The Core i9-13900K reaches 8.2GHz, an overclocking marvel

The Core i9-13900K reaches 8.2GHz, an overclocking marvel

The Core i9-13900K reaches 8.2GHz



A few weeks ago, we informed you that an overclocker had managed to push an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X processor, launched last September 27th on the market, up to 7.247MHz applying a voltage of 1.506V. Apparently, the Zen 4 CPU's remarkable overclocking capabilities have been vastly surpassed by the Intel “Rocket Lake” proposals.

Indeed, the overclocker known as Allen “Splave” Golibersuch has brought the Intel Core processor i9-13900K up to an incredible 8.2GHz operating frequency, using a liquid nitrogen cooling system, on the occasion of the final of the Intel Creator Challenge. This is a truly excellent result, especially considering that the previous flagship model of the Alder Lake family, the Core i9-12900K, was overclocked to maximum 7.6GHz (8% less).




We remind you that Rocket Lake CPUs will benefit from some important changes, such as the maximum number of cores, increased to 8P + 16E. Additionally, the P-cores have been upgraded with a higher IPC and L2 cache, while the E-cores feature a larger L2 cache. From a performance standpoint, Intel reported a 15% improvement on single-threaded workloads and up to 41% on multi-threaded workloads.








Core i9-13900K beats Ryzen 7000 in LN2 overclocking battle after Intel chip hits 8.2 GHz

What just happened? An Intel chip has passed the 8 GHz frequency for the first time in over eight years. An engineering sample of the Core i9-13900K reached 8.2 GHz using plenty of liquid nitrogen, showing the overclocking potential of the upcoming processor.


During the Intel Creator Challenge PC Modding Finale, overclocker Allen 'Splave' Golibersuch managed to reach the 8.2 GHz frequency on the Core i9-13900K, which features 24 cores comprising eight Performance cores and 16 Efficiency cores. For comparison, the record overclock for the Core i9-12900K is 7.6GHz.


When not using exotic cooling like liquid nitrogen (LN2), the Raptor Lake chip is able to reach a still very impressive 5.8 GHz—5.5 GHz with all eight P cores—through Intel's Thermal Velocity Boost.


We're still someway off seeing the world overclocking record challenged. The HWBot table shows that the 8.7 GHz (8,722.78 MHz) reached by AMD's FX-8370 has been unbeaten since 2014. Team red's old CPUs hold the three spots behind the leader. In fact, all but two of the top twenty OC records were achieved on AMD processors.

The HWBot chart shows the last Intel chip to pass the 8 GHz milestone. That was the Celeron D 365 over eight years ago. The fifth-placed CPU managed to reach an overclocked frequency of 8.54 GHz.


We're looking forward to seeing how Intel's upcoming chip fares against AMD's new flagship, the Ryzen 9 7950X, a 16-core, 32-thread CPU that clocks between 4.5 GHz and 5.7 GHz, depending on the load. We rated the processor very highly, awarding it a score of 95 in our review, but it seems the Ryzen isn't going to challenge the Core i9-13900K when it comes to LN2 overclocking; the Zen 4 chip's best HWBot entry is 7.4 GHz (7,471.96 MHz).


This isn't the first report of the Core i9-13900K's blistering performance. Last month saw the chip top PassMark's latest single-thread CPU benchmark with a score of 4,833. The Raptor Lake CPU arrives this October 20 priced at $589.

h/t: Tom's Hardware