What does another fifty dollars actually buy you in power delivery?
Vcore stage count by price band
Boards in the under $120 band average 6.3 Vcore power stages and about 239 W of sustained capacity, against 18.0 stages and 2022 W in the $400 and up band — roughly 8.5 times the sustained current for the same socket.
By Farrukh Sufyan Sarwar · Last verified 20 September 2026 · Model v1.0 · Build 2026-09-20
| Price band | Mean Vcore stages | Mean stage rating | Mean capacity | Boards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $120 | 6.3 | 50 A | 239 W | 6 |
| $120–$179 | 9.4 | 62 A | 520 W | 15 |
| $180–$249 | 12.7 | 68 A | 882 W | 30 |
| $250–$399 | 14.1 | 76 A | 1145 W | 15 |
| $400 and up | 18.0 | 104 A | 2022 W | 14 |
Method
Vcore stages only, counted from published VRM configurations — SoC, graphics and auxiliary phases are excluded because they carry none of the CPU's core load. Capacity is the model's derated figure: stages × amps × 1.25 V × phase-design factor × heatsink factor.
Sample size: 80 evaluations across 120 processors and 80 motherboards. Model constants are published on the methodology page.