PCB and connectors:
Tools for clocking:
Let’s start with the elements inserted on the PCB, which can prove to be interesting tools for overclockers. There are not many of them on this model, and they are mainly found on the EZ DashBoard.
- The power button: powers up the motherboard.
- The reset button: restarts the motherboard in the event of failure. The button can now be assigned to another task via the BIOS.
- CMOS CLR: clears BIOS settings to return to default.
- Debug Code LED: displays a code corresponding to the component responsible for the boot error.
The absence of a dual BIOS is regrettable, but quite logical given the price range of this MSI B850 MPOWER.
PCB:
Our MSI B850 MPOWER is based on a 12 (VCORE) + 2 (SOC) + 1 (MISC) phase power supply and features an 8-layer PCB. The part in charge of the CPU is made up of 12 phases, and on this model there is no doubler, but the phases are placed in parallel, so there are really 6 of them. The controller is an MPS MP2857 chip.
The 12 mosfets are all 60A MPS MP87661s. The mosfets in the power stages generate the most heat, as they are responsible for voltage conversion and delivery to the CPU from the EPS 12-volt connector. There’s also an external BCLK generator based on the Renesas RC26008, called the “OC Engine”.
Connectors :
The rear panel features the following. There’s a Clear CMOS button, a button for flashing the BIOS via a USB key, an HDMI port, a 5G LAN connector, three USB 10Gbps Type-A ports, one USB 10Gbps Type-C port, one USB 20Gbps Type-C port and four USB 5Gbps Type-A ports. Finally, there are connectors for Wi-Fi antennas and audio outputs.
Finally, to power our motherboard, we find a 24-pin connector and two 2 x 8-pin CPU connectors. Now that we’ve had a look at the board, let’s move on to the BIOS.
