We’re overclocking the Core i9-12900KF CPU up to 5700 MHz in 5 minutes or less using the EK-Mana MSI MAG Z690 Torpedo EK X motherboard.

I’ll speed run you through the BIOS settings and provide some notes and tips along the way.

Please note that this is for entertainment purposes only and most certainly not the whole picture. Please don’t outright copy these settings and apply them to your system. If you want to learn how to overclock this system, please check out the longer SkatterBencher blog post.

Alright, let’s do this.

Core i9-12900KF Overclock 5 Minute Speedrun

When you’ve entered the BIOS, enter the Advanced Mode

In Advanced Mode, click XMP Profile 1. This enables the use of the Intel Extreme Memory Profile 3.0 technology and will make the DDR5 memory run at its rated speed of DDR5-6200.

Then enter the Overclocking settings menu

Set P-core Ratio Apply Mode to Turbo Ratio. This enables us to configure a dynamic P-core overclock which will maximize the performance in a variety of scenarios ranging from lightly low-threaded workloads to heavy all-core workloads. In our configuration, we will run up to 2 active P-cores at 5.7 GHz, up to 4 active P-cores at 5.4 GHz, up to 6 active P-cores at 5.3 GHz, and up to 8 active P-cores at 5.2 GHz.

• Set Number of P-Core of Group 1 to 1
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 1 to 57
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 2 to 2
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 2 to 57
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 3 to 3
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 3 to 54
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 4 to 4
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 4 to 54
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 5 to 5
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 5 to 53
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 6 to 6
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 6 to 53
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 7 to 7
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 7 to 52
• Set Number of P-Core of Group 8 to 8
• Set Target P-Core Turbo Ratio Group 8 to 52

Set E-core Ratio Apply Mode to Turbo ratio Offset. This also enables us to configure a dynamic E-core overclock. We use MSI’s predefined profiles which offset the E-core maximum turbo ratio by 3 bins over default.

Set E-Core Turbo Ratio Offset Value to +3

Enter the Advanced CPU Configuration submenu. Here we will set some expert settings.

Set CPU Lite Load to Mode 3. This sets the AC DC loadline characteristics used by the CPU to adjust the requested voltage based on its voltage-frequency curve.

Set TVB Voltage Optimizations to Disabled. This prevents the CPU from automatically reducing the requested voltage based on its current temperature.

Enter the TVB Points Configuration submenu. Here we will configure the CPU such that when the CPU temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celcius, it will reduce the 1-active and 2-active P-core ratio from 5.7 GHz to 5.6GHz; and when the CPU temperature exceeds 60 and 58 degrees Celsius, it will reduce the 1-active and 2-active P-core ratio from 5.6 GHz to 5.5GHz.

For the first group,

• Set TVB Points #1 Temp. (C) to 35
• TVB Points #1 Ratio Offset to -1
• TVB Points #2 Temp. (C) to 60
• TVB Points #2 Ratio Offset to -1

For the second group,

• TVB Points #1 Temp. (C) to 35
• TVB Points #1 Ratio Offset to -1
• TVB Points #2 Temp. (C) to 58
• TVB Points #2 Ratio Offset to -1

Leave the TVB Points Configuration submenu

Leave the Advanced CPU Configuration submenu

Ensure CPU Cooler Tuning is set to Water Cooler (PL1: 4096W). This will unlock the Turbo Boost 2.0 power limits and let the CPU run at unlimited power indefinitely.

Enter the DigitALL Power submenu

Set CPU Loadline Calibration Control to Mode 3. This reduces the drop in voltage caused by the power delivery components when the CPU goes from low to high load and vice versa.

Leave the DigitALL power submenu

Set CPU Core Voltage Mode to Advanced Offset Mode. This will enable us to access the V/F Points which gives us control over the CPU voltage-frequency curve.

Enter the Advanced Offset Mode submenu. Here we will add a positive offset to the final V/F Point which will impact the frequency of CPU ratios 53X and higher.

For Voltage Offset When Running CPU Ratio x53,

Set Voltage Offset Control to +

Set Voltage Offset Target to 0.035

Then save and exit the BIOS.

Core i9-12900KF Overclock Performance Improvement

To make sure everything is working as intended we re-run some benchmarks and check the performance increase compared to the default settings. Higher is better, and all are higher. We see a maximum performance increase of almost 21% in the AI Benchmark.

The highest Core Clock reported in the operating system is 5700 MHz for each CPU P-core.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX enabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 4918 MHz and the average CPU E-core clock is 3990 MHz with 1.208 volts. The average CPU temperature is 99 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 25.0 and 36.7 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 307.1 watts.

When running Prime 95 Small FFTs with AVX disabled, the average CPU P-core clock is 5131 MHz and the average CPU E-core clock is 3998 MHz with 1.297 volts. The average CPU temperature is 100 degrees Celsius. The ambient and water temperature is 25.0 and 36.9 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 319.6 watts

And that’s it, thanks for reading and see you next time!