Intel Core i9-9900K Review

Enthusiast Desktop processor released in 2018 with 8 cores and 16 threads. With base clock at 3.6GHz, max speed at 5GHz, and a 95W power rating. Core i9-9900K is based on the Coffee Lake Refresh 14nm family and part of the Core i9 series.
Price 63%
Speed 76%
Productivity 53%
Gaming 93%
Category Desktop
Target enthusiast
Socket Compatibility LGA1151
Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630
Cooler Included No
Overclock Potential 1 %
Year 2018 Model
Price 530 USD
Number of Cores 8 Cores
Number of Threads 16 Threads
Core Frequency 3.6 GHz
Boost Frequency 5 GHz
Max Stable Overclock 5 GHz
Power Consumption 95 W
Manufacturing Process 14 nm
L3 Cache 16 MB
Maximum Supported Memory 128 GB
Price-Value Score 63 %
Speed Score 76 %
Productivity Score 53 %
Gaming Score 93 %
Max 1080p Bottleneck 11.4 %
Max 1440p Bottleneck 5.7 %
Max 4K Bottleneck 2.8 %
Overall Score 51/100

The Core i9-9900K is one of Intel's enthusiast Desktop processors. It was released in 2018 with 8 cores and 16 threads. With base clock at 3.6GHz, max speed at 5GHz, and a 95W power rating. The Core i9-9900K is based on the Coffee Lake Refresh 14nm family and is part of the Core i9 series.

Core i9-9900K is also the successor of Intel's last gen Core i9-7900X processor that was based on the Skylake-X and 14nm process and was released in 2017.

Speaking of which, if you want a high-end desktop (HEDT) 16-core processor that can compete with the Intel Core i9-9900K, you’re going to have to drop quite a bit more cash and get something like the $710 AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. And, even if you do go with this AMD chip, you won’t necessarily end up with the same level of performance.

The Intel Core i9-9900K is an absolute behemoth of a processor, as it absolutely should be with its 8 cores, 16 threads and high price tag. If you’re looking for the absolute best processor money can buy on a mainstream processor, then look no further. Whether you’re playing PC games or even doing hardcore video and 3D work, the Intel Core i9-9900K can handle them with ease.

What this all means is that the Intel Core i9-9900K is an absolute beast when it comes to multi-threaded workloads, especially at this price point. If you're counting on doing some video editing or compiling one hell of an Excel spreadsheet, you're going to see firsthand a performance boost with the Core i9-9900K.

Bear in mind, however, that if you already have something like the Core i9-7900X, this generation doesn't offer the biggest boost in performance. You might want to wait another year or so before dropping a few hundred bucks, or even opt to splurge on a higher-end but pricier chip.

So which should you buy? Let's get that out of the way. Before this comparison review we updated our Best CPU feature and we said you should go with the Ryzen 9 3900X as it comes with a better stock cooler, can be overclocked, and the AM4 platform offers a significantly better upgrade path.

If you're mostly playing games on your PC, you will be happy buying either processor. Both proved to be solid options and are evenly matched with a slight advantage to the AMD chip if you don't tune up the Ryzen 9 processor. The base performance we showed for the Core i9-9900K can be achieved with $90 memory, while the Ryzen 9 3900X will require $110 - $120 memory in order to enable the frame rates shown here. It’s not a big cost difference and right now with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 you’ll more than likely become GPU limited.

The gaming tests with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti installed in the test system showed the Intel Core i9-9900K was more capable than many might have expected. The basic enthusiast processor from Intel that can be picked up for $530 was able to out perform the Ryzen 9 3950X that runs $710 shipped in the three games we tested on. We know that you can’t test on just three games and declare something the overall victor, but it just goes to show that 8-core processors can still manage to get by today. Being able to play current game titles and stream to Twitch on the Core i9-9900K was something we give playable results, but we were pleasantly surprised. As games become more threaded the ‘value’ in a 8-core processor continues to go down, but you can still get by with something like the Core i9-9900K in a pinch.

Now the biggest question is can Intel’s Core i9 processor play games? The answer is simply yes as it got a respectable gaming score of 93% in our benchmarks.

Regardless of those external factors, the Core i9-9900K proves it has the chops to be your main gaming system and a just as effective media creation platform – two things that are becoming intrinsically connected in this age of live-streaming, eSports and uploading gameplay videos.

That said, to squeeze out all the potential of this surprisingly potent enthusiast chip, you’ll want (and need) to splurge on an enthusiast-grade Z270, Z370, Z390 motherboard.

Fresh from a successful roll-out of mainstream Core i9 CPUs, Intel's attack on AMD now extends down into the enthusiast with its Core i9-9900K processors, which the company is making available as of Oct 2018.

Which GPU to Pick for Intel Core i9-9900K

Below is a comparison of all graphics cards average FPS performance (using an average of 80+ games at ultra quality settings), combined with the Intel Core i9-9900K.

Graphics Card Price Cost Per Frame Avg 1080p Avg 1440p Avg 4K
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB $ 1,599 $ 4.6 350.6 FPS
285.5 FPS
186.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Ti 20GB $ 799 $ 2.4 327.1 FPS
266.4 FPS
174.1 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB $ 999 $ 3.2 316.4 FPS
252.9 FPS
150.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB $ 1,199 $ 3.9 303.8 FPS
247.3 FPS
161.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB $ 799 $ 2.7 291.9 FPS
237.5 FPS
155.1 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB $ 899 $ 3.1 287.7 FPS
230 FPS
136.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB $ 1,499 $ 5.5 273.1 FPS
214.5 FPS
131.9 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT 16GB $ 1,099 $ 4.2 261.4 FPS
209 FPS
124.2 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB $ 1,999 $ 7.8 257 FPS
209.2 FPS
136.7 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB $ 999 $ 3.9 256 FPS
202.2 FPS
122.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16GB $ 649 $ 2.7 241 FPS
190.4 FPS
115.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20GB $ 799 $ 3.4 238 FPS
190.7 FPS
121.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB $ 699 $ 2.9 237.9 FPS
186.9 FPS
114.9 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB $ 599 $ 2.6 229.8 FPS
182.4 FPS
117.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 10GB $ 599 $ 2.9 204.2 FPS
161.7 FPS
101.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB $ 579 $ 3 190.9 FPS
150.8 FPS
91.2 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB $ 499 $ 2.7 182 FPS
143 FPS
87.9 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN RTX 24GB $ 2,499 $ 14.9 167.2 FPS
135.6 FPS
83.9 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB $ 1,299 $ 8 162.7 FPS
132 FPS
81.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB $ 479 $ 3 160.7 FPS
127.8 FPS
76.2 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB 8GB $ 399 $ 2.5 158 FPS
127.1 FPS
80.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB $ 399 $ 2.7 149.1 FPS
120.3 FPS
75.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB $ 699 $ 4.7 147.7 FPS
118.6 FPS
73 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB $ 399 $ 2.8 142.4 FPS
113.9 FPS
69.2 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN V 12GB $ 2,999 $ 21.2 141.6 FPS
114.8 FPS
72.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB $ 299 $ 2.1 141.5 FPS
114.4 FPS
72.5 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7600 8GB $ 269 $ 1.9 141.4 FPS
113.2 FPS
68.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB $ 699 $ 5 139.6 FPS
111 FPS
67.7 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB $ 379 $ 2.8 133.7 FPS
106.3 FPS
64.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB $ 759 $ 5.8 130.8 FPS
105.8 FPS
65.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB $ 499 $ 3.8 130 FPS
102.2 FPS
62.7 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN Xp 12GB $ 1,199 $ 9.3 128.3 FPS
102.2 FPS
64.3 FPS
AMD Radeon VII 16GB $ 699 $ 5.4 128.3 FPS
101.4 FPS
61.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB $ 399 $ 3.2 124.9 FPS
98.7 FPS
59.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB $ 499 $ 4 123.3 FPS
95.5 FPS
59.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 8GB $ 200 $ 1.6 123.3 FPS
98.7 FPS
62.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB $ 329 $ 2.7 122.4 FPS
96.4 FPS
59.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB $ 400 $ 3.4 116.7 FPS
88.9 FPS
54.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB $ 349 $ 3 114.5 FPS
90.5 FPS
54.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB $ 499 $ 4.5 111.1 FPS
86.5 FPS
52.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB $ 350 $ 3.2 109.8 FPS
81.7 FPS
49 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB $ 279 $ 2.6 108 FPS
84.7 FPS
51 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 295X2 4GB $ 1,499 $ 14.4 104.2 FPS
79.9 FPS
51.5 FPS
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB $ 499 $ 4.8 103.9 FPS
82.1 FPS
49.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB $ 409 $ 4 103 FPS
80.2 FPS
48.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 6GB $ 249 $ 2.5 100.7 FPS
77.8 FPS
47.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X 12GB $ 999 $ 10 100.1 FPS
77 FPS
46.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB $ 279 $ 2.8 98 FPS
76.3 FPS
46 FPS
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB $ 399 $ 4.1 97.4 FPS
76.8 FPS
46.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB $ 399 $ 4.2 94.8 FPS
73.1 FPS
43.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB $ 229 $ 2.5 92.3 FPS
72 FPS
43.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB $ 649 $ 7.5 87.1 FPS
67.5 FPS
40.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB $ 220 $ 2.5 86.9 FPS
67.7 FPS
40.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB $ 279 $ 3.4 82.5 FPS
62.3 FPS
36.8 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 FURY X 4GB $ 649 $ 8.2 79.1 FPS
64.1 FPS
39.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB $ 160 $ 2.1 75.7 FPS
58.8 FPS
35.4 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB 8GB $ 199 $ 2.7 75 FPS
56.7 FPS
33.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB $ 549 $ 7.3 74.7 FPS
57.2 FPS
34.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB $ 229 $ 3.1 73.1 FPS
55.2 FPS
32.4 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4GB $ 649 $ 9 72 FPS
57.3 FPS
35.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK 6GB $ 999 $ 14.3 69.8 FPS
53 FPS
33.6 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 FURY 4GB $ 549 $ 8.1 68 FPS
54 FPS
32.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB $ 254 $ 3.7 67.8 FPS
51.7 FPS
31.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB 4GB $ 169 $ 2.5 67.2 FPS
50.9 FPS
29.9 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 390X 8GB $ 429 $ 6.5 65.5 FPS
51.8 FPS
31.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB $ 170 $ 2.6 64.4 FPS
49.1 FPS
29.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB $ 329 $ 5.2 63.3 FPS
47.8 FPS
30 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB $ 400 $ 6.5 61.5 FPS
48.2 FPS
29.8 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 390 8GB $ 329 $ 5.4 61.1 FPS
47.3 FPS
27.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB $ 169 $ 2.8 60.3 FPS
46.6 FPS
27.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB $ 149 $ 2.6 57.7 FPS
44.5 FPS
26.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB $ 179 $ 3.3 53.8 FPS
41.8 FPS
25.2 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 380X 4GB $ 229 $ 5.1 45.3 FPS
34.8 FPS
21.4 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 285 2GB $ 249 $ 6.1 40.7 FPS
31.3 FPS
18.1 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 380 2GB $ 199 $ 4.9 40.4 FPS
31 FPS
18.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB $ 169 $ 4.2 39.8 FPS
30.7 FPS
18.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB $ 279 $ 7.1 39.4 FPS
30.6 FPS
17.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB $ 199 $ 5.1 38.9 FPS
29.8 FPS
17.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 3GB $ 169 $ 5 33.9 FPS
25.9 FPS
15.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB $ 99 $ 3.2 31.3 FPS
23.7 FPS
14 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 2GB $ 159 $ 5.2 30.7 FPS
23.2 FPS
14.3 FPS
AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB $ 149 $ 5 30.1 FPS
21.8 FPS
13.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R7 265 2GB $ 149 $ 5 29.9 FPS
21.1 FPS
13.1 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 460 4GB $ 140 $ 5.1 27.7 FPS
21 FPS
12.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB $ 149 $ 5.6 26.7 FPS
18 FPS
11.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB $ 79 $ 3.6 21.9 FPS
16.7 FPS
9.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB $ 79 $ 3.8 20.9 FPS
15.8 FPS
9.1 FPS

Related Discussions and Issues

R
rocrob July 11, 2020

Warzone Low FPS On A I9-9900K AND 2080TI Please Help Me!!!!

I am about to break my PC!!

MY PC SPECS:

● CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K

● GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio

● Motherboard: MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC

● SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB

● RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz

● Power Supply: Corsair RM850x

● CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15

● Case: Cooler Master H500M

My Problem: I have been playing warzone since launch and been having some issue with my pc while playing it. It never reaches its full potential when I know that my pc specs is supposed to handle this game easily but it struggles bad. I only Average 160 FPS in Game and 100-130 while streaming. This is Ridiculous. Other youtubers/streamers with almost Identical specs as me Average 190-230 FPS easily. Can someone please help me out. I think that I tried everything but still don't have a solution.

Here is my warzone benchmark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTCzZH5oB8U&t=3s

Here is someone with almost the same specs as me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3KHKnB1pHU&t=1s

userbenchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/30458120

S
ShroudedRose July 11, 2020

"low fps" lol, anyways, have you updated your drivers or overclocked any of your components? thats a good way to get some more performance. also, you can lower some settings to gain more fps with little graphical impact

D
dogeatdawg July 11, 2020

Have you checked Windows power plan settings? Make sure it's on performance mode so it doesn't throttle power to your GPU.

V
Vitxlz July 14, 2020

Having a problem with a recently built pc. I put an i9-9900k and a EVGA Rtx 2070 Super. I’m trying to play fortnite on the lowest settings and still getting crashes at least twice a day. If someone could help me that would be great!

M
Moonfall1991 July 14, 2020

What did you try? Did you OC? What are your temps?

V
Vitxlz July 14, 2020

I didn’t OC, my temps are in the 40s and I had a friend try all different types of settings and everything we both could think of to fix it. I didn’t have this problem on a gaming laptop with a 1660ti and no idea why it’s happening now.

V
Vitxlz July 14, 2020

I even tried resetting my Windows to factory settings.

B
bumdude July 14, 2020

Are you having issues running other games on this build? Are you sure you plugged the monitor into the gpu rather than the video out on the mobo?

V
Vitxlz July 15, 2020

I have one monitor on the motherboard but my main one is out of the graphics card

M
monksyo July 14, 2020

What PSU are you using? Could be faulty or underpowered.

I
itsnuclear July 14, 2020

Competitive players like to use lowest setting to get more FPS and have a slight advantage, just watch some csgo pro players playing and you will see their settings are near low or the lowest

G
GlumContribution4 July 14, 2020

Check Event Viewer and see if it gives you any error/critical/stop messages. Is it the game that crashes or is your whole PC crashing?

K
kzuat July 17, 2020

I don’t know if you still need this, but this crash is pretty common and happened to me before. The reason why your game is crashing is probably cause you tab out a lot, and to fix it you need to change the game files I’m pretty sure. There are YouTube videos out there and they worked for me.

V
Vitxlz July 19, 2020

What do you mean by changing game files? I’m not finding anything on YouTube. Also sorry for the late response

A
Accomplished_Ad402 July 31, 2020

(build help) (Australia) 150mm air cooler for i9 9900k needed

Hi all,

So I've come across a deal on a i9 9900k + Asus rog strix z390-f + corsair vengeance pro 32gb rgb here pccasegear.com that I am planning on pairing with my rtx 2080ti.

My case is a corsair carbide 100r which means max cooler height is 150mm. Ram height is around 51mm I believe. Use is mainly for gaming + some CPU intensive emulation however general gaming will be most of its use.

Budget is not really a concern however I'd probably expect to pay Max 250 aud.

It would also be great if I could buy it at pccasegear.com as I would save on shipping by ordering it with the rest of the parts.

Thanks for reading.

R
Rogurzz July 31, 2020

Why did you buy such a cheap case for such expensive hardware? Gonna need a better one to fit a decent cooler.

A
Accomplished_Ad402 July 31, 2020

It started off as a cheap build that has slowly gotten better over the years. I hear you though, maybe it's best I just get a better case and go with the nh d15

_
_Iroha July 31, 2020

If you care about cooling don't restrict yourself with that case and end up getting a nonsufficient air cooler

N
Narmonteam July 31, 2020

For 250AUD you can get a top of the line aircooler and a Case that can fit it.

Otherwise,be quiet dark rock tf, shadow rock lp, Noctua C14s or U9s

I
iminusjk7 July 12, 2020

Help overclocking the i9 9900k

Hello there, So I finally saved enough money to build my first build ever, I built it last month and here are the specs:

CPU: i9-9900k

GPU: RTX 2070 Super (Gigabyte Aorus edition)

RAM: Corsair 32GB (16x2) DDR4 3600 CL18 Vengeance RGB Pro

MOBO: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi

SSD: Samsung 2TB 970 Evo Plus

PSU: Corsair HX850 80+ Platinum

AIO: Fractal Design S36

Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D

At MOBO defaults (bios F12c - latest) cpu runs at 4.7 all cores and it's super stable with thermals around 35c at idle, and 75c heavy load (quiet fans preset).

I have zero experience in overclocking. But for the last couple of days I've been trying to overclock the 9900k to 5GHz all cores and I can never seem to be able to do so. I have watched so many videos and followed many guides, even the official gigabyte one for the 9900k and a very similar mobo (aorus master), but it never got to finish even 10 minutes of Prime95. I know it makes an unrealistic torture test, but I thought that since at 4.7GHz my pc passes the test and it's very stable, I also want it to br similarly stable at 5GHz.

Max vcore I tried is 1.37, it produced a lot of heat and didn't finish 15 minutes of Prime95 Small FTTs test before crashing.

Now the weird thing is I can't even get it to be stable even at 4.9GHz and vcore 1.33 (past that not really worth thermals wise). The best I could get it to be stable at is by using Gigabyte factory "CPU Upgrade - Gaming Profile", which sets whatever they think it's good for OC, and it only got to 4.8GHz with vcore at 1.287v (tried 1.27v and it crashed).

Tried even disabling the XMP profile and manually entering the ram timings and voltage, but unfortunately to no avail.

Right now am running at 4.8GHz and it's very stable. I also set the dram voltage to 1.35 since that's what the stick has printed on (at auto it takes 1.4+).

Now I don't really need the performance gain of a 5GHz all cores neither 4.9 since right now I don't do any critical work that requires speed, so it's just for fun.

But I'd like to know if that is normal or did I just miserably lose the silicone lottery? Or am I missing something since I'm just a beginner in overclocking? I just could never find anyone on the internet who got similar results or that couldn't run the 9900k at, at least, 4.9GHz with acceptable temps. I also got the cpu new and that kind of worries me, should I ask to return it and get a new one (it was one of those tray ones, so no box)?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

EDIT: forgot to mention, that even at XMP, and even though my ram is rated for 3600, I can never get the pc to boot when memory speed is set to anything but 3400, so I have to manually set it to that speed. I don't know why that is, but if it's an indication to a problem then please let me know. Thanks.

D
DZCreeper July 12, 2020

That 300MHz extra requires quite a bit more voltage. Hence why Intel boosts to 5GHz, but only on 2 cores. You didn't win the silicon lottery, but you didn't lose it either. Prime95 small FFT's is extremely demanding, and needing above 1.35V for 5GHz is common.

Rather than doing a full manual overclock, I recommend you set the ratio per core. Meaning when 6-8 cores are loaded, raise the ratio from 47 to 48. Then maybe raise the 1-2 core ratio from 50-51 for some extra single thread performance.

If you are looking for FPS in games, most of the gains will come from cache ratio and memory tuning.

https://github.com/integralfx/MemTestHelper/blob/master/DDR4%20OC%20Guide.md

I
iminusjk7 July 12, 2020

Thank so much @DZCreeper, But as I'm just a beginner in overclocking, I didn't exactly understand what you mean in your recommendation. You're recommending to set only 2 cores to 5GHz and the rest at 4.8GHz?

If not, could you please elaborate more? Or link me to somewhere where this is explained a bit more?

I'm not looking for more fps in games as the way it's right now is pretty good and decent for me as I'm not really into competitive games (like pubg, warzone, and the rest), although a bit more than 60-70 fps in AC Odyssey at 1440p would be happily welcomed. The whole point of overclocking for me is just for fun and to see how much juice can I squeeze out of the parts that I paid alot for (in my country I paid at least $1500 more for the rig than what the price in the USA would be).

M
Matzvey July 12, 2020

First, what is your uncore set to? Also play around with creating or using some fan curves. I bet you see a 10c+ difference at load with higher aio fans and pump speed. AIO pumps can run at 100% all the time without affecting longevity. Just a matter of noise level for different models. Use HWinfo64 for all sensor readings, it's the most reliable.

I
iminusjk7 July 12, 2020

Thanks for the reply!

I tried uncore set to Auto, 2, and 3. Didn't help much.

The problem isn't just thermals at this point. The problem is I can't get the cpu stable even at 4.9GHz using vore 1.33v. Also 5GHz won't go stable even at vcore 1.37v.

If I at least can get it to stable at 4.9GHz or 5GHz, I'll try to figure out the thermals afterwards.

I'm a bit noise sensitive so that's why I leave it at quiet preset, I don't use HDDs for the simple reason that they generate unnecessary noises.

I
iminusjk7 July 24, 2020

So if anyone sees this, I figured out what the problem is.

It was all because of memory.

It's 3600MHz 32GB (16x2) CL18 ram kit. Timings from factory come at 18-22-22-42. So when doing the auto xmp thing it would use those timings and WILL NOT boot windows at any other speed other 3400mhz or 3466mhz. And even if used those speeds, cpu overclocking was basically a no-no.

I noticed that all of the similarly speed-wise and size-wise ram kits from G.Skill which were validated for my MOBO (Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi) had timings set at 16-19-19-39.

I set manually my ram kit to those timings and my pc actually booted at 3600mhz ram speed.

Even more than that, I overclocked my cpu (i9-9900k) to 4.9GHz and it works just fine (if you need full settings I chose you can reply here or message, can't be bothered to post here now since I haven't seen many cases similar to mine), with Aida64 test fully stable at temp avg of 75C and max of 82C.

5GHz is still kinda out of reach since it reaches some very high temps.

M
m8nearthehill August 03, 2020

Can you give me your full bios settings? I am getting a 9900k and have the Same mobo as you.

Thanks

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Jun 2, 2020 - How to find the Right CPU? Whether you’re building or upgrading a PC, the processor matters a lot. CPUAgent is the right tool to help you find and choose the right CPU for your needs.

RTX 3070 with 10600k vs 3700x Bottleneck Comparison

Sep 03, 2020 - Save your CPU money and invest it in a powerful GPU instead. So, which affordable yet powerfulrt CPU strikes the best performance-price balance with the NVIDIA RTX 3070?

10600K vs 3600X: Battle of the mid-range CPUs

May 23, 2020 - The best performance to price value mid-range cpus are here. Find out more in this comprehensive review and summary of the Core i5-10600K vs Ryzen 5 3600X's capabilities.

10700K vs 3700X: Specs, 80+ Game Benchmarks, Bottleneck, and Streaming Analysis

May 22, 2020 - Which one is worth it, Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 3700X? Find out in this comprehensive review and summary of the Core i7-10700K vs Ryzen 7 3700X's capabilities.

13900K vs 3900X: Specs, 80+ Game Benchmarks, Bottleneck, and Streaming Analysis

May 21, 2020 - 10 cores vs 12 cores. Top-of-the-line very high-end cpus duke it out.

2500K vs 3570K vs 4670K vs 6600K vs 7600K vs 8600K vs 9600K vs 10600K: Should you consider upgrading?

May 21, 2020 - In this massive comparison across 8 generations of Intel Core i5 series CPUs, we explore the performance improvements by generation and whether it is reasonable or not to upgrade to Intel's latest.

Critics Reviews

Specifications Mfr Part Number: BX80684I99900K Model: Intel Core i9-9900K Processor Core Name: Coffee Lake Core Count: 8 Thread Count: 16 Clock Speed: 3. 6 GHz Max Turbo Frequency: 5. 0 GHz Smart Cache: 16 MB DMI3: 8. 0 GT/s Lithography: 14nm Socket: LGA 1151 Max Thermal Design Power: 95W Memory Type: DDR4-2666 Processor Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 Graphics Base Frequency: 350 MHz ...
Intel's Core i9-9900K is a serious processor for serious tasks like advanced gaming and editing. To get the most out of the CPU, you need one of the best motherboards capable of supporting the ...
Core i9-9900K stretches up to 5.0 GHz when two cores are active, outstripping the Core i7-8086K and its ability to hit 5.0 GHz on one core. As you can see in the chart above, Intel is pushing the ...
For starters, while the original Core i9-9900K topped out at a maximum boost clock of 4.6GHz on all cores, the Core i9-9900KS bumps things up to a solid 5GHz, from a base clock of 4GHz.
The Intel Core i9-9900KS is essentially a tweaked Intel Core i9-9900K, which means a lot of the specs carry over. It's still an 8-core, 16-thread processor, with 16MB of cache.
While the 8-core Core i9-9900K had an official base clock of 3.6GHz and officially would push one or two two cores to 5GHz on Turbo Boost, the 8-core Core i9-9900KS Special Edition can push all ...
The Intel Core i9-9900KS is borne from the battle. In essence it looks like an overclocked Core i9-9900K, however by that logic everything is an overclocked version of something else. In order for ...
Both the stock and overclocked Core i9-9900K sip power. The fact that the Ryzen 5 2600X lands at the top of our chart is confirmed by our bad sample. This is definitely not a general AMD problem ...