Curious about VRM

[Cru012]

It has often been discussed that better motherboard has more VRM/more phases for the CPU. I have a MSI Z490 Pro A motherboard and it has a 8 pins eps and a additional 4 pin eps. While it will boot if I plug in only the 8 pins, how do we know whether all of the VRM are used/not partially used due to only 8 pins are plugged in. A more likely answer that I have personally is that we just can't feel the difference unless you draw a significant amount power. 

[Vishera]

2 minutes ago, Cru012 said:

I have a MSI Z490 Pro A motherboard and it has a 8 pins eps and a additional 4 pin eps. While it will boot if I plug in only the 8 pins, how do we know whether all of the VRM are used/not partially used due to only 8 pins are plugged in.

If it has 8 + 4 pins,i recommend to connect them both,the 4 pin connector is not there to admire,it could pose as a fire hazard since all of the CPU power goes through 8 pins instead of spreading the load through 12 pins.

Depending on the CPU you have and it's clock speed it may be fine.

[schwellmo92]

43 minutes ago, Vishera said:

If it has 8 + 4 pins,i recommend to connect them both,the 4 pin connector is not there to admire,it could pose as a fire hazard since all of the CPU power goes through 8 pins instead of spreading the load through 12 pins.

Depending on the CPU you have and it's clock speed it may be fine.

8-pin spec supports 235w continuous. You would need a pretty beefy overclocked CPU at 100% constantly to need the 4 pin. I don't have my 4 pin plugged in because I don't want the extra cables in my case and it's not needed.

[Vishera]

7 hours ago, schwellmo92 said:

8-pin spec supports 235w continuous. You would need a pretty beefy overclocked CPU at 100% constantly to need the 4 pin. I don't have my 4 pin plugged in because I don't want the extra cables in my case and it's not needed.

The 10700K easily draws more than 235W at stock speeds:

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/intel-core-i7-10700k-processor-review,5.html

The 10900K can draw 300W at stock speeds:

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/intel-core-i9-10900k-processor-review,5.html

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Vishera said:

If it has 8 + 4 pins,i recommend to connect them both,the 4 pin connector is not there to admire,it could pose as a fire hazard since all of the CPU power goes through 8 pins instead of spreading the load through 12 pins.

Depending on the CPU you have and it's clock speed it may be fine.

You do not need the extra 4 pin, and it isn't a fire hazard. Not sure why you are suggesting that. Go watch buildzoid if you want proof. Also some board manufacturers use solid pins (Gigabyte is one), so that gives you more than 384W that you would have with a standard 8 pin.

 

1 hour ago, Vishera said:

The 10700K easily draws more than 235W at stock speeds:

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/intel-core-i7-10700k-processor-review,5.html

The 10900K can draw 300W at stock speeds:

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/intel-core-i9-10900k-processor-review,5.html

That is showing the whole pc not just the cpu.

[Haro]

9 hours ago, schwellmo92 said:

8-pin spec supports 235w continuous

384w*. 

 

10 hours ago, Cru012 said:

While it will boot if I plug in only the 8 pins, how do we know whether all of the VRM are used/not partially used due to only 8 pins are plugged in

Well that provides power to the cpu and the vrm needs to regulate the power from 12v to whatever the cpu needs. 

Usually some vrm's needs 5v to work which can be had from the 24 pin. 

It'll work just fine. 

[Vishera]

1 hour ago, lee32uk said:

That is showing the whole pc not just the cpu.

Still even at full CPU load the rest of the system won't pull more than 50W.

At full CPU load the Athlon 3000G system consumes only 59W...

Spoiler

So i recommend to use the 4 pin on the 10700K and is a must on the 10900K,for safety.

[Mateyyy]

You don't need the extra 4-pin. It's only really required if you're running ~5.2-5.3GHz+ all-core overclock on a 10900K and you're hammering it with Prime95 Small FFT, but by that time you'll already have been overpowering the VRMs on your Z490-A Pro.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Vishera said:

Still even at full CPU load the rest of the system won't pull more than 50W.

At full CPU load the Athlon 3000G system consumes only 59W...

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So i recommend to use the 4 pin on the 10700K and is a must on the 10900K,for safety.

Nope you are still wrong. He is fine with just the 8 pin. And as mentioned above, if you did pull more than that the VRM would overheat and you would also need some really beefy cooling as the cpu would be really hot.