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The Torpedo is a premium-looking board and it should be at this price point. Though I'm not sure how popular the blue heatsinks are going to be, it's nice seeing a motherboard with a bit of character. The blue heatsinks are huge indeed, and under them you'll find an impressive 7-phase vcore VRM. MSI has used two On Semi 60A power stages per phase meaning there are 14 for just the vcore portion of the board. With that, we expect this to be one of the best performers of the roundup. Gigabyte Z590 UD
The Gigabyte Z590 UD peaked at just 74C, while the Gaming X version was only slightly better at 73C. The MSI Z590-A Pro peaked at 70C, while the Torpedo ran at just 68C. The best result came from the Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus which peaked at 67C.
What We Learned
The 5000D has been configured with a single rear 120mm exhaust fan and a single 120mm intake fan. On the top of the case is the H150i 360mm radiator with three 120mm exhaust fans. This is a standard configuration, air flow is good, and in a 21 degree room, we'd say this is an optimal setup.
Before we get to the graphs, let's talk about the test conditions. For this testing and all future LGA1200 VRM thermal testing we've built a dedicated system inside the Corsair 5000D Airflow case. Powering it we have the Corsair RM850x PSU and the Corsair iCUE H150i Elite Capellix White keeping things cool.
Even the Asus Prime Z590-P wasn't particularly impressive hitting 78C, but at least the 11900K wasn't power limited here. Still, that almost 80C operating temperature looks quite bad next to the Gigabyte Z590 UD and MSI Z590-A Pro, both of which ran at around 60C, though they were running the 11900K 100 MHz slower. For a more apples to apples comparison, let's move on to the OC results. The cooling also appears more substantial with two fairly large heatsinks and the board itself is noticeably heavier. Under the heatsinks though we find a pretty mediocre vcore VRM, composed of Alpha & Omega AOZ5316 50A power stages. In total, there are ten which have been teamed up in pairs for a 5-phase vcore. The VRM heatsinks have also been upgraded and are bigger which is a bit ironic given the powerstages have been upgraded, making them more efficient, which means they'll output less heat, but that's how these things seem to go. Of course, it's what's under the heatsinks that's the most important thing and here we find a massive 12-phase vcore VRM, with each phase driven by a Vishay SiC651A 50A powerstage. In total, there are 12 powerstages, so while not the most extreme vcore VRM we've seen so far, it's still mighty impressive for the price. Gigabyte Z590 Gaming X
The Z590-A Pro comes equipped with an impressive VRM, too. The vcore portion features a dozen Alpha & Omega 55A power stages, these are higher rated and more efficient powerstages than what Asus used on the similarly priced Prime Z590-P, and there's two more of them. MSI has also included some rather large heatsinks, so this should be an entry-level Z590 board to be on the lookout for when we get to the thermal testing shortly. The Gaming X still uses a dozen Vishay powerstages in a 12-phase configuration, but we find 60A versions, so this board should be slightly better than the UD in terms of VRM thermal performance. Test Setup In terms of features, the board is surprisingly good. Not only do you get Intel 2.5 Gbps LAN, but they've also included 8 USB ports on the I/O panel, half of which are USB 2.0, but still it's nice to see more than half a dozen ports on offer. In terms of rear I/O, the TUF Gaming isn't much of an upgrade over the Prime Z590-P – without the Wi-Fi option it's essentially the same, though there are some upgrades to the existing features, the 2.5 Gbit LAN now uses an Intel controller rather than Realtek, for example. When compared to the TUF Gaming, the Torpedo offers an extra USB 3.2 port on the I/O panel, and a second LAN port, though it's just a 1 Gbit connection, but that's in addition to a 2.5 Gbit port driven by an Intel controller.Installed over the discrete Sino Power MOSFETs are two of the smallest VRM heatsinks you're likely to ever find featured on an ATX motherboard. Removing them reveals a 6-phase Vcore with each phase featuring two Sino Power SM4508 fets on the low-side and two SM4503 fets on the high-side, each feeding into a pair of inductors. So at least there's a dozen low & high side fets, but I'm still not expecting good things from this board. However, it's the VRM that we're most interested in and here we find a significant upgrade. Asus is still using 50A powerstages but they're On Semi NCP302150's and there's 14 of them in total, configured in pairs for a 7-phase vcore. That's a significantly greater current capacity which should drastically improve VRM thermal performance for this model. MSI Z590-A Pro So if you want the same uncapped out of the box experience that you'll receive on the Asus Prime Z590-P, Gigabyte Z590 UD or MSI Z590-A Pro with the Phantom Gaming, you'll have to be okay with dangerously high VRM temperatures.
For recording temperatures we're using a digital thermometer with K-Type thermocouples. We'll be reporting the peak rear PCB temperature. Finally, we're not reporting Delta T over Ambient, instead we maintain a room temperature of 21 degrees and to ensure a consistent ambient temperature, a thermocouple is positioned next to the test system. For stressing the system we're using the Blender Gooseberry workload which will run for an hour, at which point we'll be reporting the maximum PCB temperature, recorded using k-type thermocouples.
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