• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

Intel X6 i5-9600KF based system (5.00Ghz project)

Status
Not open for further replies.
In terms of the RAM I backed off just a little from my 4500Mhz goal and downgraded to 4000Mhz Gskill Trident z b-die at 18-19-19-39
That 4500mhz goal is more obtainable with a $100 ram kit, Teamgroup dark pros are around $100 on sale (3200 14-14-14-31) and I've seen plenty of users doing 4500mhz cl18 or tight timings like 4000mhz cl14 both 1T, not sure why you spent double on a kit that's actually a worse bin (oh and if you don't believe me about 4000mhz cl14:
1581505192157.png

)
The same applies to the 4400cl19 viper steel kit.
I think the build overall could have been much better, but enjoy, I guess - I won't knock it further.
 
Why the crappy CM case?
 
CPU Cooler = MSI Core Frozr XL 120MM
$120
Odd choice. I hope you ended up with something better. Also, I would put a better case on the upgrade list.

Ice lake on mobile has a 10% performance improvement with a boost speed of 1.5-2ghz lower compared to the 14nm++ alternatives.

Assuming they can get Ice Lake on desktop, or Tiger Lake whatever to run at 4ghz+, we should be seeing 20% minimum improvements, and if they hit 5ghz, 30%+ over current offerings, assuming core counts are the same.
If they could, you wouldn't be seeing 14++++++++++ on 10th gen.
 
The CPU is a good choice for the near future, but not long term. It is generally held that a 4c/8t system or 6c/6t system would be considered a minimum spec (assuming the budget supports it). That said, I do not know if you are a gamer, but every month new titles come out and core/thread requirements up - there are several titles today that have a glass ceiling with a 4c/8t or 6c/6t CPU. With consoles being released this year running higher core/threads counts, we'll finally start to see some real traction on the core war AMD started. More and more things use more and more cores. Upgrading to a 9900K later is a curious and likely more costly move in the long run (depending on when you buy it...(you're already in $200).. and in 3 years, the 9900K will have been supplanted by AMD or Intel CPUs easily. At least you get more performance now and down the line with ONE purchase. Then in a few years, you can look at the landscape again and see what your needs are.

As you can see, the bell curve doesn't just drop off like a cliff, indicating this CPU has very good overclocking potential with the right hardware and doesn't face a "hard limit" as some other CPUs do. Here is the OC freq curve for the i5-9600KF, from userbenchmark.com
As we can see? What does that chart show us, actually? Overall performance, right? It isn't for overclocks. Regardless, compare it to a 9900K, the charts look the same (as far as falloff goes). The 'hard limit' found on the 9900K, you will also find with your CPU... temperatures. This CPU has the same size and hardness 'wall' you talk about that the other chips do. If you look at hwbot, average on air is a bit over 5 GHz.

It's just that I find it a good resource to get some perspective on potential overclockability.
But, it doesn't show overclockability... just the overall performance is what that curve shows...obviously some of those results are overclocked, but you cannot extrapolate overclockability from that, really.

Wondering where you got your information regarding average overclocks on these chips... 5.4 GHz isn't typical on anything Intel at all. That said, 5 GHz shouldn't be an issue (depends on thermals).

, and Antec 650W PSU
That Neo blue is a 10+ year old design and was average then. It is well out of warranty as well.. time to get something with modern protections and internals, and is actually 80+ rated, when you can.


As far as your RAM... yikers... I see what people are saying about the lopsided build. You pay through the nose for DDR4 4000 (after being talked down off 4500), but you get a 6c/6t CPU.. That makes no sense. Life of that machine and performance today and tomorrow would have been better served by going DDR4 3600 (something reasonable for a daily driver) and a 8c/16t CPU.

That case looks like it came from Y2K. Poor airflow it looks like...scary for today's systems running at 5Ghz...

The cooler... $100+???? It isn't a great performer at all. You could have saved $50 and went with a true spirit 140 for $50 or spent the same and bought a much better performing AIO. I hope it can handle your 5 GHz goals inside that old case!

I think the build overall could have been much better, but enjoy, I guess - I won't knock it further.
This. Feels like it was parted together with little consideration of what is what, frankly. Overpaid for RAM with too high of speed ($ for the returns), 6c/6t CPU... poor $/performance cooler...closed off case in 2020... better choices could have been made for a better system today, tomorrow, and done for strikingly similar costs...

... and that isn't even talking about the viable, and perhaps better choice of running an AMD system.




In the end, this is a huge improvement over what you have listed in your system specs. It just could have been more finely tweaked for todays and tomorrows performance. Enjoy your machine!
 
Last edited:
The point of the thread went about 50 miles over everyone else's heads but I'm personally looking forward to seeing what you can reach, I almost purchased a 9600K myself when I saw OCUK getting good clocks on them, as far as 5.2 at one point IIRC, however I figured I'd wait for Comet Lake instead. Case could be better-looking, otherwise GLHF!
 
The point of the thread went about 50 miles over everyone else's heads but I'm personally looking forward to seeing what you can reach, I almost purchased a 9600K myself when I saw OCUK getting good clocks on them, as far as 5.2 at one point IIRC, however I figured I'd wait for Comet Lake instead. Case could be better-looking, otherwise GLHF!
I don't think we missed anything...the build isn't optimal and some decisions/choices made were based on questionable grounds which can potentially hamper the 5 GHz goal and life of the PC (cooler choice, case). We're here to help... even if it means being honest about the choices made. Hard to know and learn if everyone around you simply nods their heads in agreement, ya know?
 
Last edited:
I don't think we missed anything...the build isn't optimal and some decisions/choices made were based on questionable grounds which can potentially hamper the 5 GHz goal and life of the PC (cooler choice, case). We're here to help... even if it means being honest about the choices made. Hard to know and learn if everyone around you simply nods their heads in agreement, ya know?

I will look into upgrading the memory because one thing I am interested in is latency. Other than that this is geared towards single-thread performance, not sure why it is such a mystery for you guys to understand this.

You guys do realize you don't need 8 cores for browsing the web, playing games from the early 2010s and stuff like that, right?

First of all I just want to point out something that did go right over everyone's head. The Cost to performance ratio of this CPU is the best on the market (for intel chips). Bear that in mind before you respond again.


Calm down, guys! I'm not much of a gamer, it's not like I'm going out and desperately buying games every week in hopes that I can "play them furiously" on my new system. It was a calculated buy, not geared towards maximum number crunching performance, but with a focus on single threaded workloads instead. This is the first time I've done this, but I chose the CPU cooler for aesthetics. Matching MSI mobo, video card and cooler. I know I overpaid for it, I don't mind, I like the look. I like the look of it and it should be able to keep my hexacore running nice and cool. If it sucks I can get something else.

If my Phenom II x6 system @ 4.0Ghz lasted almost 10 years in the same case pushing a higher TDP, I don't know why this particular case would be a problem for a far superior motherboard (with much better power delivery ) and a CPU with a lower TDP. The reason I retained the case is due to the fact that it has insulated panels that block out a good bit of the noise. Call me crazy, I just don't like the look of most new cases. I like the older business look more than that of these giant gaming rigs with about 20lb of glass on each side everyone seems to have now a days. The case is in fine shape.
 
That 4500mhz goal is more obtainable with a $100 ram kit, Teamgroup dark pros are around $100 on sale (3200 14-14-14-31) and I've seen plenty of users doing 4500mhz cl18 or tight timings like 4000mhz cl14 both 1T, not sure why you spent double on a kit that's actually a worse bin (oh and if you don't believe me about 4000mhz cl14:
View attachment 144619
)
The same applies to the 4400cl19 viper steel kit.
I think the build overall could have been much better, but enjoy, I guess - I won't knock it further.

Okay, thanks for pointing this out. I hear you on the memory and will take your advice in upgrading to something better.

Can you please provide details or links so I know exactly what to buy? thanks!

EDIT: Do you think I should go with the viper kit or the other one? I would prefer tight timings to speed...

And as I said, If you had no idea what was under the hood and someone asked which one has the better processor it... there would be ZERO way to tell because there would be ZERO difference in performance vs a 9900k! (For basic gaming and everyday tasking)
 
Last edited:
I'd opt for the viper steel (4400 cl19-19-19-39 bin), also your CPU choice is fine, I do not agree with your cooler choice, motherboard choice and NVME choice.
EDIT: If the viper isn't available in the US opt for the 3200 cl14-14-14-31 teamgroup instead
 
I'd opt for the viper steel (4400 cl19-19-19-39 bin), also your CPU choice is fine, I do not agree with your cooler choice, motherboard choice and NVME choice.
EDIT: If the viper isn't available in the US opt for the 3200 cl14-14-14-31 teamgroup instead

Okay, now what's wrong with the motherboard and NVME choice?
 
If you don't need it, SC, you don't need it. Just saying more can be had if other options used elsewhere. Although there is a massive IPC and clock increase, you'll find 6c/6t will get long in the tooth sooner than later. A good in between perhaps is a 8c/8t (or 6c/12t Ryzen 3000). :)

because one thing I am interested in is latency.
Why though? Do you know, really or just chasing after a word? I'm not trying to be an ass, but really think about why you are paying a premium. Users cannot tell the difference outside of benchmarks on memory latency... save $100 (and maybe get a better chassis - one that has a windowed side panel to actually show off your MSI build or a new PSU) and get a simple low latency DDR4 3600 kit is my take.

That cooler is MEH (read the link), NVMe drive can drop to the EVO level and save some cash (while not noticing a difference outside of benchmarks)...there are also cheaper similarly performing drives than the Samsungs.
 
Last edited:
Okay, now what's wrong with the motherboard and NVME choice?
The motherboard is not that great for memory overclocking, in my opinion the Z390 Sli/AC from ASRock can overclock ram significantly better, although if you're going for your wild long shot aim of 4500? You'll want a Z390i phantom ITX or a Z390i edge AC for this as 1DPC is significantly easier to overclock ram on and it will definitely not hold you back.
As for the NVME, you spent $170 for 512gb on a pure performance orientated SSD that will likely offer you no real world performance gains over a cheaper NVME.
Also, as for the cooler choice you spent $120 on a cooler that probably performs worse or equal to an AIO or cheaper cooler such as a scythe.
 
The motherboard is not that great for memory overclocking, in my opinion the Z390 Sli/AC from ASRock can overclock ram significantly better, although if you're going for your wild long shot aim of 4500? You'll want a Z390i phantom ITX or a Z390i edge AC for this as 1DPC is significantly easier to overclock ram on and it will definitely not hold you back.
As for the NVME, you spent $170 for 512gb on a pure performance orientated SSD that will likely offer you no real world performance gains over a cheaper NVME.
Also, as for the cooler choice you spent $120 on a cooler that probably performs worse or equal to an AIO or cheaper cooler such as a scythe.

-I wanted an air-cooled build this time around. I'm a little sick of radiators in my PCs.
-As I said I chose the cooler based on looks. Not normally something I would do but why not, ya know? Make it your own.
-There is no real need to "overclock" memory that is already going to be blistering fast at 4000Mhz (but I will be trying for some improvements, see below) - And I will have you know, you will only see theoretical gains in benchmarks or very very heavy resource-intensive gaming, etc. Heck, even my 1600Mhz DDR3 8GB kit in my Phenom II x6 rig still has plenty of throughput for everything I need to do.
-I was future-proofing with the Nvme SSD drive (it was well under $200) - I want a responsive system, can you blame me? lol
-The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac has difficulty staying cool under heavy loads (some have even said the VRMs overheat with a stock 9900k)

I will most likely upgrade to the Viper kit, but that being said, does anyone have experience overclocking the G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 4000 (PC4 32000) Intel Z270 / Z370 Memory (Desktop Memory) Model F4-4000C18D-16GTZ ? It's B-die right?

I'm just contemplating what I want to do with the memory...
 
Model F4-4000C18D-16GTZ ? It's B-die right?
Is it b-die? Yes.
Is it good b-die? Not really.
Note that not all b-die is good.
-I was future-proofing with the Nvme SSD drive (it was well under $200) - I want a responsive system, can you blame me? lol
Cheaper NVMEs do that too, and as stated prior there is no real world difference, but sure stick to that.
-The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac has difficulty staying cool under heavy loads (some have even said the VRMs overheat with a stock 9900k)
Still a better board regardless, though again for big RAM speeds you'll want 1DPC
Either way, again, enjoy your build.
 
That 4500mhz goal is more obtainable with a $100 ram kit, Teamgroup dark pros are around $100 on sale (3200 14-14-14-31) and I've seen plenty of users doing 4500mhz cl18 or tight timings like 4000mhz cl14 both 1T, not sure why you spent double on a kit that's actually a worse bin (oh and if you don't believe me about 4000mhz cl14:
View attachment 144619
)
The same applies to the 4400cl19 viper steel kit.
I think the build overall could have been much better, but enjoy, I guess - I won't knock it further.

Sounds like the teamgroup is really good stuff. I see they also have a 3466Mhz kit, do you think I will:
a) Be able to get ~4000Mhz out of it with my motherboard?
b) If I can overclock, should I get the 3200 or the 3466?

TEAMGROUP T-Force Dark Pro DDR4 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) 3466MHz (PC4 27700) CL 16 288-Pin SDRAM Desktop Gaming Memory Module Ram - Gray - TDPGD416G3466HC16CDC01
 
Is it b-die? Yes.
Is it good b-die? Not really.
Note that not all b-die is good.

Cheaper NVMEs do that too, and as stated prior there is no real world difference, but sure stick to that.

Still a better board regardless, though again for big RAM speeds you'll want 1DPC
Either way, again, enjoy your build.

Absolutely, I agree. I just wanted the best of the best in the SSD department.

Okay, I think you have me sold on the Teamgroup stuff - that is if my current board has the potential to be able to push them harder?

As for the ASrock, I wouldn't want to go near it if it's having difficulties with a stock 9900k.

So what's the takeaway here?

The takeaway here with this entire build is NO REAL WORLD DIFFERENCE!
I could spend $3500 and boot to windows in 10 seconds
Or I could spend $850 and boot to windows in 11 seconds.

The choice is pretty clear if you ask me.

Cheaper NVMEs do that too, and as stated prior there is no real-world difference, but sure stick to that.

So it would be paradoxical to bash on the CPU choice if we are following this logic, right?

That's more of a rhetorical question.
 
Last edited:
I've built an 8600K, 8400, and 9900K, all with ASRock Z3x0 boards, 970 Evo/Pros, 16GB+ G Skill 3200+ ram and they are all indistinguishable for general use. The 9900K is noticable if doing something with a lot of threads. Just build the 6 core, and if it goes obsolete in 4 years then build another machine at that time. Everything will be obsolete eventually who cares. Another route is snipe a used 8700K off eBay.

Having no issues at all with Z370 Extreme 4 (i5 8400), Z370 Taichi (i5 8600K), and Z390 Taichi (i9 9900K). ASRock makes some good boards for the price range.

Went with the i9 9900K for the most recent one because an open box one at Microcenter was just $380.
 
Last edited:
I've recommended the Team Dark Pro kit in every memory post I've seen.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/BMtgXL - £3.5k workstation build with 2x16gb kits. Running at 3200/14-14-14-30 with 4 dimms no problem.
 
Well it was £3.5k when I built it 9 months ago.
 
I've recommended the Team Dark Pro kit in every memory post I've seen.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/BMtgXL - £3.5k workstation build with 2x16gb kits. Running at 3200/14-14-14-30 with 4 dimms no problem.

Okay, I will pull the trigger on a 16GB kit of the Dark Pro.

Is there any reason I should go with the 3466 variant as opposed to the 3200 kit?
 
Okay, I will pull the trigger on a 16GB kit of the Dark Pro.

Is there any reason I should go with the 3466 variant as opposed to the 3200 kit?
Anything CL14 (14-14-14-34) is B Die. 3000/3200CL14 is an easy way to find it. Its harder to distinguish B Die kits from the others on most of the 3000-4000 kits because the Hynix and Micron/Crucial have improved quite a bit but they generally have worse timings. Generally though, the really really high frequency kits are also b-die.
 
Okay, I will pull the trigger on a 16GB kit of the Dark Pro.

Is there any reason I should go with the 3466 variant as opposed to the 3200 kit?

no only the 3200 CL14 kit is good afaik
 
no only the 3200 CL14 kit is good afaik
I have the G Skill of this ram and it is really good. I can overclock really high with it.
 
I have the G Skill of this ram and it is really good. I can overclock really high with it.

I have the Team T force legend variant it also overclock really well... Although diminished returns on ryzen beyond 3800mhz....
 
I have the Team T force legend variant it also overclock really well... Although diminished returns on ryzen beyond 3800mhz....
I was able to validate 4300 19-19-19-39 with 1.35V but it wasn't stable, maybe could have dialed it in with more voltage. Then lost interest in overclocking it so it sits at 3200C14.

Theres a lot of potential with the 3200C14 b die.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top