The 9GHz CPU barrier has been broken!

Impressive, most impressive.

It was less than two months’ ago that Intel’s Core i9-13900K become the world’s highest frequency CPU as an overclocking team lifted single-core frequency to an astounding 8.8GHz. Now, the magical 9GHz barrier has been broken by the Asus overclocking team.

Headed by Jon Elmor Sandström, the team used a Core i9-13900K processor – cherry-picked, of course – on top of an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard. Documented by SkatterBencher, you can see how the world record attempt unfolded in the video below.

Disabling the Efficient cores and focussing on the most performant Performance core, the team cooled Intel’s latest Raptor Lake silicon to an astonishing -250C using liquid helium. Interestingly, the team used three systems but went back to the first after failed attempts on backup rigs.

Achieving over 9GHz for a fleeting moment, the video shows tension in the room gives way to unadulterated joy – fast forward to the 12-minute mark – as the speed is confirmed. A fantastic achievement, but when will we see the first 10GHz x86 processor?

Tarinder Sandhu
Tarinder Sandhu
Founder and publisher at Club386, nobody has more experience ripping the guts out of PCs. Contributing over 20 years of experience, you’ll often see him gallivanting across the globe to distant events, uncovering the latest CPUs and graphics cards. When he’s not elbow-deep in benchmarks, he’s either taking photos with Lisa Su, watching Manchester United, or daydreaming about his next adventure.

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