Fixing power delivery issues on MSI B450M MORTAR MAX?
This board is a legend, but trying to run modern titles on it feels like it's barely hanging on; the power delivery fluctuations look like an EKG on a caffeine rush. Right when I'd trigger a big attack, the CPU clock would plummet from 4.2GHz to 2.8GHz, and the game turned into a slideshow. I tried enabling 'Ultimate Performance' in Windows, but the CPU hit 92℃ instantly and triggered an even harder thermal throttle—I felt like a total amateur for even trying that. I had to go nuclear: I went into the BIOS and locked the Load-Line Calibration to L2 mode and forced the VRM fans to a constant 2000 RPM. Checking HWiNFO, the core voltage ripple shrank from 0.1V to a stable 0.02V. The only downside is that the system POST time increased by about 8 seconds, which I fixed by disabling Fast Boot. Temps now hover around 75-82℃. It's barely acceptable, but at least it doesn't stutter anymore. I exported the voltage logs for my records just to be sure.