VRMs overheating on z390i - normal or terrible/faulty mobo?

Jan 11, 2019
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This is my first overclocking experience so bear with me.

I was struggling to get good performance from my overclock, running at 4.6GHz both via Intel Turbo boost and manual overclock. There were large drops in performance and I didn't know why.

I recently got advice to run Intel ETU while stress testing to find out what was causing performance drops. I had Intel turbo boost on, and VRM thermal throttling was occurring at 95 degrees.

I thought that this motherboard would have been capable of overclocking the CPU to at least 4.6Ghz without any throttling. I have good airflow in my PC - two front fans and two exhaust fans 3cm from the VRM and CPU. Even if I set these to max, there is not any noticeable change in temps during benchmark tests.

I spoke to MSI and sent them the details with temperature screenshots. They replied saying throttling is to be expected with turbo boost on and this is normal, expected performance.

This motherboard wasn't cheap - is it something about it being mini-ITX and smaller heatsinks or something? Surely it can perform better than this? Is this a regular thing with mini-ITX boards or motherboards in general?

PC specs:
- CPU Intel i5-9600k 3.7GHz
- Corsair h60i cooler
- MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC (mini-ITX)
- 16GB Corsair DDR4 Vengeance 266MHz
- Gigabyte 1060 6GB
- ADATA SX900 SSD
- Windows 10
- NZXT h200 mini-ITX Case
 
Jan 11, 2019
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CPU temp maxs out at about 55, so no issue there. MSI Dragon software gives temp readings for the VRMs, which is where I got those 95 temps from - see pic below (MOSFET reading)

https://imgur.com/a/cgRJrzF



 
Jan 11, 2019
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Maybe, but I installed a temporary fan point at the CPU socket and it made zero difference. It was blasting on full power at the waterblock and surrounding area. I guess I can try installing them properly and closing the sides up to test it properly.

Here's a pic of my fan setup. They are exhaust fans so fair enough, there might not be cool air over the top, but even with another fan it didn't make much difference. Do you think its worth another go? Install two intake fans there instead?


https://imgur.com/a/ygv5XbQ