Power Consumption and Temperatures

Accompanying the monoblock is the PCB backplate. It has thermal pads on it as well to improve passively cooling sections. The backplate is designed to complement air-cooling setups, but because the Xtreme and WaterForce SKUs share the same motherboard, it is present here as well. The core functions are the same nonetheless.



For the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce, one probe is placed along each bank of power stages. A probe is left out to log the ambient temperature. For temperature measurement, I use a Reed SD-947 4 channel Data Logging Thermometer paired with four Omega Engineering SA1 self adhesive thermocouple probes. 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 5.0 GHz and locked at 1.30 V. Other tests are conducted with an Intel Core i9-12900K in its stock configurations. 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.


Due to poor CPU contact with the monoblock, the Prime95 test designed to push the VRM above normal daily use isn't that intense this time around. The CPU constantly bounced off the set 100°C T.j Max limit and downclocked throughout the test with only a peak of 270 watts. While it did not stress the VRMs as much as I would have liked, it shows temperatures that are more than just reasonable because the monoblock cools the power stages as well.


Since a maximum stress test turned out to be impossible, it is time to see how the power stages do under normal load using an Intel i9-12900K CPU. As expected, when a waterblock has direct contact with the VRM, temperatures are excellent.


The final test was to see how the VRM heatsink may fare in games. The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce is a perfectly capable motherboard for gaming. As with many games, the load isn't constant, as Cyberpunk 2077 generally had the CPU clock frequency in the 3 GHz range, which moved up or down as the GPU load changed.