Ability Consumption and Overclocking

Equally expected the new 8-cadre models are serious power pigs. The 9700K matched the 7820X with a system depict of 235 watts when running our HandBrake workload. The 9900K pushed consumption nine% higher hitting 255 watts which is 13% more power than the 16-cadre Threadripper 2950X arrangement consumed.

We find a similar story when testing with Blender though the AMD CPUs did perform meliorate in this application and every bit a result the 2950X was able to piece of work a bit harder, merely withal it still swallow less power than the 9900K. That's enough power consumption information for the moment, let's check out overclocking performance.

Overclocking these 8-core parts to v.1 GHz wasn't piece of cake, it required 1.375v and a massive liquid cooler, you aren't hitting this frequency with a 240mm closed loop libation, 5 GHz is probably off the table as well, just we will talk most thermal performance shortly.

Looking at the multi-threaded results the 9900K saw an 8% performance boost while the 9700K saw a 7% heave. I should likewise note that I take 2 9900K samples and both struggled with the 5.1 GHz overclock. They could boot into Windows at five.two GHz and run a few basic tests but anything more would result in the bluish screen of death, even at 1.45v.

Moving on to Corona the 9900K was 7% faster in one case overclocked while the 9700K enjoyed a 9% performance bump.

Finally nosotros have the Premiere results and again the 9700K saw a 9% performance boost and the 9900K an 8% heave. And then only single digit gains making it hard to justify the increased power consumption and operating temperatures.

Speaking of power the 9700K configuration consumed 15% more power once overclocked and the 9900K an boosted 19% taking the total organisation consumption to 294 watts.

Temperatures

When it comes to operating temperatures I have nothing simply bad news. these 8-core CPUs might have a STIM pack, I mean soldered thermal interface, but you lot wouldn't necessarily know information technology. Stock out of the box with either a premium air-cooler or a recent closed-loop liquid libation you lot're look at load temps well into the fourscore's and overclocking is basically out of the question. Certain 5 GHz might be okay for games but if you're placing all 8-cores under prolonged stress temperatures will hit 100c, and I was testing in a relatively cool room within a well ventilated case.

Using a custom liquid cooling setup only reduced the stock operating temperature by 8 degrees and we're talking most a $400 - $500 kit here.

It was possible to run at up to 5.i GHz merely even then temperatures were stick knocking on the door of 100 degrees which is apparently insane. So the 9900K might be fast but practiced luck keeping it at a reasonable temperature. Nosotros ran out of time to examination thermal performance of the 9700K, but nosotros'll include that information in hereafter content, for now allow'southward motion onto games.