MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 14700kf

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davve2156002e2

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Hey, I was thinking upgrading my cpu 12600k. Will the cpu throttle on this motherboard? Or a different cpu will suit it better?
 
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B660M Mortar DDR4 has 12x 60A ISL99360 Powerstages (combining Hi- and Lo-side MOSFETs in one), 2x for SoC, = 6+1 phases in dual output / teamed configuration. This is actually a decent VRM, especially for a B-series chipset board. Note that the 14700K is an absolute beast though. Totally different league than a 14600K or lower. The 14700K can have higher power draw than a 13900K! It's almost like a 14900K under full load. You need either great cooling (360mm AIO or better), or you need to set power limits to make your cooling be able to deal with it.

So yeah, the CPU cooling will be the most difficult thing here. The VRM is just about ok for this, but you have to have decent airflow through the system. Normally i would say, for an i7/i9 you should have a mid-range Z-series board already, not a B-series anymore. This is doable on your board, but it's on the edge. So maybe you want to go for a slightly lower CPU model. The 14700K can open a can of worms when it comes to cooling.
 
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My current setup includes an MSI B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 motherboard paired with an Intel Core i7-12700 (non-K) CPU. It successfully runs 4 x 16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 in Gear 1 mode. I'm considering upgrading to a 14th Gen CPU, specifically the i7-14700, i9-14900, or i7-14700K.

The motherboard has robust VRMs, so power delivery shouldn't be an issue. My cooler is a Noctua NH-U12S with dual fans, and the case has excellent ventilation, featuring a 180mm front intake fan.

My main concern is whether the i7-14700 or i9-14900 can handle 4 x 16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 in Gear 1 mode. Additionally, I'm uncertain if the i7-14700K is a good match for the B660 chipset, especially considering the latest microcode updates. Does anyone have experience running a 14700K on a similar B660 motherboard?
 
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I would not upgrade it, coming from a 12700 (K or non-K), unless there was a very good reason to want to do this. You have a very good match there. A 14700K would already completely overpower your nice Noctua air cooler, it would have almost twice the power draw with any kind of load. Under full load, you'd go from maybe 160W (if running the 12700 unrestricted, which makes it very similar to a 12700K) to around 280W for the 14700K, if left without limits. Not even my Noctua NH-D15 could deal with that anymore.

So, as mentioned in the post before, the main issue will always be CPU cooling here, the VRM is not the main concern with this board. But speaking of which, on a B-series board, you are lacking a powerful ally in taming that beast of a CPU. Because if you look at my Guide: How to set good power limits in the BIOS and reduce the CPU power draw, it describes two steps to optimize how a CPU is running: 1) Setting proper power limits for your system, and 2) Lowering a setting called "CPU Lite Load", for huge benefits in lower voltage, lower power draw, less heat, and even higher performance within the power limits.

However, the B-series board throws a wrench for step 2), because there you don't have the ability to disable a certain other setting "IA CEP Support" (or disabling it is not effective), and then the optimization falls flat, because you lose tons of performance. You can lower "CPU Lite Load" a bit, but not nearly as much as you potentially could on a Z-series board, where - with it all being effective - you'd only have upsides, and could even gain some performance.

So, only having the power limits to put a leash on this monster CPU of a 14700K, this would not be enough for me. The performance will already suffer a bit with your cooler, and there are no other methods to do much about it. Getting a 14700, unless it's cheaper, doesn't make sense either, see here. It's not like that CPU is something special, it's basically a 14700K with a much lower Long Duration Power Limit and lower clocks from factory. You might as well set proper power limits according to your specific cooling performance (see my guide).

neven.georgie102d027d said:
My main concern is whether the i7-14700 or i9-14900 can handle 4 x 16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 in Gear 1 mode.
Click to expand...

On trend, any newer CPU generation's IMC (integrated memory controller) will have slightly better capabilities. But also, each CPU is not only individual in IA core quality (normal CPU cores, for example in the undervolting potential), but also in IMC quality, which is the silicon lottery. If you had a 12700 with a particularly strong IMC, and you get a 14th gen one with a particularly weak one for its generation, it might not be able to do this. Or, if it's higher quality, it might also do it with ease. Nobody can predict that, i'm afraid. Not even other people with their 14700K on this board and the same RAM setup running it without a problem could give clarity on this.
 
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citay said:
I would not upgrade it, coming from a 12700 (K or non-K), unless there was a very good reason to want to do this. You have a very good match there. A 14700K would already completely overpower your nice Noctua air cooler, it would have almost twice the power draw with any kind of load. Under full load, you'd go from maybe 160W (if running the 12700 unrestricted, which makes it very similar to a 12700K) to around 280W for the 14700K, if left without limits. Not even my Noctua NH-D15 could deal with that anymore.

So, as mentioned in the post before, the main issue will always be CPU cooling here, the VRM is not the main concern with this board. But speaking of which, on a B-series board, you are lacking a powerful ally in taming that beast of a CPU. Because if you look at my Guide: How to set good power limits in the BIOS and reduce the CPU power draw, it describes two steps to optimize how a CPU is running: 1) Setting proper power limits for your system, and 2) Lowering a setting called "CPU Lite Load", for huge benefits in lower voltage, lower power draw, less heat, and even higher performance within the power limits.

However, the B-series board throws a wrench for step 2), because there you don't have the ability to disable a certain other setting "IA CEP Support" (or disabling it is not effective), and then the optimization falls flat, because you lose tons of performance. You can lower "CPU Lite Load" a bit, but not nearly as much as you potentially could on a Z-series board, where - with it all being effective - you'd only have upsides, and could even gain some performance.

So, only having the power limits to put a leash on this monster CPU of a 14700K, this would not be enough for me. The performance will already suffer a bit with your cooler, and there are no other methods to do much about it. Getting a 14700, unless it's cheaper, doesn't make sense either, see here. It's not like that CPU is something special, it's basically a 14700K with a much lower Long Duration Power Limit and lower clocks from factory. You might as well set proper power limits according to your specific cooling performance (see my guide).



On trend, any newer CPU generation's IMC (integrated memory controller) will have slightly better capabilities. But also, each CPU is not only individual in IA core quality (normal CPU cores, for example in the undervolting potential), but also in IMC quality, which is the silicon lottery. If you had a 12700 with a particularly strong IMC, and you get a 14th gen one with a particularly weak one for its generation, it might not be able to do this. Or, if it's higher quality, it might also do it with ease. Nobody can predict that, i'm afraid. Not even other people with their 14700K on this board and the same RAM setup running it without a problem could give clarity on this.
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Many, many thanks for the detailed answer. That’s all I wanted to know. I need a bit more CPU power (for VMs) so I started looking for something newer with more cores like i9 13/14th gen non-k and then a friend of mine offered me 14700 for a very good price.
 
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For a very good price, even a suboptimal choice can become a good one. So you could get it and see how you can make it work in the best way on your system.
 
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citay said:
I would not upgrade it, coming from a 12700 (K or non-K), unless there was a very good reason to want to do this. You have a very good match there. A 14700K would already completely overpower your nice Noctua air cooler, it would have almost twice the power draw with any kind of load. Under full load, you'd go from maybe 160W (if running the 12700 unrestricted, which makes it very similar to a 12700K) to around 280W for the 14700K, if left without limits. Not even my Noctua NH-D15 could deal with that anymore.

So, as mentioned in the post before, the main issue will always be CPU cooling here, the VRM is not the main concern with this board. But speaking of which, on a B-series board, you are lacking a powerful ally in taming that beast of a CPU. Because if you look at my Guide: How to set good power limits in the BIOS and reduce the CPU power draw, it describes two steps to optimize how a CPU is running: 1) Setting proper power limits for your system, and 2) Lowering a setting called "CPU Lite Load", for huge benefits in lower voltage, lower power draw, less heat, and even higher performance within the power limits.

However, the B-series board throws a wrench for step 2), because there you don't have the ability to disable a certain other setting "IA CEP Support" (or disabling it is not effective), and then the optimization falls flat, because you lose tons of performance. You can lower "CPU Lite Load" a bit, but not nearly as much as you potentially could on a Z-series board, where - with it all being effective - you'd only have upsides, and could even gain some performance.

So, only having the power limits to put a leash on this monster CPU of a 14700K, this would not be enough for me. The performance will already suffer a bit with your cooler, and there are no other methods to do much about it. Getting a 14700, unless it's cheaper, doesn't make sense either, see here. It's not like that CPU is something special, it's basically a 14700K with a much lower Long Duration Power Limit and lower clocks from factory. You might as well set proper power limits according to your specific cooling performance (see my guide).



On trend, any newer CPU generation's IMC (integrated memory controller) will have slightly better capabilities. But also, each CPU is not only individual in IA core quality (normal CPU cores, for example in the undervolting potential), but also in IMC quality, which is the silicon lottery. If you had a 12700 with a particularly strong IMC, and you get a 14th gen one with a particularly weak one for its generation, it might not be able to do this. Or, if it's higher quality, it might also do it with ease. Nobody can predict that, i'm afraid. Not even other people with their 14700K on this board and the same RAM setup running it without a problem could give clarity on this.
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Kinda late here but would you say the ia cep disable options on current b660m boards are still ineffective? I run a b660m board with a 14700k watercooled with a 240mm aio temps don't usually go above 90 under load. I tried disabling the ia cep option but after that my cinebench score actually went down. would you say this is the "ineffectiveness" that you mentioned in your reply? Thanks
 
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fatedust said:
Have you checked if your system has thermal or current throttling when running Cinebench with IA CEP disabled?
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before I applied lite load (so only ia cep disabled) I didn't monitor the voltage but I am sure there was no thermal throttling (never went above 90c) but cinebench scores went from cep enabled - 33000 ish scores to cep disabled - 31000s score.
 
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Maybe you can take a screenshot of the HWiNFO64 while running Cinebench so we can check if current limit or power limit are triggered?
 
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fatedust said:
Maybe you can take a screenshot of the HWiNFO64 while running Cinebench so we can check if current limit or power limit are triggered?
Click to expand...
 

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It's better to just take a screenshot of HWinfo Sensors to see it clearly, as we only need the score from Cinebench.

For a 240 mm AIO, it is doing very well, keeping it below 90°C at 253W power limits (which are fully used), so you must have good airflow through the system. The CB23 score should be more like 33000-34000 (which you got before), but it's not bad for running on a B-series board.

Whenever your score goes down after you lower the mode for CPU Lite Load, it means that it's very likely that IA CEP is getting in your way. Even if the setting is available to disable, on B-series it doesn't tend to properly disable, and then your performance suffers if you lower CPU Lite Load below a certain point. What mode did you set CPU Lite Load to? Usually, the performance starts to go down somewhere around Mode 10 or so, on a B-series board. So the undervolting is limited.

But the power limits, your AIO can actually manage these 253W limits, which are the highest I would set for any CPU model (above that it usually becomes "junk performance" at lower efficiency). So they are set well. If I had to guess, even though it just shows CPU and PUMP fan on your screenshot, you might have a couple more case fans, and maybe an airflow-oriented case design.
 
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citay said:
It's better to just take a screenshot of HWinfo Sensors to see it clearly, as we only need the score from Cinebench.

For a 240 mm AIO, it is doing very well, keeping it below 90°C at 253W power limits (which are fully used), so you must have good airflow through the system. The CB23 score should be more like 33000-34000 (which you got before), but it's not bad for running on a B-series board.

Whenever your score goes down after you lower the mode for CPU Lite Load, it means that it's very likely that IA CEP is getting in your way. Even if the setting is available to disable, on B-series it doesn't tend to properly disable, and then your performance suffers if you lower CPU Lite Load below a certain point. What mode did you set CPU Lite Load to? Usually, the performance starts to go down somewhere around Mode 10 or so, on a B-series board. So the undervolting is limited.

But the power limits, your AIO can actually manage these 253W limits, which are the highest I would set for any CPU model (above that it usually becomes "junk performance" at lower efficiency). So they are set well. If I had to guess, even though it just shows CPU and PUMP fan on your screenshot, you might have a couple more case fans, and maybe an airflow-oriented case design.
Click to expand...
I got 32900 something points. lite mode is currently on mode 12 (Mode 11 failed to boot as far as I remember) currently cep is enabled. Would disabling ia cep bring me benefits? Also the case fans are as far as I know static, only the power is connected to the motherboard since on bios they are not detected its a generic mid tower with 3 fans front intake and 1 rear outtake with my aio top mounted venting air outwards
(As a sidenote, I tried looking into some z790 matx ddr4 boards and man are they either out of production or ridiculously expensive (more expensive than their ddr5 counterparts or when they were in production and were new like wtf)(even for this motherboard, it retailed at around 200 bucks when I bought it in Korea in 2021 now it costs 400 usd for a non rmaable direct import product)
 
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Disabling IA CEP only brings benefits when the disabling is effective and prevents any performance loss, which is often not the case on a B-series board. Also, since a 14700K is a quite extreme CPU already from factory, usually it doesn't have that huge of an undervolting headroom anyway (which, if you think about it, is the flipside of overclocking headroom). So let's say if the default mode in the BIOS was Mode 18, then Mode 12 would be a good improvement already, and I've seen CPUs that become unstable before ever reaching single-digit modes, it's nothing too out of the ordinary.

With ~32900 points, once you don't run HWinfo alongside (which costs a couple hundred points), you might be above 33K, which would be adequate for this CPU, and a good result on a B-series board. Yes, all the stock of good Z-series DDR4 boards are long sold out, also see here. Most of them are unavailable since late 2024 or so. Some very few lasted until late 2025, but when DDR5 prices started to skyrocket because AI hyperscalers bought up all the memory, those few remaining good DDR4 boards were also bought up.

But don't bother, you seem to have a relatively decent setup there. What kind of fans nowadays can't be seen by the BIOS though? It doesn't quite make sense. Either they're 3-pin voltage-controlled, or 4-pin PWM-controlled, both can be seen and controlled by the BIOS, see my fan curves guide. When you can't see case fans on the board at all, then they're either on a separate fan controller belonging to the case (which would have to be connected to the board via internal USB 2.0 header, or controlled through buttons/switches on the case), or they are only powered with a power cable from the PSU (SATA or Molex), which would be a cheap stone-age solution.

You should look into this. Static fan speed makes little sense. Either you have a constant low speed, which then struggles when something like a 14700K is at full load, or what's more often the case, constant higher speed, causing too much noise and dust buildup for the 99% of the time the system is not at full load. Therefore, fans belong on a fan curve.
 
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