How fast does your CPU run? 2GHz? How about 4? Nah, that's old school. 6GHz should be the sweet spot these days. Well, overclocking enthusiasts can never be satisfied but famed overclocker 'sofos1990' can be quite content that his overclocking setup has shattered all known records. He has successfully demonstrated a sustained overclock past the 6GHz mark on the new Intel Core i9 7900X, setting a new record on the hardware benchmarking site, HWBOT.
Beat this! Intel Core i9 7900X overclocked to 6.01GHz under LN2 cooling, breaks HWBOT benchmark
Intel's new High-End Desktop (HEDT) range of processors are now available for enthusiasts and serious professionals looking to push the performance envelope. The latest processor in this segment is the Core i9 7900X which boasts of 10 cores and 20 threads with a base clock of 3.30GHz. While the stock configuration in itself is kind of overkill for most users, sofos1990 has managed to push the processor to borderline insanity by boosting the clock to 6.01GHz (an 82.3% boost over stock).
Of course, such insane overclocks demand insane cooling. So, how did he achieve it? Enter: liquid nitrogen cooling. That isn't the only insane part of it, though. The vCore voltage was pumped up to a staggering 1.6V, which would have made the processor a highly advanced toaster if conventional cooling solutions were to be deployed. This setup helped sofos1990 achieve a score of 12189.52 in the HWBOT Prime benchmark, setting a new benchmark for 10-core chips along with conferring the 7900X as the fastest single processor score in the database.
Other components of the rig seem to be surprisingly simple. The motherboard used was Gigabyte's X299 SOC Champion, which is a limited edition for overclock enthusiasts. The system had 4GB of G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 RAM and a 120GB Neutron GTX SSD. All of it was powered by a Corsair Professional Gold Series 1500W PSU. It remains to be seen how long will the 7900X hold this crown. With Intel's 18-core 36-thread i9 7980XE processor around the corner and AMD's Ryzen Threadripper hot on its heels, the HEDT market has never been so exciting.
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Though a cell and molecular biologist by training, I have been drawn towards computers from a very young age ever since I got my first PC in 1998. My passion for technology grew quite exponentially with the times, and it has been an incredible experience from being a much solicited source for tech advice and troubleshooting among family and friends to joining Notebookcheck in 2017 as a professional tech journalist. Now, I am a Lead Editor at Notebookcheck covering news and reviews encompassing a wide gamut of the technology landscape for Indian and global audiences. When I am not hunting for the next big story or taking complex measurements for reviews, you can find me unwinding to a nice read, listening to some soulful music, or trying out a new game.
