Intel's Upcoming i9-10900K Overclocked to 5.4 GHz on All 10 Cores

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel just recently announced its Comet Lake-S desktop CPUs, but we're already seeing the best CPUs in the lineup pushed to its limits. With Intel's next generation of CPUs we're, of course, curious about overclocking capabilities. As posted on Baidu,  someone has apparently achieved a a 5.4 GHz overclock on all 10 cores of the Intel Core i9-10900K while using a voltage of 1.35V. Meanwhile, the chip reportedly scored just over 3,000 points in Cinebench R15. 

By default, the i9-10900K runs at a base clock of 3.7 GHz with a maximum boost clock of 5.3 GHz, though if the chip's boost behavior is anything like the last-generation Coffee Lake chips, the 5.3 GHz boost frequency won't apply to all CPU cores at once under load. 

With that in mind, a 5.4 GHz all-core overclock is actually quite respectable. For comparison, the Intel Core i9-9900K carried a maximum boost frequency of 5.0 GHz, and achieving an all-core 5 GHz overclock on that chip typically required a core voltage of 1.3V. Most users could only dream of reaching higher clocks without having to resort to extreme cooling solutions. 

That brings us to an important question still remaining about this i9-10900K overclock -- what was the cooling solution? According to the forum post, it required a -20 degrees Celsius chiller, rather than an all-in-one liquid cooler, powerful custom loop or liquid nitrogen.

Until we can do some testing of our own, take these numbers with a pinch of salt. 

Editor's note: This article originally stated that a Twitter user overclocked the CPU. It's been corrected to state that the results were shared on Baidu. 

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

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  • Phaaze88
    "5.4ghz Wow!"
    Cinebench R15...:rolleyes:
    That's just free marketing for Intel.

    Where's Prime95? Aida64? Cinebench R20? Asus Realbench(though no one seems to use it anymore)? Blender?

    Tch, 5.4ghz MEH.

    Ohh, do I look forward to the reviews of this, and the other Skylake Refresh Infinity cpus...
    Reply
  • davideneco
    pls make effort

    "An overclocker on Twitter known as @OldSKol_ has apparently achieved "

    Oldskol is not a overclocker and dont have 10900k
    Reply
  • salgado18
    In one TV series, the good guys were trying to find the villain, so they started scanning the power grid looking for annomalies. After seeing a suspiciously large spike in energy use, they went to investigate, only to find this guy overclocking an i9-10900k.

    In other news, the weather could change in the next hours, because a mass of hot air originated somewhere on the states.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    @salgado18
    ROFL!!!
    Reply
  • mac_angel
    Hmmmm. Tempted to see what my CPU can do. I have a Core i9 10940X running at 5.0GHz on all cores. I didn't try pushing past that. I'm kinda wondering what it can do now.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    mac_angel said:
    I'm kinda wondering what it can do now.
    Be careful. I've heard that this CPU at 5.6 GHz is used to melt gold.

    Ok, I'll stop now. :ROFLMAO:
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    salgado18 said:
    Ok, I'll stop now. :ROFLMAO:
    No-no, keep going!
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    salgado18 said:
    In one TV series, the good guys were trying to find the villain, so they started scanning the power grid looking for annomalies. After seeing a suspiciously large spike in energy use, they went to investigate, only to find this guy overclocking an i9-10900k.

    In other news, the weather could change in the next hours, because a mass of hot air originated somewhere on the states.
    "An overclocker on Twitter known as @OldSKol_ has apparently achieved a a 5.4 GHz overclock on all 10 cores of the Intel Core i9-10900K while using a voltage of 1.35V. "

    1.35Vcore is more than ryzen uses for default settings running at barely over 4Ghz all core.

    The words glass house and stones spring into mind.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    TerryLaze said:
    "An overclocker on Twitter known as @OldSKol_ has apparently achieved a a 5.4 GHz overclock on all 10 cores of the Intel Core i9-10900K while using a voltage of 1.35V. "

    1.35Vcore is more than ryzen uses for default settings running at barely over 4Ghz all core.

    The words glass house and stones spring into mind.
    1.35 Vcore is also what Bulldozer used, so does the i7-2700k, and the Core 2 Quad Q9650.

    Too bad the 3950x needs 1.4V to reach 4.2 GHz, right? Those 6 extra cores really drag it down. Well, at least it can't put a wooden house on fire.
    Reply
  • everettfsargent
    Not bad for a 10kW CPU!
    Reply