Hello boys and girls,

As probably most of you on Z690 and alderlake, I have an upgrade itch.

Currently running Z690 EDGE, DDR4 3600 CL14 and RTX 4090 with 12600k cooled with noctua u12a.

I kind of invested into “better” motherboard so I could have future upgrade path.

Now I’m wondering, is it worth it to swap to higher tier 13900k/14700k/14900k for 4k gaming.

Has any of you made similar upgrade?

Thanks to everyone’s contribution.

  • jerubedo@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    The only reason temperatures get out of control is because of the stupid wattages these motherboard manufacturers are allowing by default. The Intel spec limit for sustained wattage is 253 watts. And you get 96% of the performance, literally, as opposed to unlimited wattage that peaks at 350w. My 14900k at 253 watts gets a Cinebench R23 score of 39,514. At 350 watts, it gets 41,217. That’s a 4.3% difference in performance for 38% more power! And at 253 watts the temperatures at a max AVX2 load are in the low 80s on a 360mm AIO. At 350 watts, it’s in the very high 90s bouncing up and down off of 100 degrees.

    TLDR; Set the PL1 and PL2 limits to 253 watts, get 96% of the performance, and temperatures won’t exceed the low 80s on a good cooler with a punishing load.