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Motherboard VRM Check
No throttleZ790 · Raptor Lake Refresh

Intel Core i5-14400F on the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II

On the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II, the Intel Core i5-14400F runs at 3 % of the board's 2104 W sustained power capacity, which puts the VRM at an estimated 40 °C and leaves clocks untouched.

By Farrukh Sufyan Sarwar · Published 31 October 2026 · Last verified 4 November 2026 · Model v1.0 · Build 2026-11-04

40°C at the VRMNONE
No throttling expected
Estimated VRM temperature
40 °C
38 °C case air plus 2 °C of rise
Stress ratio
0.03
65 W of 2104 W capacity
Capacity score
98/100
100 minus the stress ratio times 60
Expected clock loss
0 %
Sustained all-core clocks, not gaming frame rate
Board capacity
2104 W
18 × 110 A, teamed
Processor draw
65 W
148 W at peak boost

What happens when you build this

This pairing is not close to any limit. 65 W against 2104 W of capacity leaves the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II running its stages at 3 % load, and our model puts the VRM at 40 °C in a closed case. Nothing about the Intel Core i5-14400F pushes this board into the region where clocks start dropping.

The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II carries 18 Vcore power stages rated 110 A each, teamed in pairs off a shared controller channel, with large finned blocks with real thermal mass. That works out to about 2104 W of sustained core power once the design and the cooling are accounted for, which is the number the Intel Core i5-14400F's 65 W is measured against.

Buy it on the rest of the specification rather than on power delivery, because at 3 % of capacity the VRM has stopped being the interesting variable. Count the M.2 slots you need, check the rear ports against what you actually plug in, and let the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II's 18 stages get on with it.

The measurement

The gauge shows the estimated VRM temperature under a sustained all-core load, with a thinner copper needle for the brief peak the processor reaches at full boost. The schematic beside it shows the same thing as current per power stage.

Estimated VRM temperature

Intel Core i5-14400F on ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II: estimated 40 °C sustained, 43 °C at peak boost. Risk band: NONE.

Sustained
Sustained 40 °C
Peak boost
Peak boost 43 °C

Power delivery

65 W of 2104 W · 18 × 110 A teamed
Each bar is one Vcore power stage, filled to the share of its capacity this processor asks for. The dashed line is the 85 % mark where our model starts predicting clock loss.

What else to know about this pairing

Note: One M.2 slot borrows lanes from the graphics slot

Installing a drive in the CPU-fed Gen 5 M.2 slot drops the primary graphics slot from x16 to x8.

Where the PCIe lanes go

CPUPCIe 5.0Graphics slotx16 → x8 when sharedM.2 from CPUx4Shared M.2borrows 4 graphics lanes5 M.2 slots total

The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II has 5 M.2 slots and one of them is wired to the processor rather than the chipset. Installing a drive in the CPU-fed Gen 5 M.2 slot drops the primary graphics slot from x16 to x8. A current graphics card loses one or two percent from that, which matters far less than most forum threads suggest — but it is worth knowing before you wonder why your card reports x8.

The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II takes DDR5, which the Intel Core i5-14400F supports, and validates memory up to DDR5-8000. Firmware is not an issue: the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II ships with a BIOS that already knows Raptor Lake Refresh.

Boards that run the Intel Core i5-14400F without throttling

Each of these keeps the processor under a third of the board's sustained power capacity, and each has a listing we can verify.

  • ASUS Prime B760M-A D4 Intel® B760 (LGA 1700)(13th and 12th Gen) mATX Motherboard, PCIe 4.0, 2xM.2 Slots,2.5Gb LAN, DisplayPort,Dual HDMI,Rear USB 3.2 Gen 2, Front 1 Type-C®, Aura Sync
    BudgetB760ASUS

    ASUS Prime B760M-A D4

    The cheapest board here that still leaves the Intel Core i5-14400F real headroom.

    Capacity used29 % · 57 °C

    Intel Core i5-14400F draws 65 W of 223 W

    Socket
    LGA1700
    Vcore
    6 × 50 A
    Memory
    DDR4

    $149.99

    as of 4 November 2026

  • ASUS ROG Strix Z790-F Gaming WiFi 6E LGA 1700(Intel 14th&13th &12th Gen) ATX Gaming Motherboard(16 + 1 Power Stages,DDR5,Four M.2 Slots, PCIe 5.0,WiFi 6E,USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C with PD 3.0 up to 30W)
    EnthusiastZ790ASUS

    ASUS ROG Strix Z790-F Gaming WiFi

    The most headroom of any board in the database for the Intel Core i5-14400F.

    Capacity used4 % · 41 °C

    Intel Core i5-14400F draws 65 W of 1530 W

    Socket
    LGA1700
    Vcore
    16 × 90 A
    Memory
    DDR5

    $496

    as of 4 November 2026

The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II

Chipset
Z790
Form factor
ATX
Vcore stages
18 × 110 A
Phase design
Teamed phases
VRM cooling
Heavy heatsink
VRM tier
Tier S
Memory
DDR5-8000
BIOS Flashback
Yes

Questions people ask about this pairing

Will the Intel Core i5-14400F throttle on the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II?

No. The Intel Core i5-14400F draws 65 W in a sustained all-core load and the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II holds about 2104 W, so the VRM sits at an estimated 40 °C and clocks hold.

How many power phases does the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II have?

18 Vcore power stages rated 110 A each, in a teamed design. Counting only the core rail matters here — vendor marketing often adds the SoC and auxiliary phases to reach a bigger number, and those carry none of the CPU's core load.

Does the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II need a BIOS update for the Intel Core i5-14400F?

No. The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II ships with a BIOS that already supports Raptor Lake Refresh, so the Intel Core i5-14400F posts out of the box.

What memory does the Intel Core i5-14400F take on the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II?

DDR5, in up to 4 slots, validated to DDR5-8000 on this board.

What VRM temperature should I expect with the Intel Core i5-14400F on this board?

Our model estimates 40 °C, from 38 °C of interior case air plus the stress ratio of 0.03 scaled by 65 °C. Measured numbers move with case airflow and ambient temperature, so treat this as a band rather than a reading.

Does an M.2 drive affect the graphics slot on the ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II?

Installing a drive in the CPU-fed Gen 5 M.2 slot drops the primary graphics slot from x16 to x8.