How to Overclock Intel 10th Gen CPU

Learn overclocking intel 10th gen cpu, Intel’s 10th-gen CPUs are easy to overclock. They scale reasonably well with good cooling, and you won’t have to fork out for a new PSU if you already have a six or eight-core CPU.

You’ll need a decent CPU cooler, though, and if you’re aiming for 5GHz or more across all cores on the Core i9-10900K, you’ll want to consider a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler. Assuming you have the necessary cooling credentials, here’s how to overclock it.

How to Overclock Intel 10th Gen CPU

Follow below step by step guide to overclock intel 10th gen cpu.

1. Set XMP profile and multiplier

Start by enabling XMP in your motherboard’s EFI to set the correct memory speed and timings. Depending on your gaming motherboard, the multiplier and CPU vcore settings will either be on the same page, or within the overclocking section under voltages. The multiplier in our EFI was just below, which we’re settingto51 to give us5.1GHz across all cores.

2. Set RAM and CPU Voltages

To hit 5.1GHz, we needed to apply a 1.3V vcore with the Core i9-10900K, so we’ve set it to 1.32V here to be safe. However, a lot will depend on your cooling and if your board has any teething issues. For example, the Asus boards we tested this month required 1.475V to be applied, which fell to 1.3V under load, so it’s worth keeping an eye on CPU-Z in step 4. It’s also worth setting the DRAM voltage manually – it’s usually 1.35V, but check your memory modules to make sure.

3. Additional steps

If you can’t reach 5.1GHz at 1.3V, try increasing the power limits in your EFI’s power management section. It’s safe to push these to their limits as shown. You can also try increasing load line calibration.

4. Stress test settings

To stress test your settings, download and install the Blender benchmark (opendata.blender.org) and load the BMW27 test. Use Core Temp and CPU-Z (cpuid.com) to monitor gaming CPU temperatures and frequencies. You need to keep the vcore under 90°C for the duration of the benchmark, which is a worst-case scenario and is far more taxing than games and most content creation software.

If it’s still not stable, even with maximum power limits, you may need to dip down to 5GHz. Always try to lower the vcore as much as possible in order to minimise power consumption and temperatures. We managed to hit 5.1GHz at 1.3V, but you may be able to lower the vcore further, especially if you need to dip to 5GHz.