- Joined
- Dec 27, 2008
TDP is not the single determining factor for OC on a motherboard. When purchasing a motherboard you want to look mostly at "power phase" class but also look at heatsinks and cooling of the powerphase components.
The lowest end boards will have 3+1 power phase and typically are rated for only 95W TDP.
Low mid range boards will typically have 4+1 power phase and will be rated for 125W TDP. They will not have heatsinks on the power phase components such as the mosfets and VRMs.
Mid range boards will typically have 4+1 power phase and heatsinks on the power phase components.They are typically rated for 140W TDP but the limited power phase means they will run hotter and have more fluctuation in the power delivery than the next two groups. This will force you to use more CPU voltage at the same level of overclock than those below in order to cover the troughs in the power delivery.
Upper mid range boards may have 6+1 power phase and heatsinks on those components.. The Asus 990x "pro" series is such an example.
The high end boards will have 8+1 power phase and heatsinks on those components and maybe even fans on the heatsinks. These boards are typically in the $150 and up range although Gigabyte has recently offered one for under $140.
The lowest end boards will have 3+1 power phase and typically are rated for only 95W TDP.
Low mid range boards will typically have 4+1 power phase and will be rated for 125W TDP. They will not have heatsinks on the power phase components such as the mosfets and VRMs.
Mid range boards will typically have 4+1 power phase and heatsinks on the power phase components.They are typically rated for 140W TDP but the limited power phase means they will run hotter and have more fluctuation in the power delivery than the next two groups. This will force you to use more CPU voltage at the same level of overclock than those below in order to cover the troughs in the power delivery.
Upper mid range boards may have 6+1 power phase and heatsinks on those components.. The Asus 990x "pro" series is such an example.
The high end boards will have 8+1 power phase and heatsinks on those components and maybe even fans on the heatsinks. These boards are typically in the $150 and up range although Gigabyte has recently offered one for under $140.
