Skip to main content

Intel’s Rocket Lake chips have been successfully overclocked to 7GHz

Intel

Intel’s flagship Core i9-11900K processor was spotted with a clock speed in excess of 7GHz, thanks to the use of aftermarket cooling solutions powered by liquid nitrogen. Intel’s 11th Gen desktop processor, otherwise known as Rocket Lake-S, was already spotted on an Asus ROG Maximus XIII Apex motherboard on benchmarking site CPU-Z Validation running at 7,048 MHz with 1.873 volts of power. The benchmark was run by overclocker Rog-Fisher, who now has the top three speed records for the Core i9-11900K. The chip’s normal clock frequency is expected to be set to 3.5GHz out of the box.

YouTube channel PC Wale was also able to overclock the processor. Though PC Wale wasn’t able to reach the 7GHz clock speed obtained by Rog-Fisher, it did get Intel’s Core i9-11900K running at 6.5GHz. The unreleased CPU was running at a slightly lower 1.678 volts of power.

According to Videocardz, the channel was able to achieve the speed by running a custom XOC BIOS from overclocker SafeDisk — who also works for Asus — on the Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero motherboard. The custom BIOS unlocks the voltage to 2 volts, which allowed the faster clock frequency.

Though we now know that Intel’s Core i9-11900K Rocket Lake chipset can run at double the shipping clock speeds, it’s unclear what kind of performance uplift the faster frequency will deliver. Results from top benchmarking utilities aren’t posted at this time, so we still don’t have a comparison of performance between normal frequencies and the faster overclocked speeds.

Those interested in Intel’s Rocket Lake processors won’t have too much longer to wait. Rocket Lake is expected to become available tomorrow, March 30, and we’ll likely see more benchmarks posted at that time.

Intel announced at CES that it will also launch its 12th-generation processors later this year. The company is hard at work readying its Alder Lake platform, which will introduce a heterogeneous core architecture to desktops for the first time. The 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are expected to launch in late 2021 and, if Intel’s previous launch cadence is followed, we can expect mobile chips to debut before desktop parts arrive.

Editors' Recommendations

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Intel’s 24-core laptop CPU might outclass desktop i9 processors
A render of Intel's H-series mobile processors.

Intel is pushing laptop CPU core counts to places they've never been before. The company announced its 13th-gen Raptor Lake mobile processors at CES 2023, including the flagship Core i9-13980HX which includes a massive 24 cores that could top the list of the best Intel processors.

That sounds insane considering even AMD's desktop Ryzen 9 7950X only comes with 16 cores. But Intel's cores aren't all built equally. Like the previous generation, 13th-gen mobile Raptor Lake processors include a combination of performance (P) cores and efficient (E) cores. The most powerful chips in the range come with 24 cores, but they're split across eight P-cores and 16 E-cores.

Read more
Intel Raptor Lake CPUs: Everything we know about the 13th-gen processors
Intel Core i5-13600K installed in a motherboard.

Raptor Lake is Intel's 13th generation of processors, and it's one of the most exciting hardware launches of the year. Following up on the momentum it built with its Alder Lake line of CPUs, Intel is looking to retain some of the hard-fought performance crowns. It's got new and stiffer competition, though, in the form of AMD's Ryzen 7000 series of Zen 4 CPUs, which have already impressed for their efficiency and performance.

How will these new CPU lines fair when going head to head? Here's everything you need to know about Raptor Lake.
Pricing and availability

Read more
How to watch Intel’s 13th-gen Raptor Lake launch today (and what to expect)
The Intel Core i9-12900KS box sitting in front of a gaming PC.

The upcoming CPU showdown between Intel and AMD is nearly here as Intel is rumored to announce its next-generation Raptor Lake CPUs in just a few short days. Here's how you can watch Intel's event live and what to expect.
How to watch the Intel 13th-gen Raptor Lake launch

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will deliver the Intel Innovation 2022 keynote alongside the company's CTO Greg Lavender and Landing AI CEO Dr. Andrew Ng. The presentation starts at 9 a.m. PT on Tuesday, September 27, and it will be streamed on Intel's own Innovation 2022 webpage.

Read more