Power Consumption and Temperatures

The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master uses a single heatsink that spans across both VRM sections. It is a beefy heatsink with an array of fins for better thermal dissipation with minimum airflow. Paired with 105 A power stages, the power delivery system is top of the line, only edged out by a few motherboards with two or three extra 105 A mosfets. Even so, the limitations are actually the dual EPS connectors and, first and foremost, ability to cool the CPU.



For temperature measurement, I use a Reed SD-947 4 channel Data Logging Thermometer paired with four Omega Engineering SA1 self adhesive thermocouple probes. One probe directly touches the chipset and two are placed on select power stages. The last probe actively logs the ambient temperature.

For the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master, one probe is placed along each bank of power stages. A probe is left out to log the ambient temperature. All temperatures are presented as Delta-T normalized to 20°C, which is the measured temperature minus the ambient temperature plus 20°C. The end result accounts for variation in ambient temperature, including changes over the course of a test, while presenting the data as if the ambient were a steady 20°C for easy presentation. Additionally, there is direct airflow over the VRM for the first five minutes, after which the fan is removed. This gives an idea of what to expect with and without moderate case airflow.

Prime95 is used for maximum power consumption over a 30 minute period. For testing, I used an Intel Core i7-12700K set to 4.3 GHz and locked at 1.35 V. The clock speed was lowered to keep it below 300 W for core temperature control. Temperatures are logged every second, and the two probes are then averaged for a cleaner presentation before subtracting the ambient to calculate the Delta-T. The results are charted below.


I split this into multiple tests for a broader view of how the VRM would fare under different scenarios. After compiling the data, it seems the Z690 AORUS Master does fairly well considering Prime95 is a torture test and, as such, in itself unrealistic for everyday use. This graph represents a near worst-case scenario. I am unable to cool above 300 W without physically modifying the IHS or deliding.

With a fan directly on the VRM section for the first 5 minutes, the rise in temperatures started to taper off at around 50°C. Once the fan was removed completely, temperatures steadily rose until the torture test was over, reaching upwards of 75°C by the end.


Given the extreme nature of the first test, it was time to see how a stock CPU running Prime95 would do. I was curious about how well this motherboard's VRM would hold up under a practical use case. The results clearly show that the VRM is fully capable of being passively cooled for long periods of time. Any amount of airflow nearby will result in much lower temperatures.


Next up is a plotted graph with an all-core overclocked CPU running at 5 GHz. In many ways, it mimics the first Prime95 test because power draw is roughly the same, consuming around 290 W. Overall, the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master gets an A+ for its power delivery system. Any sort of airflow in that region will, once again, result is much lower temperatures.