Throttle model v1.0 · 9,600 pairings computed
The socket fits. That does not mean your CPU keeps its clocks.
Retail compatibility tools answer one question: does the processor physically fit the board. This one answers the question that costs you performance — whether the board's power stages can feed that processor for ten minutes without heating up and taking clock speed away.
120 processors · 80 motherboards · how the numbers are computed
- Processors
- 120
- Motherboards
- 80
- Pairings computed
- 9,600
- Pages published
- 0
Every pairing is measured on three numbers
A motherboard's VRM has a current capacity you can calculate from its power stages. A processor has a power draw it holds indefinitely. The ratio between those two is what decides whether anything throttles, and it is the only thing this site is about.
Power capacity
Vcore power stages multiplied by their current rating, derated for the phase design and for how much metal sits on top of them. SoC and graphics phases are excluded, because they carry none of the core load.
Stress ratio and VRM temperature
Sustained processor draw divided by that capacity, turned into an estimated VRM temperature. Under 0.65 nothing happens. Over 0.85 the board is the limiting component.
Expected clock loss
How much sustained all-core clock speed you lose when the VRM reaches its limit, plus the BIOS, memory and PCIe lane problems that come with the pairing.
Start from your socket
A socket is absolute: an AM5 processor never fits an AM4 board. Pick yours and see every processor and every board we hold data for.
The failure mode nobody warns you about
A builder pairs a Core i7 with the cheapest board that lists the right socket. The machine posts, Windows installs, games run fine. Then a render finishes slower than the same render on a friend's identical processor, the CPU temperature looks normal throughout, and there is nothing obvious to blame.
What happened is that the board's power stages reached their thermal limit and the firmware reduced the current they would pass. The processor responded the only way it can: by dropping clock speed. No error, no warning, no log entry — just a processor quietly running at three quarters of what it cost you.
Worked example
ASRock A620M-HDV/M.2
4 × 50 A · light heatsink · $85
This board accepts every processor on its socket. It is entirely adequate for a 65 W chip and it is the wrong board for a 250 W one, and nothing on the box tells you where the line is.
See which processors it handles