pass through only 3 phases, which is why the heating will increase significantly. Plus here is the fact that cheap boards often don’t even have the simplest heatsinks on the power supply circuits; they can easily heat up to 120+ degrees with top-end processors under load, which is already critical for them:

In addition, various negative effects begin: for example, overheating protection may be triggered, which will reduce the voltage on the processor, and therefore its frequency and performance. Weak power circuits may initially not provide the voltage required for a top-end processor to operate under load, which again will negatively affect its frequency. So, alas, it’s better to leave cheap motherboards for simpler processors.

5. For high-end PCs it is better to buy full-size boards

The myth, again, comes from the beginning of the 2000s, when compact boards began to appear - then manufacturers, in pursuit of size, could really seriously reduce the functionality of such boards. But now there is no such thing - of course, mini-ITX boards have only one PCIe x16 slot and usually two slots for RAM, but all other parameters - even the ability to overclock processors and an m.2 slot with NVMe support - may be present, so there are no It’s a problem to assemble a top-end PC with a Core i9-9900K and RTX 2080 Ti in a case with dimensions that are not much larger than those of consoles.

6. Armored PCIe and RAM slots - marketing, they are not needed

In the last few years, various manufacturers have begun to reinforce PCIe slots and even RAM, justifying this by the fact that modern top-end video cards often weigh 1.5-2 kg, which can break the slot. However, here you need to understand a couple of things: firstly, this does not answer the question of why to reinforce the RAM slots, since even with radiators the dies hardly weigh more than a couple of hundred grams and certainly will not break the plastic. Secondly, upon closer examination it will be seen that the reinforcement of the slot of the board itself does not affect, that is, the slots are still supported only by their own contacts:

I think you get the impression that I am contradicting myself and proving that reinforcement is really marketing. However, this is not entirely true: in reality, under the weight of a heavy video card, the narrow slot of the plastic PCIe slot may widen slightly, causing contact to be lost. Reinforcement will prevent this from happening - but, again, if you have a heavy video card, you should buy a special holder so as not to break the slot out of the board.

7. Mobile (SODIMM) RAM cannot be installed in a desktop board (with DIMM slots)

At first glance, it seems that this is not a myth - DIMM and SODIMM dies differ significantly in size, so laptop RAM simply will not physically fit on a desktop board. But remember about SD cards - they also exist different formats, however, with the help of an adapter you can take a microSD and put it in a full-size slot, and it will work without any problems.

With RAM, everything is exactly the same: electrically, SODIMM is practically no different from DIMM, so by purchasing the appropriate adapter, you can easily install laptop RAM in your computer, and it will work without any problems. Of course, the feasibility of such a solution is questionable, but if you have an extra stick of RAM for laptops lying around and you have nowhere to put it, you can easily upgrade your PC with it.

8. If the processor power connector on the motherboard is 8 pin, then a power supply with 4 pin will not work

It should be understood that the 8 pin power supply on the board is simply 4+4 pin (this is hinted at by the fact that many power supplies have 8 pin represented as 4+4), which are connected in parallel:

Accordingly, if you connect only 4 of the 8 pins, then the motherboard will work without problems in most cases. Of course, you should understand that with such a connection you should not seriously load the processor - the “extra” 4 pins are precisely created in order to reduce the heating of the wires from the power supply and the tracks in the PCB. But if, for example, you bought a new board and CPU, but didn’t have enough money for a new power supply with 8 pin, it’s quite possible to “overstay” on 4 pin.

9. If the processor is not supported motherboard, then nothing can be done, you need to change the board

Usually this is not a myth, but recently there are plenty of exceptions: for example, processors of the Xeon line for the LGA771 server socket have become very popular, which on various trading platforms They often give it away for several hundred rubles. And they, with some desire (cutting “ears” in a new place and soldering the conductor), can be installed in ordinary desktop boards on LGA775:

Another exception is the LGA1151 and 1151v2 socket: they differ mainly only in software, so with some “witchcraft” with the BIOS you can make 8th generation processors work on officially unsupported boards with 100 or 200 chipsets.

10. Updating the BIOS is a complex ritual that you should not do yourself

For some reason, for many, the phrase “BIOS update” evokes panic fear and the image of a stern, bearded computer engineer who conjures floppy disks and prints some strange characters into command line. Fortunately, this has not been the case for the last 5 years - BIOSes often have a friendly user interface in Russian and support mouse operation, and updating the BIOS is just a couple of mouse clicks, after which the required update will be downloaded from the Internet and installed by itself.

There is also an opinion that if everything works, then there is no need to update the BIOS. This is again not true, because often new BIOS versions have various security fixes (such as patches against Meltdown or Specter), which should not be ignored. And even more so, if the board does not work correctly - which happens if you bought it immediately after release - it is often BIOS updates that will solve your problems.

11. All slots of the same type on the board are identical, you can use any

Not entirely true: for example, usually only the PCIe slot closest to the processor can operate at the maximum speed of x16; slots below often work only in x8 or x4 mode, so you should not use them with fast video cards:

The same applies to SATA: if you simultaneously use the m.2 slot with an NVMe drive, then one of the SATA connectors may become disabled (since the number of PCIe lanes in the chipset is limited), so do not be surprised that after installing a fast SSD in your computer For some reason your hard drive is no longer detected.

12. Motherboards from XXX are better than YYY

In general, such a comparison is incorrect, just like with other types of technology. However, there are always brands that produce completely low-quality products: for example, in laptops these are Digma and iRU. There is a similar division among motherboard manufacturers.

Thus, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte (as well as Supermicro and Tyan in the server segment) are considered good manufacturers: again, this does not mean that their boards are perfect, but still they usually have the least problems. ASRock, Colorful, Biostar, ECS are considered mid-level manufacturers - perhaps it makes sense to compare them with smartphones from Xiaomi: they seem to be cheaper than solutions from AAA brands, but they require some knowledge to set everything up correctly, and their BIOS may be crude at first .

The rest of the motherboards, usually Chinese (from Xuanan) or from OEM manufacturers, are often very problematic: they are picky about RAM, respond incorrectly to buttons, can turn off during operation, etc. And, alas, there is no need to wait for software fixes - OEM manufacturers do not post them on the Internet at all, and you can only get them from new board revisions, and Chinese manufacturers usually “forget” about support.

13. Small boards (mATX, mini-ATX) cannot be installed in large cases (Full or Mid Tower)

The myth, again, is from 20 years ago, when compact boards had just begun to appear, and there simply were no mounts for them in the cases. However, now even in the simplest “tin boxes” such mounts are present - another question is why take a spacious case and put a miniature board in it.

14. Boards for Intel processors are better than for AMD

The reason for this myth is quite understandable: usually at the start of sales there are problems with new AMD processors: for example, Ryzen was picky about RAM, and not all of the dies could operate at least 3000 MHz. Processors from Intel are traditionally more stable in this regard, but, in any case, the problem here is precisely a software one: hardware boards of the same level for processors from Intel and for AMD usually differ only in the socket and chipset - they even look extremely similar.

15. For any manipulation with the board, you need to remove the BIOS battery

Do not confuse de-energizing the board (that is, unplugging the power supply cord from the socket) with removing the BIOS battery - the latter is only needed to save BIOS settings, if suddenly there is a power loss. Accordingly, the voltage from it goes only to the BIOS chip, so you can safely completely assemble the PC with the battery inserted. The only exception is if you need to reset the BIOS settings: in this case, logically, you need to remove the battery.

As you can see, there are a lot of different myths about motherboards. Do you know any others? Write about it in the comments.

Computer tips for novice users