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. Along the right edge of the board, we run into the first (of three) RGB headers. In this case, it’s a 4-pin RGB, while the other two 3-pin ARGB headers are located along the bottom edge of the board. If you want any kind of RGB lighting, it has to come from your chassis or something else attached to the headers on the board.

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. 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 Just above the VRM heatsink are the 8-pin EPS and optional 4-pin EPS connectors to send power to the CPU. To the right, across the top edge, is the first (of eight) 4-pin fan headers. Each header supports both PWM and DC-type fans. The CPU_FAN1 here defaults to PWM mode and supports up to 2A/24W of power. The PUMP_FAN1 header also defaults to PWM mode but supports up to 3A/36W. Last but not least are the six SYS_FAN1-6 headers. These default to DC mode and support up to 1A/12W. There are plenty of headers and lots of power for running fans and pumps from this motherboard.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. 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. Continuing right, we run into four DRAM slots. The double-sided latching slots support up to 128GB of RAM at speeds listed to DDR4 5333 for a one DIMM per channel and single-rank kits. As always, your mileage may vary, as reaching those speeds depends on the memory you buy along with the quality of the CPUs’ integrated memory controller (IMC). We had no issues running DDR4 4000 MHz with our 16GB kit by simply enabling XMP. 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.

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.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.

As for the board prices, they have risen steeply since two generations, mainly because of how much power Intel's top CPU models draw. We're looking at 200, 250, even 300W with the latest i9 under full artificial load. With a board from a couple years ago, the VRM (voltage regulator module) would've put up with that kind of power draw for all of one second before throttling down severely due to overtemperature. Or maybe some sort of overcurrent protection would've cause an immediate reboot with full CPU load.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. 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.