MSI Intros ‘Loadline Saturation’ On Z790 Motherboards, Maxing Out Single & Multi-Core Performance on Intel 13th Gen CPUs

Hassan Mujtaba
MSI's Loadline Saturation BIOS Feature For Z790 Motherboards Maxes Out Performance For Intel's 13th Gen CPUs 2

MSI has a new feature added to its Z790 motherboards known as 'Loadline Saturation' which will deliver higher performance on Intel 13th Gen CPUs.

MSI's Loadline Saturation BIOS Feature For Z790 Motherboards Maxes Out Performance For Intel's 13th Gen CPUs

Based on what we have been able to gather, the MSI 'CPU Loadline Saturation Control' feature will be added to high-end Z790 motherboards that feature a Renesas VRM controller. The feature can be enabled within the BIOS and will automatically decide whether to apply CPU loadline calibration settings to the CPU current under load or not. Users can also apply different loadline calibration on their CPUs, manually (Vdropp), to max out both single-core and multi-core overclocking capabilities. With this, users can enjoy faster single-core and multi-core overclocking and performance.

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The following MSI Z790 motherboards can enable this feature with Intel's 12th Gen & 13th Gen CPUs:

  • MEG Z790 GODLIKE
  • MEG Z790 ACE
  • MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI
  • MPG Z790I EDGE WIFI
  • MPG Z790 EDGE WIFI
  • MPG Z790 EDGE WIFI DDR4
  • MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI
  • MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4

Following is how the various BIOS functions on MSI's Z790 motherboards work with Intel 13th Gen CPUs:

CPU Loadline Saturation Control: If CPU current is higher than the 'CPU Loadline Saturation Level' threshold, 'CPU Loadline Calibration' settings will apply. If the CPU current is lower than the threshold, the setting will not apply and thus there's no Vdroop.

Usage Scenario: Here is an example of the benefits of CPU Loadline Saturation Control when overclocking the Intel Core i5-13600K CPU on the MSI Z790 motherboard.

Hardware Configuration:

Hardware Configurations
CPU Intel Core i5-13600K ( Max Turbo Frequency 5.1GHz)
Motherboard MSI Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4
CPU Cooler MSI MEG CoreLiquid S360 (1.26v max for keeping CPU temperature under 100C)

 

Overclocking Settings in BIOS
P-core Max Turbo Frequency (1-core & 2-core) 6.1GHz (require at least 1.38v)
P-core Max Turbo Frequency (3-core ~ 6-core) 5.6GHz (require at least 1.25v)
CPU Core Voltage 1.38v
CPU Loadline Saturation Level 50A
CPU Loadline Calibration Mode 8 (~0.12v Vdroop)

Loadline Saturation – disabled vs enabled

Without Loadline Saturation, you can only apply one Loadline Calibration setting for both single-core and multi-core workloads on the MSI Z790 motherboards. 

  1. If you apply the Loadline Calibration setting with no Vdroop, the single-core workload will be stable with 1.38v, but the all-core workload will overheat and throttle.
  2. If you apply the Loadline Calibration setting with Vdroop, all-core 5.6GHz is stable but 1-core 6.1GHz is not stable due to the Vdroop.
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However, with Loadline Saturation enabled, users can apply different Loadline Calibration settings (Vdroop) for single-core and multi-core workloads.

  1. When running Cinebench Single-Core, no Vdroop is applied, 1.38v is used for single-core 6.1GHz and it’s stable.
  2. When running Cinebench Multi-Core, Loadline Calibration Mode 8 is applied with 0.12v Vdroop. The CPU voltage drops to 1.26v, which is enough for a stable 5.6GHz and keeps CPU temperature under 100C.

Here is the test result with Loadline Saturation. As the table shows, Loadline Saturation helps to max out the capability of both single-core and multi-core overclocking, with the help of different Loadline Calibration (Vdroop) applied for single-core and multi-core workloads.

Performance Benefit

Here is the performance of a stock Intel Core i5-13600K overclocked to 6.1GHz single-core / 5.6GHz multi-core running on an MSI Z790 motherboard. CPU Loadline Saturation is helpful to max out both the single-core and multi-core overclocking capability and performance.

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