PC power phasing?

[captainfalcon8]

yeah im worried becuase there have been many stories of pcs bursting into flames, and one person mentioned on the forum i saw. thta it was down to poor pahsing (saying that "when will be poeple learn hat a 4Ghz cpu wont run on only four phases) my question is this, what are they talking about? and is it something i have to worry about? the link to the forum is hear: My computer burst into flames! MSI 890GXM-G65

im not planning on overclocking but my specs are an asus m5a78l motherboard, a phenon 2 times 4 665 black eddition, 8 gb of 1 times 4 ram. and an nvidea geforce gtx 250 ti. so do i have to worry about it? or is it something only to consider if overclocking? please explain

 

[Trollslayer]

If you aren't overclocking then just check the CPU is on the approved list for that motherboard, any decent manufacturer's website should have that.

 

[paulktreg]

A processor will run at 4GHz on only 4 phases!

The number of phases aren't really important, it's the quality of the components. A processor could in theory be run from a single phase supply but the components get too large and costly and cooling becomes a problem. Instead of a single phase the load is split by running the processor power through smaller several "phases" one after another whether it's two, four, six or eight etc. This means the phases all supply the same current to the processor but they are on for half the time on a two phase design, quarter for four phase, etc. Component heat hence stress is reduced, cooling is easier, components are smaller ( and cheaper) and it's a more reliable design. A rather simplistic explanation but I hope it helps?

It does still boil down to component quality and cooling. It's not something you need to worry about if you aren't overclocking, all the major brand motherboards will be fine. All I can say about the MSI board is it was pushed too hard, not cooled sufficiently or just unlucky.