i9 12900K Overclocking at 5.1 [Questions]
i9 12900K Overclocking at 5.1 [Questions]
Hi everyone, I have a few queries regarding my overclocking setup for the i9 12900K.
I set the P-Core to 5100 MHz and E-Core to 4100 MHz.
The CPU base clock is at 100.0, with a ratio of 0 when using AVX.
Ring Ratio remains on Auto, core voltage is 1.30, C1E is disabled, and EIST/Inter Turbo Boost is off.
I’m about to begin stress testing, but I’m encountering issues: the bus clock displays 98.8 MHz instead of the expected value.
The P-core reaches a maximum of 5087 MHz, which never hits the target 5100 MHz.
The E-core caps at 4090 MHz, also not reaching 4100 MHz.
This is concerning.
During quick Cinebench runs, I observed a significant drop to 800 MHz across many cores after a short time.
I’m unsure if this is due to throttling and how to prevent it.
Additionally, Prime95 didn’t trigger the same issue when running.
PC Specifications:
Case – Thermaltake View 51
Motherboard – MSI MPG Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4
CPU – Intel Core™ i9-12900K
Memory – Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3200 (PC4-25600) C16
GPU – GeForce RTX™ 3090 24GB GDDR6X (GIGABYTE GAMING OC)
Power Supply – 1050 Watts, Enermax EDT1050EWT, MaxTytan certified, 80 PLUS Titanium
Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 360mm ARGB Sync Edition, high-performance CPU waterblock with copper cold plate
Storage – Two 1TB drives (two x WD Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 SSD) plus a 3TB Barracuda HDD, giving a total of 5 TB. Operating system: Windows 11 Home (64-bit).
Hello, the bus and clock speeds usually stay very close to those values, so they're acceptable. Regarding the Cinebench drop-off, it would be helpful to know the temperatures you experienced during load for Cinebench R23. Also, is this a fully 5-core system at 5.1GHz? What was your Cinebench score in the multi-core test? Additionally, I’d consider lowering the e-cores to their maximum for 4GHz since it’s not essential and mainly affects stability and heat when the P-cores are running at full speed.
You've likely encountered this advice online, though it applies more to MSI boards. For ASUS motherboards, disable all power restrictions. In the UEFI, input the Long Duration Power Limit as 4096W, Short Duration Power Limit as 4096W, and CPU Current Limit at 512A. Then, adjust the Long Duration Maintained setting to the maximum allowed, which is 128 seconds.
My goal in increasing my 12900k’s speed is to ensure it runs smoothly under stress.
Gamers usually prefer letting the turbo boost beyond what an all-core overclock can achieve.
Overclocking suits applications that load all cores at once.
If performance falls, you’re probably throttling.
Check HWmonitor for real-time temps, clocks, and heat levels.
A temperature between 10-15°C is normal; higher readings suggest cooling issues.
Verify the radiator placement and airflow—inside or outside?
Installing an AIO helps, but placing it to draw in fresh air keeps the CPU cooler.
Conversely, exhausting hot air improves board and GPU cooling at the cost of less efficient CPU cooling.
Concerning your overclock, what are your main objectives for speed? I've moved away from traditional all-core overclocks and now focus on per-core performance. The newer CB23 also supports AVX instructions, and generally AOIs will face challenges at 12900ks when overclocking.