If its components are cheap, they may fail to supply sufficient voltage under load, causing surprise shutdowns. Overclockers should seek out a VRM made from reliable components. When overclocking or pushing component limits, the quality of the VRM becomes more important – things like VRM heatsink and VRM cooling become crucial. Yet, even a basic VRM can deliver sufficient performance to maintain a mid-range CPU at stock speeds. The goal with a VRM is the provision of clean and reliable power. And since it allows manufacturers to raise a buyer-facing number at a small expense to themselves, they often take advantage of it.

While this isn’t quite as effective as wholly separated phases, it does allow for some electrical improvements at a lower cost. A doubler allows them to multiply the benefit of the existing phases without building additional phases into the board. When the first number is greater than 8, such as “12+1,” “18+1,” or even higher, as in the case of the best gaming motherboards, the manufacturer often makes use of a device called a doubler. The number after the plus indicates the VRM phases left to power other motherboard components, like RAM.

VRMs are typically sold as something like “8+1” or “10+1.” The number before the plus indicates the number of phases dedicated to cleaning power for the CPU. VRM Phase Numbering and Truth in Advertising

Ten phase VRM controller chip