Overclocking the Intel Core i9-10900K (Comet Lake) to 5.4GHz on all 10 Cores

In this article, we’ll show you how to overclock the Intel Core i9-10900K (Comet Lake) from the default speed of 3.7GHz to a whopping 5.4GHz on all 10 cores, by simply changing a few BIOS settings on the ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard. And what’s even better … this was all done using just a standard AIO CPU cooler (no LN2 or dry-ice).

Intel’s 10th Gen (Comet Lake) desktop processors made its debut on 30th April. The Core i9-10900K, which still uses 14nm technology, comes with Intel UHD Graphics 630 onboard, as well as 20MB of L3 cache. It has a massive TDP of 125W and features 10 cores/20 threads running at a base frequency of 3.7GHz, with a Turbo Boost of up to 5.3GHz.

Many people have said …“so what’s so special about“ overclocking the Intel Core i9-10900K to 5.4GHz? It can already Turbo Boost to 5.3GHz anyway. Yes that’s true, but many people don’t realize that the Turbo Boost of 5.3GHz, is only achieved on 1-2 cores, and not on all 10 cores. If fact, the highest default Turbo Boost on the Core i9-10900K on all 10 cores is actually around 4.9GHz.

What we’re are doing here, is to overclock the Core i9-10900K to 5.4GHz on ALL 10 cores, not just 1 or 2 cores. To achieve this we had to increase CPU voltages, set the CPU ratio, manually set the core count and fix the CPU cache ratio. Let’s BEGIN! …

The Core i9-10900K is Intel’s 10th Gen flagship desktop processor featuring 10 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock speed of 3.7GHz and a max Turbo Boost of up to 5.3GHz. It’s only compatible with Intel 400 series chipset based motherboards, and uses a new type of socket – LGA1200. So unfortunately, users with previous generation of 300 series motherboards … you’re out of luck. You’ll need to upgrade your motherboard, and get yourself one of the newer Intel 400 series chipset based motherboard if you want you use a 10th Gen Intel processor.

• 10 Cores / 20 Threads
• Socket type LGA 1200
• Up to 5. 3 GHz unlocked
• Compatible with Intel 400 series chipset based motherboards
• Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3. 0 support
• Intel Optane Memory support

According to Intel’s specifications, the Intel Core i9-10900K has a TDP of 125W! Yes 125W TDP … which means it can run quite hot if you don’t have sufficient cooling. We highly recommend using a good all-in-one liquid cooler (AIO). See our test rig below. In this example, we used a Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 AIO.

Before we start, here’s a quick disclaimer:

Disclaimer: Overclocking is never guaranteed, so the results may vary depending on certain conditions and various hardware configurations. I am not recommending overclocking if you do not know what are you doing. High voltages may damage hardware and it will not be covered by warranty.

The BIOS settings

For our tests, we’ll be using an ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard. You can check out the review of the ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard here. After some tweaking in the BIOS, I was able to overclock the Intel Core i9-10900K from a default of 3.7GHz to a whopping 5.4Ghz. That’s an extra 1.7GHz overclock … excellent!

Here’s a screenshot of the BIOS settings to achieve my overclock in few simple steps.

1. Set the CPU Ratio to “All Core“
2. Set All Core to “54“
3. AVX2 Ratio Offset is left untouched on “Auto“
4. Set CPU Cache Ratio to “37“

1. Set the CPU/Cache Voltage to “Fixed Mode“
2. Increase the Fixed Voltage (V) to “1.400“

Everything else was left at default or Auto.  Save settings and reboot.

Now that we’ve managed to overclock the Intel Core i9-10900K to 5.4GHz, let’s check out the full load temperatures on our next page …

Related articles

• ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard Review
• Buy the ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard from Amazon
• Buy the Intel Core i9-10900K (Comet Lake) processor from Amazon
• Buy the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 AIO from Amazon