Leak Reveals MSI Motherboard With 'Beyond 6GHz' OC Setting For Raptor Lake Refresh
According to those same leaks, the top-end Core i9-14900K will be a very close cousin of the currently-available Core i9-13900KS in that it will ship with a 6.0 GHz maximum clock rate. Like the Core i9-13900KS, it will rely upon Thermal Velocity Boost to get there, which means you're going to need some seriously capable cooling on top of a certain sort of workload if you want to actually see that 6.0 GHz number. Still, that means it will be the first CPU to launch with a 6 GHz clock rate that isn't part of a special limited "KS" series.
Well, if you're not satisfied with 6 GHz, it looks like MSI's high-end motherboards will have a one-click option to take you beyond 6 GHz. That information comes via the above screenshot, which originates with frequent leaker chi11eddog, also known as the difficult-to-type @g01d3nm4ng0 on Twitter. The leaker says that the screenshot is from an MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX, and that it depicts an option likely intended for 14th-generation CPUs.
Hopefully Intel has made some process optimizations between the release of its 13th-generation processors and the new series. The Core i9-13900K is already extremely difficult to keep cool under an all-core workload, and we expect the KS isn't any easier. The Core i9-14900K seems to increase clock rates on both the P-cores and the E-cores slightly, so we expect that its 125W TDP is Intel having a little giggle. Remember, these aren't fabricated on a new process or anything.
We expect that this "P-Core Beyond 6GHz+" option is only going to be available on MSI's highest tier of motherboards, in the MEG family, or possibly even exclusive to the ACE MAX specifically. That board is expected to retail at $699, so we'd hope you can at least get 300 MHz of extra CPU clock for your trouble. It will be fascinating to see if the 14th-gen CPUs have any real overclocking headroom.
