Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.
TL;DR: Asus' overclocking team has broken MSI's recent AMD Zen 5 overclocking world record by pushing the Ryzen 9 9950X to an astounding 7.54 GHz. The overclocked CPU set multiple records across benchmarking applications and real-world workloads, including Cinebench R23, Cinebench R20, Geekbench, 7-Zip, and HWBot.
The record was achieved by Asus' in-house overclocking experts, SafeDisk and Elmor, who have been credited with breaking multiple records in the past. Paired with an Asus ROG Crosshair X670E HERO motherboard, the 9950X reached an astounding 7,548.68 MHz. CPU-Z Validator also revealed that the system featured 32 GB of dual-channel DDR5-6200 SDRAM and a 256 GB Kingston NVMe SSD. The PC ran Windows 10 Enterprise x64.
– ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) September 30, 2024
The overclocking required SMT to be disabled, but all 16 cores were running simultaneously. To reach the high frequencies, the team raised the multiplier to an incredible 75x, while increasing the voltage to 1.025V. Temperatures were kept in check using a liquid nitrogen cooling setup, allowing the system to run at a frigid -188°C.
In addition to the overclocking feat, the Asus team achieved five world records for benchmarking with a 16-core CPU. These include a 7-Zip score of 321,970 MIPS, a Cinebench R23 score of 60,709 points, a Cinebench R20 score of 23,550 points, a Geekbench 3 multi-core score of 170,646 points, and an HWBot x265 4K benchmark run of 77.57 FPS.
In August, MSI overclockers pushed two Zen 5 CPUs to their limits on the company's MEG X670E ACE motherboard, achieving 7.45GHz with the 9950X and 7.40GHz with the 9900X using liquid nitrogen cooling. These records surpassed the 6.6GHz overclocked frequency that AMD had showcased with the 9950X during its own Tech Day earlier this year.
As a refresher, the Ryzen 9 9950X is AMD's current flagship consumer CPU, featuring two Zen 5 CCDs and a single IOD. It has 16 cores, 32 threads, a 4.3GHz base clock, and a boost clock of up to 5.7GHz. Additionally, it offers 64MB of L3 cache, 16MB of L2 cache, and has a 170W TDP.