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Intel Core i7-6700K hits 6.8GHz with all cores active on MSI ‘Titanium’ platform

A professional overclocker this week managed to push Intel Corp.’s latest Core i7-6700K “Skylake-S” microprocessor to whopping 6.80GHz without disabling any cores or Hyper-Threading technology. The record was set on MicroStar International’s flagship MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium mainboard.

Toppc, a professional overclocker from Taiwan, this week overclocked an engineering sample of the Intel Core i7-6700K “Skylake-S” microprocessor to whopping 6801.63MHz, or by around 70 per cent compared to its stock clock-rate. All four cores and Hyper-Threading technology were enabled, but DDR4 memory operated at 4268MHz in single-channel mode. At present, 6.8GHz frequency is the highest clock-rate ever achieved by any “Skylake-S” central processing unit.

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To push the processor to an incredibly high frequency, Toppc had to increase core voltage from around 1.2V to astonishing 2.024V. The chip was cooled-down using liquid nitrogen (LN2). 2V is extremely high voltage for a processor made using 14nm process technology.

While 6.8GHz is not the highest clock-rate ever achieved by Intel’s recent microprocessors, it is one of the highest frequencies set by a modern Intel Core i7 chip with four cores and Hyper-Threading activated. Typically, extreme frequencies are hit with only one or two cores turned on. Only Intel Core i7-3770K chips overclocked to 6912MHz and 6810MHz with all engines and HT operational are ahead of the current record.

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The MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium mainboard is Microstar’s top-of-the-range Intel Z170 platform for Intel “Skylake” processors. The motherboard was designed to deliver exceptional overclocking capabilities with its 16-phase all-digital voltage regulator module (VRM) that uses all-new inductors, which MSI calls “titanium chokes”, that promise to withstand higher temperatures and endure a longer lifecycle. In addition, the mainboard is covered with a special silver substance, which makes it look very stylish and may even make it a little more durable.

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KitGuru Says: Without any doubts, 6.80GHz on Intel Core i7-6800K with four cores and Hyper-Threading is a great achievement. However, 2.024V core voltage will most probably kill or seriously damage the chip over time. All-in-all, it looks like more or less “safe” overclocked frequency for Core i7-6700K “Skylake” will remain in the range between 4.7GHz – 4.8GHz, depending on how lucky the owner is.

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26 comments

  1. so this will help the average user in what way !? NONE!

  2. The K-series CPUs aren’t intended for average users. They’re intended for overclockers/enthusiast users. And while it may not show a direct advantage for average users, it’s indicative of the new 14nm tech in general. Seems more forgiving than anticipated, with it taking 2V.

  3. Can you even play with a PC overclocked with LN2? Or is it just for pushing cpus/gpus to see what kind of numbers they can get?

  4. Meanwhile anyone who buys a retail 6700K CPU will be very lucky to get 4.6GHz which would still give them about the same performance they could get from a last gen overclocked i5 or even an overclocked 4 year old vintage 2600K.

    And their shareholders wonder why no one is spending their hard earned money on PC upgrades from Intel…

  5. You would need quite a good friend to torch your system while you have fun haha

  6. There were earlier hypes that Core i7 6700K doing
    5.2Ghz @ 1.35V lol

  7. 2500k @ 4,6GHz here… /signed

  8. wrong, not every mhz is equal, let’s look at some cinebench 15 benchmarks : )
    Core i7 2600K @ 4.5 Ghz = 777 points (my cpu)
    Core i7 6700K @ 4.0 Ghz = 885 points (without boost)
    Core i7 6700K @ 4.8 Ghz = 1059 points
    all 4 cores / 8 threads

    So comparing Skylake to Sandy Bridge, every mhz is about 28% faster.

  9. how dumb are you the 6700k is faster than the devil canyon 4790k both with stock clock rates.. so how can a mid range CPU like an i5 or and old 2600k i7 (which i had one at 4.8 GHz but burn it out then updated to [email protected] which is still faster than my old 2600k at 4.8Ghz) overclocked beat the 6700k when they cant even pass the 4790k with stock clock rates in cinebench..
    http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/luke-hill/intel-core-i7-6700k-i5-6600k-skylake-cpu-review/5/

  10. What do you mean by torch your system?

  11. No. LN2 evaporates too quickly. It’s just for oc’ing.

  12. Sean Kumar Sinha

    Pour LN2 into the block…

  13. You do realize that overclockers and enthusiasts are the people who actually drive the performance market right? If it werent for them the market would be moving much slower.
    So yes, overclockers and overlcoking help the average user tremendously by driving performance up.

  14. Here is how you can earn some extra funds for doing basic jobs on computer few hours each week from your home>Visit my disqus profile for more info

  15. How dumb are you? The 6700 is faster than the Devils Canyon 4790K; both with stock and over clock rates…

    I assume that you are not dumb and that English is simply not your native language.

    Oh… and clock for clock there is no meaningful difference between the 4790K and the 6700K nor any worthwhile gaming improvements with that of a four year old over clocked 2600K. I won’t harp on about it since just about every bench review done in the past week states the same conclusion… But if you use Cinebench as your primary application all day and care little for PC games or wasting money, then I suggest you should buy a 5690X then 😉

  16. or a stock 2600 for that matter
    not much gains in terms of gaming performance

  17. yeah that’s is true is not my native language, and I didn’t want to worry about grammar, and punctuation.

    Yeah if you just play games on a computer games all day, than yeah it wont matter but for applications like NUKE, Maya, 3DS MAX, Cinema 4D, and the Adobe Suite it matters a whole lot. and why would you build a rig just for playing games such a waste of money..

  18. I don’t understand. Are you implying those applications – NUKE, Maya – make you money (?) so you should only use them? Gaming computes are built for gaming. What you get out of out it is…gaming. As for taking money and setting it on fire just for fun: that’s sort of like most hobbies work.

  19. BlatentlyFakeName .

    Real world tests show less than 5% difference in games between a 2600k and later models. if you have a 2600k, going to Skylake is a complete waste of money. The only sensible upgrade route is to socket 2011-v3.

  20. Don’t forget you are just counting points.

  21. Not true:

    http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Skylake-vs-Sandy-Bridge-Discrete-GPU-Showdown

    First, there is absolutely a gaming performance difference between the Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K and the Skylake Core i7-6700K. With just a single GPU, and a high end one at that, we saw measured average frame rate differences as well as frame time consistency differences at 1920×1080 in 3 out of 4 our test games. In the newest title of the bunch, Grand Theft Auto V, that gap was 25%!

  22. I was using a an eatx x58 with xeon hexa core cpu OC to 4.4ghz only, still runs great imho. Even on games. 🙂 with my gtx970. I sold the mobo and rams to make a skylake build but still i have my xeon so maybe i will buy a matx board for it 🙂 i just really like the design of this titanium msi and the viii gene.

  23. Well if you decide to sell the Xeon let me know [email protected] might be interested

  24. Why would anybody buy a Intel Core i7 6700k if they are going to be using NUKE, Maya, 3DS MAX, Cinema 4D, Adobe Suite and not an Intel Xeon which is more suited for that kind of work?

  25. 6700k @ 4,6ghz EASY and ULTRA stable at minimum voltage on gigabyte gaming 7 z170x

  26. Just some more information here. i7 2700k @ 4.8Ghz with offset voltage showing v1.408 GPU-z (Cinebench R15 840cb points) for 4 plus years and I still have no real need to update yet 40-50% increase and Im in, come on Intel!