What is a powerphse?

[IanTheAlien123]

I'm wanting to know what a power phase is on a motherboard? Does it change anything performance wise?

[Unimportant]

A modern CPU requires a supply voltage around 1.2Volt (give or take). That voltage is not available directly from the power supply, thus a extra voltage regulator on the motherboard is required that converts a PSU voltage (typically 12V) to the required CPU voltage. For efficiency reasons and the very high currents involved nearly always a "synchronous buck" regulator is chosen:

The picture shows a single phase of such a buck converter. By adding multiple phases in parallel they can improve certain key elements:

a) Reduced input capacitance
b) Reduced output capacitance
c) Improved thermal performance and efficiency at high load currents
d) Improved transient over-and undershoot during load transients

( Source: Multiphase Buck Design From Start to Finish, Texas instruments: http://www.ti.com/lit/an/slva882/slva882.pdf )

 

That said, a voltage regulator with 2 well designed quality phases can perform better then one with 3 crappy phases so it's not a simple case of more is better.

 

It has no influence on base performance. Either the CPU will have clean regulated power and work, or fail (crash, bluescreen, ...) if the power is not clean.

Since overclocking puts higher demands on the power supply, a better quality voltage regulator might allow a higher overclock tough, but one would expect any unit being sold to work fine for the stock settings.

[just_dave]

You dont have to worry about that if you buy decent mobo suitable for your use.

If you dont, it may impact performance significantly

[Jurrunio]

@Unimportant covered the design all too well

 

Basically, power phase(s) transforms high voltage electricity from the power supply to a lower one for the component. This can be the CPU, RAM and even north bridge and south bridge in older systems. It can also be tuned actively by the BIOS to lower or increase the voltage for the benefits of reducing power draw when the machine isnt loaded and improving performance, for example increasing voltage to overclock further.

 

It doesnt have direct impact on performance. It's like our bones. Sure it doesnt help with your sprinting speed, but problems with your bones can have you stuck on a wheelchair. On electrical components, good power delivery ensures stability and safety of the chips.