Intel Core i9 10980XE and ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore Review

Temperatures and Power Draw

We don’t think it should be a surprise to anybody that if you overclock an eighteen core CPU to over 4.7 GHz on every core, at all times, there will be a thermal and power draw price to pay for such relentless performance, and with the Core i9-10980XE there is definitely a price with the CPU hitting the absolute limit of what we’d be remotely comfortable running for any length of time at all, whilst there is nearly 300W extra power draw when compared to the stock Intel setup.

The VRM temperatures of the Gigabyte Waterforce are nothing like as good as we’d hoped, whilst the ASUS Encore shows that you just need a really good air solution to keep your power phases cool. The lower overclocked temperature is because at higher speeds the fans spin much harder, so you’re trading noise for temperatures.