An Indian YouTube channel, PC Wale, pushed the Intel Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake CPU beyond 6 GHz, which is the highest frequency we saw the CPU run before its launch next week. The Core i9-11900K CPU tested here was provided by Intel as part of its review kit, so we can only see the frequency being achieved in the test setup with no real benchmarks in this insane overclocking.
Intel Core i9-11900K Flagship Rocket Lake CPU overclocked to 6.5 GHz on LN2, tested on ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO motherboard with 1.7 V
PC Wale claims that the CPUs (Core i9-11900K and Core i5-11600K) were provided by Intel itself, and as such, they cannot provide any benchmarks, but since the LN2 results are not (half) restricted by the NDA, they went ahead to post the maximum frequency they achieved in their samples. Both processors are said to reach more than 6 GHz, although only the Core i9-11900K is shown during the entire video that you can see below.
The XOC BIOS that allows voltages to be increased up to 2 V was provided by SafeDisk, which is a well-known overclocker from South Korea and also does internal overclocking for ASUS. The card used was the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO, which is also part of the reviewer kit that Intel sent. You can see that the testers were able to bring the Intel Core i9-11900K to 6.5 GHz with a 1.7 V power supply.
They also tried to force the CPU beyond 6.5 GHz, but this resulted in a serious failure. The testers also mention that they could have exceeded 7 GHz, but the BIOS in its current state is, at best, fragile, so they would wait after the release for things to get better. We can also expect more professional overclockers to post their own LN2 results on the March 30 launch of the Intel Core i9-11900K CPU.
Intel Core i9-11900K 8 Core CPU and 16 Thread Rocket Lake Desktop
The Intel Core i9-11900K will be the flagship of the 11th Generation Rocket Lake Desktop CPU. The chip will have 8 cores and 16 threads. This will result in 16 MB of L3 cache (2 MB per core) and 4 MB of L2 cache (512 KB per core). In terms of boost clocks, we have already seen the CPU running at basic frequencies of 3.5 GHz, but as for the boost, the CPU will have a maximum boost clock of 5.2 GHz (1 core), while the boost frequency of all the core will be maintained at 4.8 GHz.
The chip will also have Thermal Velocity Boost, which is expected to provide a 100 MHz jump at the maximum clock frequency. This should lead to a single core 5.3 GHz boost clock, making it the first CPU to reach such a high frequency out of the box. However, remember that regardless of whether you use Cypress Cove cores, the Core i9-11900K will have lower cores and threads than the Intel Core i9-10900K. This is partly due to the backporting of Cypress Cove on the refined 14 nm process node.
The CPU is said to have a 125W first stage power limit, which is standard for an Intel SKU, and the second stage or PL2 power limit is rated at 250W. This means that by reaching its advertised maximum clock speed, the CPU could in fact be extracting the said amount of watts from the PSU, making it one of the most energy-efficient 8-core chips ever produced. This may also explain why Intel did not adopt 10 cores and 20 threads in its 11th Generation line, as it would be a power hungry monster chip breaking even beyond the 250W power limit.
11th generation Rocket Lake Desktop CPU line specifications (preliminaries):
| CPU name | Colors / Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock (1-Core) | Boost Clock (All-Core) | Cache | Graphics | TDP (PL1) | TDP (PL2) | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-11900K (F) | 8/16 | 3.50 GHz | 5.30 GHz | 4.80 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W | 251W | $ 539 US (K) $ 513 US (KF) |
| Core i9-11900 (F) | 8/16 | 2.50 GHz | 5.20 GHz | 4.70 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W | 224W | $ 439 US $ 422 US (F) |
| Core i9-11900T | 8/16 | 1.50 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 3.70 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W | 115W | $ 439 US |
| Core i7-11700K (F) | 8/16 | 3.60 GHz | 5.00 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W | 251W | $ 399 US (K) $ 374 US (F) |
| Core i7-11700 (F) | 8/16 | 2.50 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 4.40 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W | 224W | $ 323 US $ 298 US (F) |
| Core i7-11700T | 8/16 | 1.40 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 3.60 GHz | 16 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W | 115W | $ 323 US |
| Core i5-11600K (F) | 6/12 | 3.90 GHz | 4.90 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 125W | 224W? | $ 262 US (K) $ 237 US (KF) |
| Core i5-11600 | 6/12 | 2.80 GHz | 4.80 GHz | 4.30 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W | 154W | $ 213 US |
| Core i5-11600T | 6/12 | 1.70 GHz | 4.10 GHz | 3.50 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W | 92W | $ 213 US |
| Core i5-11500 | 6/12 | 2.70 GHz | 4.60 GHz | 4.20 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 65W | 154W | $ 192 US |
| Core i5-11500T | 6/12 | 1.50 GHz | 3.90 GHz | 3.40 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 32 EU (256 cores) | 35W | 92W | $ 192 US |
| Core i5-11400 (F) | 6/12 | 2.60 GHz | 4.40 GHz | 4.20 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 colors) | 65W | 154W | $ 182 US $ 157 US (F) |
| Core i5-11400T | 6/12 | 1.30 GHz | 3.70 GHz | 3.30 GHz | 12 MB | Intel Xe 24 EU (192 colors) | 35W | 92W | $ 182 US |