Question Any VRM difference between Asus h610-m k and b660-m k ?

[Satearn]

Is it my imagination or will the VRM and performance under load will be the same with these 2 boards?


The components look the same to be, seems only the ports and ram sticks options are different?

2 boards are:

Asus h610-m k
Asus B660-m a

Will these 2 boards perform about the same?

Image to display here:

https://pasteboard.co/96UKc99ENZU2.png

 

[dark_globe]

the only difference i can see is that b660 has at least some heatsink on mosfets which should help a little (but not a lot)
otherwise the mosfets are the same , capacitors are the same , phase count and VRM design are the same .
but h610 supports memory speeds only up to 3200MHz so if you want faster memory you should get b660 .
anyway they are both low end and not sufficient to run anything more than i3 or i5 12400f processors .

 

[drea.drechsler]

Is it my imagination or will the VRM and performance under load will be the same with these 2 boards?


The components look the same to be, seems only the ports and ram sticks options are different?

2 boards are:

Asus h610-m k
Asus B660-m a

Will these 2 boards perform about the same?

Image to display here:

https://pasteboard.co/96UKc99ENZU2.png

There are significant differences. The first is the heatsink on some of the FET's (660M-A) which is fairly well finned; it will help quite a bit keeping temperatures in check which in turn helps with voltage stability at heavy power loads. The only problem is the top phases aren't covered. So it's up to the Asus designers to have set up the VRM control scheme to favor the VCore phases under the heatsink which can't be predicted from a picture.

But I also suspect the 660M-A has a considerably stronger VCore phase design. The 610M-K has only two FET's on two of the uncovered phases at the top while the 660M-A has three on each phase meaning the lo-side FET is paralleled for much improved current and power deliver compared to the 610M-K. It's unknown if that's repeated with the phases under the heatsink but it's likely as it makes sense for the VCore will have doubled lo-side throughout and only two phases is completely inadequate.

There is a possibility the M-K has a third FET on the board backside, but that presents another problem because it would be trapped in a dead-air zone. If completely uncooled by the airflow the board frontside sees it might heat up badly leading to voltage instability under (even) moderate loads on a powerful enough CPU.

I feel confident the 660M-A VRM will run much cooler under heavy load with much better voltage stability with the same CPU. If those top FET's indeed are VCore phases and are heating up under load you might consider getting glue-on heatsinks and put them on those six uncovered FET's. Asus probably leaves them off to provide clearance for top case fans in some tight mATX cases. But most likely neither board is going to be adequate for whichever top-line Intel CPU works in that socket if your expectation is long duration extreme processing loads.