In this topic i will post details on the vrm implementations,
of the new B450 and X470 motherboards.
As soon as i have the details on a said board i will post it in here.
You guys can use this topic as a reference on a motherboard choice,
But @wendell will probablly pop out some reviews on certain new boards soon.
So if you want more details on a said board, you could either watch the review,
or just ask and discuss about it.
I’m not fully sure how i´m going to give a proper body to this topic yet.
But we will see how it goes.
Any suggestions and additions to this thread are welcome. 
9 Likes
Asus Crosshair VII Hero.
The vrm on the Asus Crosshair VII Hero is a littlebit special this time arround.
Because this particular board has no video outputs on the rear io.
This basiclly means that the board doesnt feature any support for the Ryzen apu’s.
And there for the vrm on this particular board is a bit different from its predecessor the Crosshair VI Hero.
Lets move on to the vrm details of the board:
The main vrm of this motherboard consists of a 10+2 phase design.
The 10 phases are dedicated to the cpu vcore rail,
and the +2 phases are powering the SOC voltage rail.
The reason why there are only 2 phases available for the soc voltage rails this time arround, is because this board has no support for apu’s.
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PWM: ASP1405i which is an Asus rebranded IR35201.
In this particular case it runs in a 5+2 phase mode.
5 phases being doubled to 10 using IR3599 phase doublers.
And the +2 phases are straight phases no doubling.
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Powerstages: IR3555M which are rated for 60A.
These are some of the best IR powerstages used on motherboard today.
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Chokes: Microfine alloy chokes, which are used on pretty much any ROG board of the last couple of generations.
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Caps: 10K.
Memory vrm:
The memory vrm is a 2 phase configuration.
- PWM: ASP1103 digital pwm providing 2 phases.
- Mosfets: Niko semi con Niko PEA16BA discrete fets.
This board has a vrm that is massively overkill for Ryzen +.
Its rock sollid as suspected from an Asus rog board.
i can highlly recommend it for overclockers.
6 Likes
Gigabyte Aorus X470 Gaming 7.
The vrm on the Gigabyte Aorus X470 Gaming 7 definitelly has had an upgrade from its preducessor the Aorus X370 Gaming K7.
Gigabyte this time has added more phases to the Vcore vrm.
And they have added some higher rated powerstaged on the SOC rail.
Next to that Gigabyte this time arround has design some very decent heatsinks that cover the powerstages.
But the vrm on this motherboard is so efficient that its kinda overkill.
Lets move on to the vrm details of the board:
The main vrm on this motherboards consists of a 10+2 phase design.
The 10 phases are dedicated to the cpu vcore rail,
and the +2 phases are powering the SOC voltage rail.
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PWM: IR35201 which runs in a 5+2 phase configuration this time.
5 phases being doubled to 10 using IR3599 phase doublers.
And the +2 phases for SOC are straight phases no doubling.
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Powerstages: IR3553 40A powerstages are used for the main cpu Vcore rail.
And the for the SOC rail Gigabyte uses IR3556 50A powerstages.
Inductors / chokes: EATON 61A 125°C
Memory vrm:
The memory vrm is a singe phase configuration.
- PWM: Richtek RT8120D
- Mosfets: On semiconductor 4C10N’s in a single hi-side dual lo-side configuration.
This motherboard also has a very decent vrm.
And is well capable of overclocking a Ryzen 8 core to the max without breaking any sweat.
Its not as powerfull as the Asus Crosshair VII Hero.
But still its pretty much overkill for Ryzen + and very efficient.
One big plus of this board is its massively designed heatsinks with acutal fins for better surface area.
If Gigabyte got their bios sorted right this time arround,
which hopefully @wendell might be able to tell you more about,
if he has the abillity to review this particular motherboard.
Then i can definitelly recommend it to overclockers.
5 Likes
Monitoring!
Especially interested in the ASRock X470 Taichi / Taichi Ultimate.
4 Likes
Little spoiler for that;
i dont have all the details just yet on the Taichi.
But it looks like Asrock didn’t change the vrm design on the Taichi.
@MisteryAngel, is that ok to spam in here?
This one pretty much covers why this topic is important.
And it is really interesting.
Buildzoid PCB breakdowns:
3 Likes
I kinda prefer to keep this topic as clean as possible,
spamming video’s generally makes a topic a littlebit cluttered.
But of course Buildzoid does some great video´s on pcb breakdowns,
which can be very informative to some people aswell.
So maybe putting them in a spoiler makes it less cluttered.
But i still need to think about how i´m going to give a nice body to this topic.
Msi X470 Gaming Plus.
The main vrm on this board consits of a 4+2 phase design,
which doubled up components on each phase.
It looks like an 8+2 phase design, but it definitelly isnt.
Because of the Richtek RT8894 pwm is a 4+2 phase pwm with intergrated gate drivers which cant be doubled from.
Still what Msi has done on this particular board is making a relativelly cheap vrm implementation a littlebit more powefull and efficient.
Because doubling up the components per phase gives you better current capabillity handling, and less heat.
Now lets move onto the details of the used components.
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PWM: Richtek RT8894 4+2 phase design, which doubled up components on each phase for the cpu Vcore rail.
This basiclly makes it a big 4+2 phase and NOT an 8+2 as it might look like.
4 Phases bein dedicated to the Vcore rail, and 2 phases being for the SOC rail.
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Mosfets: On Semiconductor 2x 4C024N on Low-side and 2x 4C029N on the high-side for each phase.
The 4C024N is a pretty decent low rds on mosfet, which is not too bad for a lower budget board.
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Inductors: Ratings on those are unknown to me,
but i guess those probablly are arround 40A to ~ 45A ish.
But i will edit it, as soon as i have the exact ratings on them.
Memory vrm:
The memory vrm is a single phase configuration.
Using the same dual h-side 4C029N and dual l-side 4C24N fets.
The vrm on this particular board is not too bad for a budget board.
But its going to be depending on how well those heatsinks are designed to cool down the vrm wenn it comes to overclocking an 8 core.
What Msi has basiclly done is making a relativelly cheap vrm design a little bit better and more efficient.
I´m personally not a huge fan of these kind vrm designs.
But from what we have seen on the previous gen B350 and X370 boards,
it definitelly could be worse. 
2 Likes
It seems it took a generation before board vendors took AMD seriously again…
I’ll be really curious about the B450 designs. Will there be coverage of the rumored Z490 boards in this thread if they materialize?
I have not really heard of any possible X490 series of boards?
But if they come out, they will definitelly be covered here aswell.
But i kinda doubt that we will see a X490 chipset though.
Also i’m planning to also make similar topics to this about X399, X299 and Z370 boards wenn i find some time to do so.
There was a presentation of some German company (Bluechip) that showed both Intel and AMD chipsets roadmaps and it mentioned a Z490 on AMDs side, now the internet is freaking out about it.
Well idk, but it sounds unlikelly to me tbh.
i do see some rumors about it popup indeed.
Maybe it has something to do with plans for DDR5 or HBM for systems,
i guess time will tell.
DDR5 and HBM would need a new IMC though, a new Chipset alone won’t do much there. But I agree it sounds more like rumor currently because I don’t see what drastic changes another higher end chipset would have. It’s not the TR chipset either, since that’s also on those roadmaps.
Who knows, maybe it was planned at some point and then discontinued. We’ll see.
Asus X470 Prime Pro.
This particular board is slightlly different on the vrm then its preducessor the X370 prime pro.
Regulation wise its exactlly the same, however Asus choosed to use IR3553 40A powerstages on the X470 prime pro,
instead of the 40A Ti-nexfets on the X370 prime pro.
Main vrm:
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PWM: ASP1405 which likelly is a Asus rebranded IR35201.
Its running in 6+2 phase mode, on which 6 straight phases being used for Vcore.
And the +2 phase rail gets doubled to 4 phases using IR3599 doublers for the SOC rail.
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Powerstages: IR3553 40A powerstages used for both Vcore and Soc rail.
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Inductors: unknown, but Asus is using those on manny of ther midrange boards.
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Caps: ApaQ 5K.
Memory vrm:
- Single phase configuration.
Using 2 highside and 2 lowside mosfets Onsemiconductor 4C10N´s.
This board basiclly has a pretty sollid vrm configuration.
I personally like the choice that Asus has made this time arround,
according the IR3553 powerstages instead of the Ti nexfets.
The only 2 complains i have is the 5K caps which Asus likes to use on cheaper boards.
And the heatsink doesnt really look that decent to me.
1 Like
Asrock X470 Taichi / Taichi Ultimate.
The vrm on these 2 boards looke to be the same as its preducessor,
the Asrock X370 Taichi as far as i can see.
Main vrm:
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PWM: IR35201 in a 6+2 phase configuration.
6 phases are being doubled to 12 phases for the Vcore rail.
And the +2 phases are being doubled to 4 phases for the soc rail.
Using IR3598 in doubler mode.
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Powerstages / mosfets: Texas instruments Ti Nexfets CSD87350,
which are rated for 40A max.
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Inductors: 60A.
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Caps: 12K FP.
Memory vrm:
- 2 Phase configuration most likelly controlled by a Upi UP1674 pwm.
Using the same 40A Ti-nexfets.
For the taichi and the taichi ultimate, what are the smd’s behind the board? Underneath the vrm?backside smd
Probably the doublers. IIRC they were there on the X370 boards as well. Might be remembering wrong though.
