Unsure about my recent x470 Master SLI/AC mobo purchase

[CarolinaRoots]

I just bought the parts to my new rig and I was pretty excited to see a “12 phase” Power design on a mid-tier board. I’m reading on now that it’s not at all what I thought it was, and it’s actually a 4+2 that’s doubled? I really liked the x370 Taichi that I built my girlfriend’s editing computer with so I figured that this was a decent brand.

 

my real question here is this: will I  be able to OC my rig and not be limited by the VRMs on the board?

 

parts:

R5 2600 (I intend to make multiple OC Profiles, one of which will be its’s max frequency)

 

corsair h115i

 

Asrock x470 Master sli/AC

 

corsair HX1200i platinum (never buying another psu again)

 

saphire rx580 8GB black edition

 

16 gb of g.skill trident z rgb 3200mhz c14

 

 

Am I being paranoid? Or is this a legitimate concern? If I do need to get a different one, what board should I get? 

[Rainbow Dash]

That board would still be a decent overclocker, it just depends on your cpu silicon.

[CarolinaRoots]

2 minutes ago, Rainbow Dash said:

That board would still be a decent overclocker, it just depends on your cpu silicon.

So I don’t need to worry about any potential heat problems?

[Rainbow Dash]

1 minute ago, CarolinaRoots said:

So I don’t need to worry about any potential heat problems?

Not really, if it does get warm, which it would. Just blow a fan on it.

[CarolinaRoots]

8 minutes ago, Rainbow Dash said:

Not really, if it does get warm, which it would. Just blow a fan on it.

That could prove to be an issue due to the case I got. I planned on watercooling everything at some point in the near future with what would be my first custom loop. I got the Lian-Li PC011Dynamic, the one that Der8aur helped design. Great for watercooling, not so much for direct fan access to the VRMs lol

[Rainbow Dash]

1 minute ago, CarolinaRoots said:

That could prove to be an issue due to the case I got. I planned on watercooling everything at some point in the near future with what would be my first custom loop. I got the the Lian-Li PC011Dynamic, the one the Der8aur helped design. Great for watercooling, not so much for direct fan access to the VRMs lol

I wouldn't really worry about vrm cooling unless they go up to 100C.

[CarolinaRoots]

1 minute ago, Rainbow Dash said:

I wouldn't really worry about vrm cooling unless they go up to 100C.

Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the temps. Most motherboards come with decent sensors for the VRM temps now right?

[Rainbow Dash]

1 minute ago, CarolinaRoots said:

Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the temps. Most motherboards come with decent sensors for the VRM temps now right?

Yeppers.

[CarolinaRoots]

1 minute ago, Rainbow Dash said:

Yeppers.

Well thanks, I guess I was worrying about nothing! 

[GDRRiley]

1 minute ago, CarolinaRoots said:

Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the temps. Most motherboards come with decent sensors for the VRM temps now right?

yep

[Jurrunio]

15 minutes ago, CarolinaRoots said:

 

my real question here is this: will I  be able to OC my rig and not be limited by the VRMs on the board?

Things to clarify:

 

More phases = better voltage ripple suppression. If you're overclocking Ryzen on air, just 4 phases will allow you to hit 99% of the CPU's potential. Ryzen is limited by GlobalFoundaries crappy process, not voltage. The 'more phases = better' rule applies to Intel CPUs and FX, just not Ryzen.

 

Doubled phases means it gets doubled current limit, but same voltage ripple suppression. Current flow per phase affects heat output, but not voltage ripple

 

Compared to a true 8 phase design, the doubled 4 phase has same temperatures, but slightly worse voltage ripple. I wouldnt be worried about VRM cooling at all.

[CarolinaRoots]

11 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Things to clarify:

 

More phases = better voltage ripple suppression. If you're overclocking Ryzen on air, just 4 phases will allow you to hit 99% of the CPU's potential. Ryzen is limited by GlobalFoundaries crappy process, not voltage. The 'more phases = better' rule applies to Intel CPUs and FX, just not Ryzen.

 

Doubled phases means it gets doubled current limit, but same voltage ripple suppression. Current flow per phase affects heat output, but not voltage ripple

 

Compared to a true 8 phase design, the doubled 4 phase has same temperatures, but slightly worse voltage ripple. I wouldnt be worried about VRM cooling at all.

That’s a solid answer. 

 

So to clarify: with the 4 phases that are doubled, I have the power output and temps of an 8 phase but not the ripple suppression? And I wouldn’t have any problems with ripple anyways?

[Jurrunio]

12 minutes ago, CarolinaRoots said:

So to clarify: with the 4 phases that are doubled, I have the power output and temps of an 8 phase but not the ripple suppression?

Yes

 

12 minutes ago, CarolinaRoots said:

And I wouldn’t have any problems with ripple anyways?

Wont be enough to hurt the overclocking of a Zen and Zen+ based processor. Maybe it will hurt overclocks in the future if GF fixes their manufacturing process, but I'm not a fortune teller.

 

The disadvantage of higher ripple is using higher vcore to maintain stability. Let's say I have a Ryzen CPU that stablizes at my 4GHz overclock with 1.35V, assuming no voltage ripple at all. If the VRMs provide current with 50mV voltage ripple, then I need to set the core voltage (vcore) to at least 1.4V to ensure voltage to the CPU never dips below 1.3V. If I get a crazy good mobo with only 10mV ripple, then I can set the Vcore to 1.36V.

 

In terms of overclocking higher, lower voltage ripple is better. Say the same CPU does 4.1GHz at 1.4V. If I do it on the 50mV ripple motherboard, then I'll need 1.45V which is too high for ambient cooling. On the other hand, the 10mV ripple mobo will let me use 1.41V, which is fine. Sadly, this doesnt benfit Zen+ based CPUs because the extra voltage needed to get past 4.3GHz wall is so high, the effect of low voltage ripple board doesnt help enough to allow a higher clock speed without breaking the voltage safety limit.