Increase from 10600K to 10900K
Increase from 10600K to 10900K
upgraded from a 10600K to the 10900K yesterday. Swapped it 10 minutes ago and ran tests – it handles 70-85°C under load in C20 (240mm air cooler) but performance is lower than expected. It clocks at 4.9GHz on all cores and reaches 5GHz with turbo, delivering 245w of power. Vcore was around 1.378, but VR OUTPUT is showing 1.31 in a CSGO benchmark. Achieved 386fps (425fps with an OC’d 10600K). All stock units of the 10600K were boosted to 4.9GHz and ran at about 80-85°C with ~160w output, Vcore near 1.38 (bios at 1.335). VR OUTPUT is 1.29. Should I reinstall Windows or check drivers? Also, the BIOS VCore is at 1.335 – VR OUTPUT at 1.29, so it might be a BIOS setting issue. Intel XTU is installed but unclear if removal or reinstallation helps.
Consider resetting XTU to its defaults and removing it. Make sure to clear the CMOS during the restart for a fresh start.
It’s quite low for a 10900K at 4.90 GHz. Launch Task Manager and verify it shows 10 cores and 20 logical processors. For a simple comparison, I compared it to a similar 10-core 10850K at the same frequency, which achieved 6406 in Cinebench R20. The peak power draw was 200.7 Watts. Apply ThrottleStop to ensure all cores stay at 4.9 GHz during the test. If Thermal Velocity Boost is active, throttling will occur. The CPU frequency will drop by 100 MHz once it hits 70°C. I recommend a negative voltage offset of at least -50 mV. Your motherboard provides generous extra voltage, which the CPU doesn’t require. Too much voltage generates additional heat. A 10900K should maintain stable Cinebench at 1.20 V or lower. I lowered the voltage further and reduced power consumption by another 20W, bringing it down to 180W for Cinebench.
Got an update: I've tried running a profile on bios called "Advanced Profile" (its from gigabyte's built-in profiles) Its the first time that I've done something like that, I always OC manually well, that was interesting cpu was pinned at 5.2GHz and 100c across all cores with Vcore and VR VOUT at 1.6-1.7 INSANE I run another C20 now and got 5792 points (still didn't touch anything, bios are all stock) I did uninstall Intel's XTU and cleared the cmos (before I pulled out the 10600K I did reset the bios but from the bios itself, not a cmos clear) Task Manager does some that the cpu is 10/20, it is detected as it should and here's a screenshot of ThrottleStop (the first score is from an advanced test that I did, whatever that is, idk lol) 1.36V does seem ridiculously high since it was the voltage that was required by the 10600K to run semi-stable at 5GHz across all cores
Gigabyte Z490 boards are known for their high voltage defaults. You can easily lower your Cinebench scores by cutting excess power. I found the Cinebench zip in your taskbar. To confirm, unzip it and run a program inside the archive. Keeping it open while testing hurts speed. When your PC sits idle with ThrottleStop enabled, what does it show for C0% on the main screen? If you have many background apps, a high idle C0% can hurt your benchmark results. My Windows setup is minimal, so ThrottleStop usually displays 0.1% when idle. The smaller this value, the more CPU cycles remain for your tests or games. Check the Cinebench screenshot I shared. While Cinebench runs, ThrottleStop indicates each core and thread spends 100% of time in the C0 working state. There’s a hidden issue where some users don’t see the full 100% during full load tests, which lowers peak performance. HWiNFO flags this as reduced Effective Clock. Some notice the problem about ten minutes after startup, when the full C0% drops from 100% to 99%. Running ThrottleStop version 9.3 helps. A few say just updating ThrottleStop fixes it, bringing CPU back to 100% for optimal results. The exact cause remains unclear. Some blame Windows Defender, others suspect a CPU hardware flaw. Use CPU-Z to verify your RAM speed. Your reduced speed could stem from slower memory—DDR4000 runs at 2000 MHz, with Ring Down Bin set to 300 MHz below core speed. I configured my 10850K for 6 cores, 12 threads at 4900 MHz to compare with your 10600K. Cinebench R20 scored 3907.
Adjust the voltage to 1.25 just for observation. Clocks, temperatures, and power consumption are stable around 70-77°C. All ten cores operate at 4.9GHz. Power usage decreased from 250W to 200W. When only ThrottleStop is active, CPU temperature stays between 0.2-0.4°C with Corsair ICUE and HWiNFO monitoring. RAM performance is at full speed. I own two Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB kits (2x8GB) at 3600MHz CL18. Typically I run them at 3600MHz CL17-21-21-41 with tighter secondary timings, but haven’t adjusted yet after clearing CMOS. Last score was about 5900 points. I previously used 10600K settings and achieved 4900 points, which is significantly better. Would a fresh Windows installation be beneficial? I dislike reinstalling since it requires backing up everything and reinstalling software. Instead, consider using a budget SSD and installing Windows 10 there. I’d like to run this test to determine if the issue lies in the operating system, possibly due to lingering updates from the 10600K. Updated: Replaced BIOS, lowered voltage to 1.21, adjusted timings to 17-21-21-41 (no voltage or frequency changes). Achieved 6173 points. Peak temperature reached 73°C, VR OUTPUT 1.211, VCore max 1.236, Power draw 198W.
The upgrade from 10600K to 10900K should work smoothly without needing a full reinstall. All ten cores and twenty threads remain accessible to Windows. I haven’t tested the smaller C0 percentage issue I mentioned earlier. When this occurs, it can lower Cinebench scores by hundreds. These scores usually stay stable, but a noticeable dip within ten to fifteen minutes after startup may indicate the C0 bug. To run Cinebench, close iCUE, HWiNFO and CPU-Z. Your Uncore is currently at 4300 MHz—consider boosting it. With a 4900 MHz CPU, I can reliably run Uncore at 4600 MHz. That could add a few more points. Activate Ring Down Bin in BIOS; high Uncore frequencies often need extra voltage for stability. Maintaining a 300 MHz gap between core and uncore seems optimal for these chips. Adjusting the Uncore to 4300 MHz lowered my Cinebench by 70 points.
Adjusted core clock to 5GHz uncore, set vcore to 4.6GHz, vccio to 1.245Vcc, vccsa to 1.19V, enabled energy efficient turbo disabled. Got 6349 points on C20. After testing the PC froze, vcore stabilized at 1.235V and Vout at 1.21. I personally prefer not to overclock with Gigabyte boards and BIOS, but it’s what the system does.