The Setup:
Test board: Asus z390 Maximus xi Extreme
I can go on forever about this board and never be done as it is the best feature packed board on the market. A few things that I found missing is the ROG panel connection. I am not completely broken up over this but I missed it for a few simple functions like temp display without the use of 9v battery and the power reset buttons. For sub zero and not having to wake up the meter every so often is nice.
What else I find missing is the memory profiles from the overclocking legends, while not always 100% bootable they do provide settings and insight that can be useful to reach maximum speed with tight timing.
I spent many hours running this board at -110c testing both function and flaws to find this board is near perfect for a gamer or used as a workstation. I cannot fault Asus for the lack of progress in PCH lanes but I do admire the progress with Dimm.2 adapter direction. One of my biggest issues is there is not enough PCIe lanes on main stream desk top systems to support multiple PCIE SSD's correctly and the lack of bifurcation. In a dream world MSDT would have 40 PCIe lanes.
I pushed and reset the PCMark 10 world records for both Generation 8 and Generation 9 processors. I used AI for the 9900K and manual settings for the 8086k. I found this board similar to previous generations but I noted a few things below that have changed since z370.
http://hwbot.org/submission/3964425_fugger_pcmark10_core_i9_9900k_8461_marks
http://hwbot.org/submission/3959580_fugger_pcmark10_extended_core_i7_8086k_10692_marks
For the single threaded tests I was able to hit a maximum speed of 6.3Ghz at -110c for SuperPi and Pifast results.
http://hwbot.org/submission/3961446_fugger_superpi___32m_core_i9_9900k_5min_35sec_593ms
Lastly, another thing I noted was the overload of power headers on this board. For someone looking for a board rich in power headers this is the board for you.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-XI-EXTREME/
What else I find missing is the memory profiles from the overclocking legends, while not always 100% bootable they do provide settings and insight that can be useful to reach maximum speed with tight timing.
I spent many hours running this board at -110c testing both function and flaws to find this board is near perfect for a gamer or used as a workstation. I cannot fault Asus for the lack of progress in PCH lanes but I do admire the progress with Dimm.2 adapter direction. One of my biggest issues is there is not enough PCIe lanes on main stream desk top systems to support multiple PCIE SSD's correctly and the lack of bifurcation. In a dream world MSDT would have 40 PCIe lanes.
I pushed and reset the PCMark 10 world records for both Generation 8 and Generation 9 processors. I used AI for the 9900K and manual settings for the 8086k. I found this board similar to previous generations but I noted a few things below that have changed since z370.
http://hwbot.org/submission/3964425_fugger_pcmark10_core_i9_9900k_8461_marks
http://hwbot.org/submission/3959580_fugger_pcmark10_extended_core_i7_8086k_10692_marks
For the single threaded tests I was able to hit a maximum speed of 6.3Ghz at -110c for SuperPi and Pifast results.
http://hwbot.org/submission/3961446_fugger_superpi___32m_core_i9_9900k_5min_35sec_593ms
Lastly, another thing I noted was the overload of power headers on this board. For someone looking for a board rich in power headers this is the board for you.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-XI-EXTREME/
AI Overclocking
AI Overclocking is too simple. Asus has made it easy to achieve great results from AI assisted overclocking.
AI predicting of CPU quality and cooler performance is done quickly and accurately. Enable the AI function in BIOS by pressing F11 and reboot will tell you quickly the limits your machine can overclock safely. This AI prediction usually will bring all cores speeds up to run threaded application with stability provided that your cooling doesn't fail. |
I ran a lot of my tests with AI enabled and found it to be useful to return to stable and tweak from there.
Silicon quality %
The Silicon % appears to be an Asus only technology that is reading a sensor or register in the CPU.
This value gives you an idea on how good the processor is without having to bin aggressively. This value does not change from hot to sub zero and this value is working on Generation 8 processors. I really like this feature and spent some time checking out all of my Coffee Lake processors. More testing needs to be done and reported from the super binned 8700K processors. |
I cannot say this measure is 100% accurate on Gen 8 or 9, I have a binned 8086K (5.6Ghz on AIO) and it was only an 84% Silicon value.
This will be interesting for resellers to bin the higher % to see how this value pan out and if any resale value premium for the 110% + chips. For those who saw the ASIC quality value on GPU, this is similar.
This will be interesting for resellers to bin the higher % to see how this value pan out and if any resale value premium for the 110% + chips. For those who saw the ASIC quality value on GPU, this is similar.
Cooler Score
This also appears to be an Asus only technology and may appear on other boards with the same function. This value is shows the performance of your heat sink and can auto adjust between reboots, thus showing a new value.
This value is seen by AI overclocking (F11) to base the OC speed to, so if this value changes on reboot the OC level can change with it. This value can also be manually set to any value between 0 and 250. The BIOS states up to 2000 but even with extreme cooling the highest value is 250. |
There seems to be an issue with AI calibration with exotic cooling and AI works best with AIO and custom water loops. Prediction sub zero only goes so far once you pass the on die thermal diodes ability to read temperatures.
TjMaxx offset
TjMax offset can now be adjusted from 100c to 115c on i9 Gen 9, this allows the CPU a little get hotter before it throttles back. This is a manual setting in BIOS highlighted in the image to the left.
This is new to Generation 9 and this is working. For those who do not know, this will allow your CPU to run faster at the cost of being hotter. The default value is 100c and can be found under Advanced CPU settings. |
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/core/i9-processors/i9-9900k.html
The Intel spec states 100c, just pointing out this is not the max value allowable.
The Intel spec states 100c, just pointing out this is not the max value allowable.
Intel i9 9900K
The best main stream desktop processor on the market today for gaming and pretty much everything else.
This chip is very similar to other Coffee Lakes in terms of overclocking and expected limits. The 9900k also shares the same integrated memory controller as the 8700K so everyone should be at top speed fairly easy.
One of the biggest and most talked about changes with Generation 9 processors is the addition of soldered thermal paste. This material that sits between the heat sink and CPU cores is now soldered. The CPU now has a thicker PCB, noticeably thicker and this is a good thing as chip bending has been an issue for a few generations now, this was caused by too much contact pressure. |
TjMax can now be adjusted to 115c and this will allow your computer to run at higher frequency longer with the 15% addition in thermal headroom. For water cooling guys this should be helpful in getting the most out of custom builds.
The 9900K is an overclocking monster that we should see many 7Ghz overclocks at launch. Asus hitting 7.6Ghz on LHe beats everything shown on previous generations and this also shows an increase in speed since Gen 6.
The 9900K is an overclocking monster that we should see many 7Ghz overclocks at launch. Asus hitting 7.6Ghz on LHe beats everything shown on previous generations and this also shows an increase in speed since Gen 6.
TjMax of 115c
This new option gives up 15% more thermal headroom and there is a few case scenarios where this would be useful.
When you have a good cooling solution and want to maintain turbo speeds for longer duration this setting would allow the CPU to run hotter before it throttles back. |
A complete register dump: 9900K Register Dump
|
Another would be if you the CPU to operate in a hotter environment without failing, I would suggest underclocking first but this may resolve throttling by setting a value 60c ~ 70c for the CPU to run its coolest.
STIM: Soldered Thermal Interface material
This is one of the best improvements that I have seen in many years that benefit everyone and completely eliminates the need for heat spreader removal. I took a few measurements and was sold on how well this works.
The thermal delta between each core is reduced, the temperature between the cores and the heat sink is reduced. The increase in thermal conductivity between the two parts has greatly improved the heat dissipation into the sink and less heat is getting trapped under the IHS.
The STIM also effects TjMax by moving more heat has less chance to hit TjMax value.
What to look for is the temperature difference between each core with and without STIM and you will see a much tighter spread on Generation 9.
The thermal delta between each core is reduced, the temperature between the cores and the heat sink is reduced. The increase in thermal conductivity between the two parts has greatly improved the heat dissipation into the sink and less heat is getting trapped under the IHS.
The STIM also effects TjMax by moving more heat has less chance to hit TjMax value.
What to look for is the temperature difference between each core with and without STIM and you will see a much tighter spread on Generation 9.
Max core ratio and bclk
For 9900k on Z390 the multiplier range was extended to 120, thus giving us even more ratio options than ever before. It also appears the bclk range has seen some attention to the working range it can operate in. Booting into Windows at 380 BCLK is easy. While not entirely huge, this is new ratio range and gives us more options.
Overclocking
Pretty much the exact same as 8700K, scaling and memory performance is the same as well. Like I mentioned before, we will see more 7Ghz+ overclocking with Gen 9.
http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i9_9900k/
http://hwbot.org/hardware/processor/core_i9_9900k/