Intel recently introduced a new line of processors, which became the final stage in the development of the proprietary 14 nm process technology. At the same time, the manufacturer released an updated series of system logic, including the B560 chipset, which not only repeated the capabilities of the previous generation but also acquired the functions of a flagship. These are memory overclocking and setting consumption limits. And the systems do not cope with the latter as we would like.
The author of the Hardware Unboxed YouTube channel has tested several motherboards based on the system logic of the B560 series. He compared the raw performance of the six-core and eight-core processors in the factory BIOS settings and then repeated the test with manually set power limits.
The specialist compared the performance of Intel Core i5 11400F with different motherboards – MSI B560 Tomahawk, Gigabyte B560M Aorus Pro, as well as several budget models. As a result, it turned out that a six-core processor is only able to reach the maximum frequency with expensive motherboards, while the automation of budget models reduces the clock frequency from the effective 4200 MHz to 3300 MHz and even 3100 MHz. Naturally, such a frequency spread also led to a decrease in performance – the processor on the MSI B560M Pro renders in Cinebench R23 30% slower than on the MSI B560 Tomahawk.
Then the enthusiast compared the same set of motherboards, but with an eight-core processor. The results were similar. While gaming performance did not sag so much, the difference in the Cinebench benchmark was again in the region of 30-40%, not in favor of budget systems.
To find out what the problem is, the specialist removed the power consumption limits in the BIOS of all motherboards and again tested it in a demanding benchmark. And only after manual settings did the processors show the declared power on all motherboard models.
It turned out that some motherboards cannot cope with the work of current processors and underestimate the operating clock frequency below the turbo frequency set by the manufacturer. The fact is that budget systems are not designed for long-term operation in demanding tasks, since they have a mediocre power subsystem, and some models even lack cooling for VRM circuits. Therefore, automatic algorithms specifically limit the capabilities of the chips in order to avoid overheating and component failure.
