Multi-chip Intel Core i9-11900K Overclocking Review: Four Boards, Cryo Cooling
by Gavin Bonshor on August 30, 2021 9:00 AM ESTOverclocking Results
With our test setup and methodology employed, we will be splitting the results extrapolated from our testing on each of the four Z590 motherboards. We feel this is fair due to each motherboard vendor enforcing each of its own tweaks via multi-core enhancement settings and we believe this is enough to make subtle differences to performance. We've split the results into four graphs per test, so one for each Z590 model we've tested on, with both stock and overclocked results for comparison.
All our testing on Intel Z590 is using Windows 10 64-bit with the 20H2 update.
Rendering - POV-Ray 3.7.1: Ray Tracing
The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, or POV-Ray, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 1-2 minutes on high-end platforms.
In our POV-Ray testing, all four of the processors on each board managed to beat default performance convincingly with an average increase of 6.4%.
Rendering - Cinebench R23: Link
Maxon's real-world and cross-platform Cinebench test suite has been a staple in benchmarking and rendering performance for many years. Its latest installment is the R23 version, which is based on its latest 23 code which uses updated compilers. It acts as a real-world system benchmark that incorporates common tasks and rendering workloads as opposed to less diverse benchmarks which only take measurements based on certain CPU functions. Cinebench R23 can also measure both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.
In CineBench R23, we saw a marginal uplift in performance in single-thread performance on average, but the biggest gains were in the multi-thread test with an average increase of 6% over default values. In perspective, the single-threaded performance gains in CB23 were around 0.04%. The reason why the ST values aren't popping here is because the stock CPU enables turbo with TVB to 5.3 GHz, whereas we are fixing each chip to 5.2 GHz all-core.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
54 Comments
View All Comments
Oxford Guy - Monday, August 30, 2021 - link
‘If Intel's Turbo Is So Good, Why Manually Overclock?’Unless you’re a professional overclocker (a salesman for companies that profit from the overclocking business) it’s a waste of time and money. There can also be the risk of tinnitus if noise levels are pushed too far.
mode_13h - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Tinnitus is definitely an occupational hazard for those who spend lots of time in server rooms! However, I would hope that gamers don't often push air coolers that far.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
You’ve not heard of the delta fan braggers of yore.Oxford Guy - Friday, September 3, 2021 - link
And, of course, the aggravation of an existing tinnitus condition is easy to accomplish even with ‘silent’ hardware (like the Seasonic ‘Snow Silent’ PSU that a reviewer here said could be heard from rooms away).MDD1963 - Monday, August 30, 2021 - link
I understand the GTX1080 is/was a popular card to this day, but, if when illustrating lack of differences among CPUs and mainboards at 1080P, I'd perhaps at least choose a GPU a little higher up the performance bracket to maximize potential CPU scaling. Doesn't have to be a 3090 to placate the 10 folks who actually own them. Perhaps a 3070 Super or 3080. :)Frequensee - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Yeah it’s like using an RTX 2060 for CPU testing, it doesn’t make sense.boozed - Monday, August 30, 2021 - link
That peak power is incrediblealufan - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
well not been back to this site for weeks due to its obvious roots as an Intel marketing tool and what do I find?The front page is dominated by Intel news one little measly mention of AMD and a main article that frankly is about as relevant as a Bicycle for Fish, just how many of your readers do you think actually do this on a daily basis as opposed to use a PC for other stuff, once again the Marketing Dollars are very much in abundance, shame on you for even suggesting your still a journalistic site.
mode_13h - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Intel recently concluded their Architecture Day. So, there will naturally be a number of articles about Intel tech & products following that. Would you rather Anandtech not cover it?If you want to see more broad & diverse coverage, check out their Hot Chips liveblogs.
Wilfred86 - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Another Intel promotion piece. It should say "advertorial" on the title. Why on earth would you want to overclock an abomination of a cpu that already takes 300 Watts at stock? I know it's stated in the article, but this is so far today removed from everyday reality is not even funny.