Intel's Core i9-14900K Is Already Smashing Records At A Blistering 9GHz Overclock
Extreme overclockers Elmor and SkatterBencher in cooperation with ASUS have submitted a record-smashing overclock of Intel's brand-new Core i9-14900KF (a 14900K without integrated graphics), achieving a stable 9.044GHz and beating the previous world record (also held by Elmor) of 9.008GHz set on the Core i9-13900K. It's the second time that a CPU has ever hit 9GHz, and we even got a brief look at 9.1GHz, indicating that a new record isn't far away.
While overclocking has been a pastime of PC enthusiasts for decades, extreme overclocking is another beast entirely. It's a sport for computer experts and often requires a pretty big budget for all the exotic hardware, cooling, and time required to see even a slightly better overclock than what's possible on a conventional PC, let alone a record breaking overclock. For their world record, Elmor and SkatterBench used ASUS's top-end ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore, liquid helium for subzero cooling, and had help from fellow overclockers Bing and Shamino, as well as ASUS.
The overclocking team had spent a week at ASUS's OC Event, and for days each attempt at breaking the world record with the 14900KF had failed due to stability issues. There were in fact many overclocks that would have broken the record but they all failed to validate through CPU-Z, which is the referee on overclocking records. On October 16, the final day, Elmor and the others tried for the record one last time after taking the weekend to troubleshoot issues. It paid off, and the team's 14900KF finally hit a stable 9.044GHz and was successfully validated by CPU-Z.
While overclocking has been a pastime of PC enthusiasts for decades, extreme overclocking is another beast entirely. It's a sport for computer experts and often requires a pretty big budget for all the exotic hardware, cooling, and time required to see even a slightly better overclock than what's possible on a conventional PC, let alone a record breaking overclock. For their world record, Elmor and SkatterBench used ASUS's top-end ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore, liquid helium for subzero cooling, and had help from fellow overclockers Bing and Shamino, as well as ASUS.
The overclocking team had spent a week at ASUS's OC Event, and for days each attempt at breaking the world record with the 14900KF had failed due to stability issues. There were in fact many overclocks that would have broken the record but they all failed to validate through CPU-Z, which is the referee on overclocking records. On October 16, the final day, Elmor and the others tried for the record one last time after taking the weekend to troubleshoot issues. It paid off, and the team's 14900KF finally hit a stable 9.044GHz and was successfully validated by CPU-Z.
While the record was finally broken in the end, everyone wanted something better than 9.044GHz. The next goal the team is striving for is to get to at least 9.1GHz. Obviously, that didn't happen, but the team got extremely close when the 14900KF hit 9.1GHz but crashed almost immediately. Unfortunately, that's not nearly good enough to pass CPU-Z, but it is a sign that with a higher quality chip that the 9.1GHz barrier won't stand for much longer.
Incidentally, Intel CPU's have only held the frequency world record since 2022, when Elmor overclocked the Core i9-13900K to 8.813GHz using liquid nitrogen, and the 9GHz barrier was broken a couple of months later on the 13900K again but using liquid helium. Prior to that, AMD FX CPUs held the record from 2011 to 2022, with the Stilt's AMD FX-8370 at 8.723GHz standing undefeated for nearly a decade.
Be sure to check out our deep dive coverage of Intel's new 14th Gen Processors, that just went live today.
Incidentally, Intel CPU's have only held the frequency world record since 2022, when Elmor overclocked the Core i9-13900K to 8.813GHz using liquid nitrogen, and the 9GHz barrier was broken a couple of months later on the 13900K again but using liquid helium. Prior to that, AMD FX CPUs held the record from 2011 to 2022, with the Stilt's AMD FX-8370 at 8.723GHz standing undefeated for nearly a decade.
Be sure to check out our deep dive coverage of Intel's new 14th Gen Processors, that just went live today.
