Multi-chip Intel Core i9-11900K Overclocking Review: Four Boards, Cryo Cooling
by Gavin Bonshor on August 30, 2021 9:00 AM ESTOverclocking Results Continued
Synthetic - GeekBench 5: Link
As a common tool for cross-platform testing between mobile, PC, and Mac, GeekBench is an ultimate exercise in synthetic testing across a range of algorithms looking for peak throughput. Tests include encryption, compression, fast Fourier transform, memory operations, n-body physics, matrix operations, histogram manipulation, and HTML parsing.
In the single thread element to the Geekbench 5 benchmark, we saw an overall gain of 0.1% which is marginal at best. However, in the multi-thread section of the benchmark, our overclocked results account for an average uplight of around 4.5%. Again, 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.
Gaming - Civilization (DX11)
Originally penned by Sid Meier and his team, the Civilization series of turn-based strategy games are a cult classic, and many an excuse for an all-nighter trying to get Gandhi to declare war on you due to an integer underflow. Truth be told I never actually played the first version, but I have played every edition from the second to the sixth, including the fourth as voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, and it is a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master.
Benchmarking Civilization has always been somewhat of an oxymoron – for a turn based strategy game, the frame rate is not necessarily the important thing here and even in the right mood, something as low as 5 frames per second can be enough. With Civilization 6 however, Firaxis went hardcore on visual fidelity, trying to pull you into the game. As a result, Civilization can taxing on graphics and CPUs as we crank up the details, especially in DirectX 12.
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Samus - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
That's a whole lotta work for a whole lotta nothin'!watzupken - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
424W!!! Goodness me. That is almost like adding Intel's TDP number on top of the 300W that it can potentially pull at full tilt. In my opinion, for the cost of pulling off this overclock, one is better off buying a Ryzen 9 processor. In cases where more core matters, you just can't beat an extra 4 cores on the 5900X or 8 cores on the 5950X.Foeketijn - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
A very long time ago I bought a crate of Socket A Mobile Bartons for peanuts. 6 or so. They could run a 400 fsb instead of their default 266 No locked multipliers (untill 12) .A tiny bit more then the top level Athlon XP. just 75 Watts. And almost double the performance. Quake never went smoother. Those where the days.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, September 7, 2021 - link
Except that they would catch fire, as I recall. No automatic thermal shutdown feature.yeeeeman - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
lets see alder lake 12900k!zodiacfml - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Great for showing that overlocking is long gone. This is not exclusive to Intel, even AMDs and Nvidia's latest parts have little headroom. One is better of finding a good undervolt with today's latest hardware because it allows longer boosts, lower power consumption, noise, and heat.Wrs - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
All this stuff gets better headroom with better cooling. Unfortunately the TEC here is one of the worst implementations. 88C is the evidence for all that work. The TEC is at least silent. Here it is a TEC combined with liquid cooling. It would be far more effective to use a chiller with plain liquid cooling. Most effective and technically demanding would be phase change refrigeration directly on the CPU IHS.Spunjji - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
TECs are pretty rubbish for this particular purpose, but I think it's the best Intel could do for a "retail" product. It's just a cataclysmically bad idea all-round.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
‘Great for showing that overlocking is long gone.’I’ve been saying that for some time and, humorously, someone posted a massive rant in response the last time.
Spunjji - Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - link
Cooling a 400W load with a 200W TEC just seems like a bad idea. It would have been nice to have a more explicit front page heads-up - and maybe more prominence in the wrap-up - that this cooler isn't fit for purpose even with a *stock* CPU.