Looking to learn How to Overclock my PC

Hey guys,

I recently built my first PC, with an i9-9900K. The OC process seems overwhelming so I've used the Intel Extreme Tuning program and have only messed with the Processor Core Ration. I haven't had much luck going over 4.6 ghz without my PC completely shutting down. I know trial and error is part of the process, but I wanted to know if you have any tips.

Another question I had. The 9000K is baseline 3.5 ghz, and without changing stock settings, I noticed it automatically goes up to 4.5 ghz when I'm tracking its performance in Task Manager. Why does it do this if I haven't OC'ed?

Here's my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Corsair H150i PRO 47.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: MSI MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Founders Edition

Case: Corsair iCUE 465X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: EVGA 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Thanks!

Most CPUs of recent vintage have an automatic "turbo" mode which will clock the cores up depending on usage, and clock down again when it's idle. This saves power, etc.

Yours can turbo up to 5GHz in theory, but this is usually going to vary based on the number of cores/threads being used. That is, the more cores in use the lower the overall turbo clock is going to be.

You also have to increase the core voltage.

I believe Linus and Jay have more detailed videos on overclocking Intel chips; usually through the BIOS but I think ETU was mentioned as well.

I would recommend BIOS overclocking not software, its not all that hard, find a guide specifically for your CPU/MB and depending on your cooling it will dictate what you can push it to. https://www.msi.com/blog/intel-9th-cpu-overclocking-5ghz-with-z390-motherboards here is an msi blog that should get you started that is apropriate for your setup.

as to your other questions under load intel CPU's will turbo boost temporarily, when you overclock you want to pin at those max ghz or ideally push beyond. I am not too familiar with your chip but I would think 5ghz would be possible with a good cooling setup.

Cpu's differ from each other so 4.6 could just be your particular cpu's limit. I honestly never understood the point in going over that anyway, and I just do the minimal overclocking to keep my cpu's lifespan.

@hamdemon01: Good question. I don’t know if I need to or not.

This maybe dumb, but I thought with my rig I’d be able to hit a constant 1080p, 144 hz on COD:MW and BF1, but I can’t. Figured I’d need to do some overclocking.

@icoangel: thanks for the link! I was happy to see that it gave voltage settings for my i7!

@oursin_360:I would be real surprised if he could not get over 4.6 with more voltage. Overclocking is fun! As for decreasing life span I have been running my 8700K for a few years now at 5ghz under a custom water loop and its still fine, I am sure I will replace it to upgrade before it fails due to lifespan degradation.

@hamdemon01: thanks for the suggestion. GPU and CPU drivers are up to date.