Question Gigabyte B360M Aorus Gaming 3 - VRM quality for 9600KF

[Deleted member 2787394]

Hi everyone,

I've recently built a new pc (on the budget) and got this mboard with the i5 9600KF.

I know I can't overclock it (don't even want to) but the 9600KF was really cheap almost same price as the normal 9600 here so why not.

I just noticed the 9600 has 65w TDP while the KF is 95w. Testing on games the cpu clock on all 6x cores stays rock solid at 4.3 or 4.4Ghz, never seem it lower or higher than that (in games) and it runs pretty smooth and cold.

My question for the experts is: does this MB handles fine the 9600KF w his own overclock boost? I found this picture showing the VRMs but I don´t know much neither have found good reviews on this board (just the non-M version which has a different layout). It has 6 phases but I heard 2 are for the integrated video not the cpu?

Will it handle fine the 9600kf or I will be pushing it with this vrm design in a long term?

Thanks!

 

[Starcruiser]

Official site lists 9600KF compatibility, but with 4+3 power phase (4 CPU, 3 integrated GPU) I wouldn't want to use that for overclocking.
It should be fine at the stock boost clocks.

 

[Deleted member 2787394]

Starcruiser, thanks for your reply.

Here is the part that concerns me, my board is the B360M (mini ATX version) and seems worst compared to the normal B360 (non M) due having only 6 chokes and less mosfets… check this picture for both boards side by side;

To reformulate my question: is the mini ATX version indeed worst? and does those components have any quality built on them? (I mean, are they seem in high quality boards?) or they are just basic ones? ie mosfets;chokes;controller 4C06N, 4C10N, Controller 95866.

 

[Starcruiser]

That changes very little, even with a 3+3 instead of a 4+3. It's designed to handle the cpu at its stock frequency, and I wouldn't push it too much. Even if you did a little overclocking, you'd know immediately if it was a problem, or at least with some standard stability testing, and can reset cmos.

Absolute worst case scenario, you get unlucky and the cpu needs to be under volted. The vast majority of cpu are stable at a reduced voltage, the manufacturer puts it a little higher than it needs. Lowering the voltage would also have the side benefit of reduced heat.

 

[Deleted member 2787394]

Got it, so yeah I did some testing and while gaming (Metro LL) the cpu stays at 25-30W (by msi afterbuner/rivatuner) and the VRM temps never got over 65C (Aida64). But when I stress the cpu with prime95 it uses 83W and the VRM reaches 105C.!

Regargind cpu clock I was confused about intel's turbo boost technology as it only boost one core to 4.6ghz max, if all cores are being boosted the max is 4.3Ghz. And while playing for hours it had never reduced under that. I have even seem 4.4Ghz on all cores for a while meaning the board is doing a slight overclock to it.

So well, this game isn't cpu bound but I am guessing the VRM will get around 80C inside newer/more cpu bound tittles, so should I worry about it? at what temp the VRM starts to undervolt/throttle the cpu?