Confusion about power phases

[OnyxTech]

I'm in the market for a new motherboard for my VR system, a z370 board to be more precise, I don't quite understand how big of a difference the amount of power phases could make, what's the standard amount I should look for, and can having too few negatively impact overclocking results?

[SuperCookie78]

The number of power phases usually corrispondes to the ammount of stress on each phase. a 4 phase board has all of the power being filtered and smoothed with just 4 phases. the same load on a 16 phase board put less stress on each phase and usually brings cleaner power delivery due to the use of higher quality components. With modern board this isn’t much of a problem as you can reach the same oc with a budget overclocking board from a reputable manufacturer. but if you have a bad power supply a high phase board can keep your components safer. BUT it is better to get a 80+ bronze min psu for all builds especially if you are ocing.