Pre-binned and delidded X299 CPUs up to 5.3 GHz now available from OverclockersUK
There is always a level of gambling involved when buying a processor for overclocking. While every CPU is designed to run at their stock speeds, there is a limit to how much headroom a chip has when overclocking and this number isn't necessarily the same just because they have identical product names. Enthusiasts refer to this as the silicon lottery.
While most people are content just to purchase a CPU once and make do with whatever performance they get, others will insist on selling or returning their processor and trying another one if they consider it to be under-performing compared to the speeds that their peers have achieved. One way around this is to buy pre-binned CPUs at an increased price which have been tested to run at a certain speed.
OverlockersUK has recently listed the new Socket 2066 (X299) processors on their website with a range of options:
- i7-7740X from 5.0 to 5.4 GHz at GB£360 - 500 (US$469 - 651)
- i7-7800X from 4.7 to 5.0 GHz at GB£429 - 600 (US$559 - 782)
- i9-7900X from 4.7 to 4.9 GHz at GB£990 - 1200 (US$1290 - 1564)
Note: At announcement time the fastest i7-7740X available for purchase was 5.3 GHz, and the quickest i9-7800X for purchase was 4.9 GHz.
The announcement from OverclockersUK states that all of these CPUs have been delidded although the store doesn't say this. In the case of an i7-7740X at 5.1 GHz, this process reduced the max temperature from 86 C down to 73 C despite testing at a higher voltage. On an i7-7800X at 4.8 GHz changed from 92 C to 76C. Below is a video detailing the process that OverclockersUK follows when testing and preparing processors for their store.
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