Skylake Breaks 7GHz In Intel Overclocking World Record (hothardware.com) 85
MojoKid writes: Intel's latest generation of processors built on the Skylake architecture are efficient as well as seriously fast. The flagship, Core i7-6700K, is an interesting chip as it's clocked at a base 4GHz, and can peak at 4.2GHz with Turbo Boost. Of course, as fast as the 6700K is, overclocking can always help take things to the next level, or at least temporarily explore future potential. In Chi-Kui Lam's case, he did just that, and managed to break a world record for Intel processors along the way. Equipped with an ASRock motherboard, G.SKILL memory, and a beefy 1.3KW Antec power supply — not to mention liquid nitrogen — Lam managed to break through the 7GHz barrier to settle in at 7025.66MHz. A CPU-Z screenshot shows us that all cores but one were disabled — something traditionally done to improve the chances of reaching such high clock speeds.
About 4 times less performance than without OCing (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a very fun experiment as it lets you play with liquid nitrogen.
However, the CPU has now only 1 core instead of 8 and only about 1.6 times the clock frequency. This means a huge decrease in performance...
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"4 times less performance" than what?
I HATE that wording on tech and science sites.
1/4 the performance is the correct wording, unless comparing to a difference.
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4 times less... times is multiplication, less is subtraction.
So without overclocking, its performance is a base of "100%".
After overclocking, its performance is 100% - (4 * 100%), making it -300% now.
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75% less would be correct.
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It's actually only 4 cores, so the super fast overclocking isn't as bad as you say, it's almost half as fast as pre-overclock.
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However, the CPU has now only 1 core instead of 8 and only about 1.6 times the clock frequency. This means a huge decrease in performance...
Amdahl's law says that depends on what you're doing. Also it has 4 cores/8 threads but yeah. This is obviously just for doing it. As someone who started with a 0.985 MHz C64 and got a 1.2GHz Athlon not so long into the new millennium I'm quite underwhelmed though, despite the IPC improvements.
At full tilt ? (Score:2)
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Re: About 4 times less performance than without OC (Score:2)
circuits != processors
Nope. (Score:1)
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The Intel 10GHz prediction (Score:4, Interesting)
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AMD showed them a better way, intel followed and ~ 4G has been the peak since.
If CPU speeds had kept on doubling along the lines of Moore's Law like they used to, it would have been much preferred and a glorious thing. Alas, the party came to an end, and both Intel and AMD were forced to go down the multicore path.
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Maybe it's a dedicated Dwarf Fortress machine.
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Fastest python box in the world.
Barrier? (Score:3)
What is this 7GHz barrier? Is it like the sound barrier or something for CPUs?
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It's like deja vu. The calculations travel back in time, so they have to do it all over again. It's like deja vu. The calculations travel back in time.
Re:Barrier? (Score:4, Funny)
Need to get it to 88Ghz
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If only there was a power supply that could provide 1.21 gigawatts.
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Need to get it to 88Ghz
Jiga, not Giga!
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That's the clock multiplier limit on that chip. You can't seem to be able to set it any higher...
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A practical limit for silicon-based CPUs. I've been told that military uses a different semiconductor material to run CPUs at 100GHz at a much higher temperatures.
I'm not sure they are CPUs in the same sense. You can easily find simpler circuits that operate at such frequencies, e.g. microwave amplifiers, but a modern CPU involves much more than the raw switching speed of transistors. Keeping the core in sync with itself will be harder with a wavelength of 3 mm (This would be for 100 GHz in vacuum, in a solid it would be even less).
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https://www.comsol.com/blogs/h... [comsol.com]
Essentially the answer is transistor noise, then transistor count, and heat. (Not the Speed of Light [reddit.com]).
Because power increases with (clock speed)^3, but executing speed only increases by (clock speed)^1, people go for parallel processors.
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It's the same as the 90 mph wind barrier for buses. [wikipedia.org]
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We do seem to have been stuck at a max of 4G processor speed for a number of years. Has Moore's law been declared dead?
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What the hell does Moore's law have to do with GHz? All it is, is an observation on the growth over time of the number of transistors possible to build into a dense IC. As far as I can tell, it is still operative.
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We do seem to have been stuck at a max of 4G processor speed for a number of years. Has Moore's law been declared dead?
No, and neither is Moore... He's 87. I don't think he will live long enough for his law to be declared dead..
Not the overclocking record (Score:5, Informative)
I believe the official Guinness record is 8.429GHz on an AMD pre-release bulldozer in 2011. Another record was set at 8.723GHz on an AMD FX-8370 in 2013, but I don't recall it being "official".
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/bulldozer-amd-overclock-guinness-record,13431.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/02/amd_fx_series/
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4V Core Voltage (Score:2)
Yeah that's feasible for everyday use with all but one core disabled. Not. This is a plateau of unusable.
I'm curious to see how it performs with all cores enabled at that multiplier/voltage?
Re:4V Core Voltage (Score:5, Funny)
Very brightly
Apparently AMD still holds the record though (Score:4, Informative)
As impressive as 7GHz is, it's not the highest frequency we've ever seen. Over at HWBOT, we can see that the overall world record belongs to The Stilt, who pushed an AMD FX-8370 to a ridiculous 8,722.78MHz
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systemd has electrolytes?
In other news... (Score:2)
Overclocked processor pops bag of popcorn in next room.
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I read that as "poops" bag of popcorn, which I initially found much more humorous.
Asrock?! (Score:2)
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Considering the problems the genuine Asus boards have given me over the years, I can only imagine how terrible Asrock must be. I'd take my changes with ECS first.
Obligatory Car Analogy (Score:2)
I'd underclock... (Score:2)
Faster and Faster (Score:1)
I remember back when even 4Ghz required liquid cooling. This was when people were doing it to Pentium IV chips. It's surreal knowing that 4Ghz is now the "stock speed" while 7Ghz is the new threshold to reach.