Question My cpu won’t overclock all the way

ThatSourMelon

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Apr 21, 2019
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I have an intel i5-9600k cpu, it’s supposed to go up to 4.7ghz when overclock, the base is 3.7ghz. I have an MSI Z390-A PRO in which I use to overclock it. I have had them for a few weeks. When I overclock, in the motherboards BIOS it reads the cpu is 4.4ghz, and when I look in task manager, it caps at 4.36ghz. Isn’t it supposed to cap at 4.7? Does it automatically stop depending on what the cooling can handle? I do some pretty high video editing and want to game/stream on the same computer, so I want the speed the highest speed I can get. Anyone know how I can fix this and/or tell me why it won’t go full speed?
 

PC Tailor

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The 9600k is acting as expected. And by overclock, I assume you mean boost? Overclocking and boost frequencies are 2 (technically) different things really.

9600k boost clock behaviour (roughly):
1 core boost = 4.6 GHz
2 core boost = 4.5 GHz
3 core boost = 4.4 GHz
4 core boost = 4.4 GHz
5 core boost = 4.3 GHz
6 core boost = 4.3 GHz
 
Last edited:

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
The 9600k is acting as expected. And by overclock, I assume you mean boost? Overclocking and boost frequencies are 2 different things really.

9600k boost clock behaviour (roughly):
1 core boost = 4.6 GHz
2 core boost = 4.5 GHz
3 core boost = 4.4 GHz
4 core boost = 4.4 GHz
5 core boost = 4.3 GHz
6 core boost = 4.3 GHz
Thanks! I guess I mean boost. How do I change the different core boosts and is there really a difference besides the speed?
 
I have an intel i5-9600k cpu, it’s supposed to go up to 4.7ghz when overclock, the base is 3.7ghz. I have an MSI Z390-A PRO in which I use to overclock it. I have had them for a few weeks. When I overclock, in the motherboards BIOS it reads the cpu is 4.4ghz, and when I look in task manager, it caps at 4.36ghz. Isn’t it supposed to cap at 4.7? Does it automatically stop depending on what the cooling can handle? I do some pretty high video editing and want to game/stream on the same computer, so I want the speed the highest speed I can get. Anyone know how I can fix this and/or tell me why it won’t go full speed?
If you did mean overclock then overclocking, by definition, is working outside the guaranteed limits of the device, be it CPU, GPU, or DRAM. As such, there is no "guaranteed overclock" regardless of what is advertised.
 

PC Tailor

Illustrious
Ambassador
Technically they are both a form of overclock, but a boost is an inbuilt frequency boost as set in by the manufacturer that applies when the right conditions are met and is dynamic based on the need for more performance, OC is someone manually overriding the manufacturers settings to get more juice out of the CPU.

Basically, boost is authomatically managed and within manufacturers operating range, OC is manually done and usually outside of manufacturers operating range, in OC, you are effectively giving the CPU the ability to hit a higher speed than it is "technically" made/tested to do.

So yes they are both getting more performance out the CPU, but technically speaking, they are treated differently.

In effect to change each core clock individually, that's where you are overclocking, the turbo boost is either enabled or disabled.
 
In normal operation on the desktop in Balanced mode, if you look at HwMonitor, you might be able to occasionally catch a single core boosting to 4.7 GHz for a second or two when you open/start a file/application.

All cores going to 4.7 GHz with stability is more a function of having MCE enabled, possibly a core voltage bump, and good cooling... (You might be able to accomplish all or some of the same things within Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility...)