A single-core processor might be pushed nearly to that pace by the Asus team.
After only one day of official release, the Intel Core i9-14900KF is already breaking overclocking records. The Asus team activated Intel’s most recent flagship CPU and then broke its own record for single-core CPU overclocking by pushing it all the way to 9.1GHz with liquid helium. With the 13900K, the team had previously overcome the 9GHz barrier. It went a little bit further this time, breaking its previous record by 35.1MHz.
The Asus team’s overclocking skills are already legendary because of the multiple records it has already set using Intel technology. It used an Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore motherboard, which retails for about $650 and isn’t particularly an extreme board, for its most recent run. In order to keep CPU temperatures below zero, they used liquid helium and a 1,200W Enermax power supply. Although liquid helium is colder than liquid nitrogen, the CPU was able to run at -235C during the attempt at overclocking, according to Tom’s Hardware.
By raising the base and boost clocks by 200MHz in comparison to the 13900K it replaces, Intel helped. According to what we’ve seen from Intel in the past, the extremely mature Intel 7 node appears to be helping out a little bit here as well, as improvements in manufacturing have allowed these chips to overclock a little bit better than their predecessors. Because working with liquid helium is not an easy task, the crew still needed a week to set this new record despite the accelerated clocks. It is a difficult process to continuously pour it onto a CPU while preventing condensation at the socket because, unlike liquid helium, it practically instantly evaporates.
Previously, this same team used the same motherboard and helium CPU cooling technique to boost an Intel Core i9-13900K to 9.008GHz in December of last year. Although it is yet unknown how much faster it can go, 9.1GHz certainly seems doable given that the 14900K is only one day old. The system wasn’t steady, but the team said it was momentarily able to accomplish that milestone. As Apple successfully increased the 13900K’s frequency from 8.8GHz to just over 9GHz in 2022, perhaps more time will allow it to identify the problem.