Question i5 9600k with msi mag z390 tomahawk

Aug 17, 2019
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Has anyone overclocked their i5 9600k with a msi mag z390 tomahawk board? I am looking to go with this combo for my next build but I keep reading reviews that go both ways about overclocking on the tomahawk board. I have already read tom's review of the board (which was poor) but they had it paired with an i9 9900k. Is overclocking the 9600k to 5ghz possible with this board or will the voltage regulator keep me from it? Thanks in advance!
 
Has anyone overclocked their i5 9600k with a msi mag z390 tomahawk board? I am looking to go with this combo for my next build but I keep reading reviews that go both ways about overclocking on the tomahawk board. I have already read tom's review of the board (which was poor) but they had it paired with an i9 9900k. Is overclocking the 9600k to 5ghz possible with this board or will the voltage regulator keep me from it? Thanks in advance!
well, this depends on the chip
but that board isn't the best for overclocking.

almost 100% sure you can get 5ghz on the 9600k
but if youve got a crappy 9600k that needs lots of voltage it might not it
 

j3ster

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well you can chose from Gigabyte's lineup for your z390. coming from buildzoid and other reviewers their vrms even for the lower end are excellent for overclocking so you might want to check into that.
 
Aug 17, 2019
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Well unfortunately I'm stuck with the msi mag, I ended up buying it and assumed if I didn't like it I could return it but newegg had other plans for me. I failed to realize that their return policy for the board is replacement only. Yup! Took a big L on that one but I'm hoping that my chip will be from a good batch. Thanks again to all of you for your input. I'm doing a new build for 1080p 144hz. Looking to max it out with the 2070 super I plan on getting in the next couple weeks. I've seen videos of a 9600k with a 2080 on 1080p 144 and the fps was good, temps were good and of course certain games had the 9600k under a full load at times but it wasn't even being OC.
 

j3ster

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to add on to what @TechyInAZ has said, you need to actually make sure you can reach 5ghz with reasonable voltages, preferably below 1.4v. also do you have sufficient cooling? it wont get as hot and toasty as the 9900k but its still ideal to have peak temps below 80c under full load.

but people do 5ghz with z370 boards with an i5 9600k so the msi z390 you have should do fine for your plan.
 
You have the parts to be able to use the Intel Extreme tuning utility.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...cessors/processor-utilities-and-programs.html

The utility measures your chip, cooling, power and generates the maximum stable overclock for your parts.
It takes about an hour to run.

5.0 is very likely.
A i5-9600K is essentially the same processor as a delidded i5-8600K
as of 3/22/2018
What % of I5-8600k chips can oc
at a aggressive vcore of 1.4 or so and delidded
4.9 96%
5.0 85%
5.1 66%
5.2 38%
5.3 13%
 
Aug 17, 2019
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@j3ster I've been looking into AIO depending on when I can get one I'd probably just use a 212 evo from my previous build. Idk if I'd be able to get away with even slightly overclocking the 9600k but I guess I could try if not I'll just wait to OC until I get an AIO.
 
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@geofelt I heard about that! Definitely going to look into running that utility and I'm liking my odds definitely going to come back to this post and let you all know how it works out. Thank you for your input, much appreciated!
 

j3ster

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@j3ster I've been looking into AIO depending on when I can get one I'd probably just use a 212 evo from my previous build. Idk if I'd be able to get away with even slightly overclocking the 9600k but I guess I could try if not I'll just wait to OC until I get an AIO.


id suggest maybe a 280mm AIO like the kraken x62, it should do the job fine but if you really want to give your cpu a fun and happy life a 360mm AIO or a high end air cooler ( the noctua nh-u14s for example) assuming it would fit in your case are your best bet.
 
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What is your case and fan arrangement?
Good cpu cooling starts with a good case.
In a good case, a noctua NH-D15s will cool as well as a 280mm aio.
The noctua will be cheaper, quieter, more reliable, require no maintenance and... it will not leak.

If you have a 212 evo, go ahead and use it. See how you do.
No sense in fixing a problem that you may not have.
 
Aug 17, 2019
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What is your case and fan arrangement?
Good cpu cooling starts with a good case.
In a good case, a noctua NH-D15s will cool as well as a 280mm aio.
The noctua will be cheaper, quieter, more reliable, require no maintenance and... it will not leak.

If you have a 212 evo, go ahead and use it. See how you do.
No sense in fixing a problem that you may not have.

I have a coolermaster h500p mesh.
Definitely would prefer a Noctua, heard nothing but good things about their products but like you said I'll slowly test it with the 212 evo and see what kind of temps I'm getting. As far as fans, I'm going to use the 200mm front fans that come with the case as well as the 140mm exhaust fan it has I also have 6 120mm deepcool fans from my previous build at my disposal. The case will fit a 360mm radiator at the front and top of the case so if all else fails with the fans I'm sure I could fit a pretty hefty AIO in there.
 
A most excellent case.
200mm intake in front will supply all the cooling you need for a hot cpu and graphics card.
A single 140mm exhaust should be right.

If you need more, a good twin tower air cooler will be all you need.
If you spend big bucks for a 360mm radiator in front, you will cool the cpu nicely, but the heat exhaust will heat up your motherboard and provide hotter air for your graphics card.
 
Aug 17, 2019
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A most excellent case.
200mm intake in front will supply all the cooling you need for a hot cpu and graphics card.
A single 140mm exhaust should be right.

If you need more, a good twin tower air cooler will be all you need.
If you spend big bucks for a 360mm radiator in front, you will cool the cpu nicely, but the heat exhaust will heat up your motherboard and provide hotter air for your graphics card.

Awesome, glad to get some confirmation that I'm in a good spot as is. Any twin tower air coolers you recommend?
Yeah I was worried about the heat exhaust, don't really want to put that kind of heat stress on the card if it can be avoided.
 

j3ster

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I have a coolermaster h500p mesh.
Definitely would prefer a Noctua, heard nothing but good things about their products but like you said I'll slowly test it with the 212 evo and see what kind of temps I'm getting. As far as fans, I'm going to use the 200mm front fans that come with the case as well as the 140mm exhaust fan it has I also have 6 120mm deepcool fans from my previous build at my disposal. The case will fit a 360mm radiator at the front and top of the case so if all else fails with the fans I'm sure I could fit a pretty hefty AIO in there.


i use the same case too but i use a kraken x72.

i havent noticed the heating issue that @geofelt mentioned for the motherboard or my gpu from switching from be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler . reading from after burner which i almost always use i still get the same 50c underload when playing games from both the AIO or the air cooler.

and AIOs dont actually leak unless you are extremely unlucky so in case you fancy an AIO you can do so (i personally prefer how they look so theres that).

and they arent noisy at all, i have my pc right beside me and i crank up the fans and i cant really hear them i personally and based on experience never noticed the difference with my dark rock pro and the x72 but i did notice quieter operation from my old 212 evo compared to the dark rock pro.

also i changed my cooler because i wanted to cool my cpu even further thus i got my self the x72, im not a huge water cooling guy, im scared to try out custom loops and im lazy to actually maintain such a thing so AIO to the rescue.


but yes the Noctua NH-D15s is as good as it gets and is very capable of handling your cpu once overclocked.
 
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i use the same case too but i use a kraken x72.

i havent noticed the heating issue that @geofelt mentioned for the motherboard or my gpu from switching from be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler . reading from after burner which i almost always use i still get the same 50c underload when playing games from both the AIO or the air cooler.

and AIOs dont actually leak unless you are extremely unlucky so in case you fancy an AIO you can do so (i personally prefer how they look so theres that).

and they arent noisy at all, i have my pc right beside me and i crank up the fans and i cant really hear them i personally and based on experience never noticed the difference with my dark rock pro and the x72 but i did notice quieter operation from my old 212 evo compared to the dark rock pro.

also i changed my cooler because i wanted to cool my cpu even further thus i got my self the x72, im not a huge water cooling guy, im scared to try out custom loops and im lazy to actually maintain such a thing so AIO to the rescue.


but yes the Noctua NH-D15s is as good as it gets and is very capable of handling your cpu once overclocked.

Yeah I feel the same as far as custom cooling goes. Not too worried about noise becase I play with a headset on anyways but if I'm not getting good temps and I can hear the fans through my headset then I'll go with the kraken. I would do noctua but as far as noise goes its going to be just as loud or louder than the 212 evo so I'll just play that by ear. As far as fans for the top of the case I know they are typically exhaust but I've also ran across people saying to run 1 intake on the top as well because otherwise the intakes from the front will be sucked out by the exhaust on top before it reaches the MB heatsinks. Do you have any experience with this?
 

j3ster

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Yeah I feel the same as far as custom cooling goes. Not too worried about noise becase I play with a headset on anyways but if I'm not getting good temps and I can hear the fans through my headset then I'll go with the kraken. I would do noctua but as far as noise goes its going to be just as loud or louder than the 212 evo so I'll just play that by ear. As far as fans for the top of the case I know they are typically exhaust but I've also ran across people saying to run 1 intake on the top as well because otherwise the intakes from the front will be sucked out by the exhaust on top before it reaches the MB heatsinks. Do you have any experience with this?


for me i use 3 fans on top as exhaust, never tried any weird setups, hot air rises so i went and used that idea and ive never had any issues as for temps i can only verify my gpu temps (51c under full load) since i dont have any tool that i believe is accurate to read my vrm temps. (cpu isnt really affected by my setup since i put my radiator in front with 3 pull fans along with the 2 massive 200mm fans).


and yes noctua is your best bet nh-d15s with 2 fans is as good as air cooling can get, although youd be surprised how massive it is but its also surprisingly quiet for its size.



DRP4 and NH-D15s are both very good and cost half as much as a X72.
Seems like equivalent performance.

Now aesthetics, that is something else.

yea i never really had issues with the drp4 i actually still have it installed in my ryzen 2600 pc, i just first tried out my friends x72, then i was surprised how well it looked and for cooling i do get a some improvement 78c under aida64t vs 82c with the drp4.
 
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DRP4 and NH-D15s are both very good and cost half as much as a X72.
Seems like equivalent performance.

Now aesthetics, that is something else.

Wouldn't mind going DRP4 because I'd ending up spending too much on the NH-D15s by adding chromax covers and getting a set of chromax fans. I don't mind going a bit mismatched but I just don't want to see that ugly tan and brown color scheme every time I look at my build lol.
 
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Yes, You can OC this processor. Actually, I’ve did some OC yesterday on MSI Mag Tomahawk Z390. Currently I’m running @5Ghz 1.350V stable. But also You’ll need some good cooling, someone said Noctua, or water cooled AiO system with atleast 2 fans. NZXT Krakens are good reliable choice.