Advice Needed on Building an i9 9900K 5.0GHz System

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piratepress

[H]ard|Gawd
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I could use some advice from the [H]ard Crew regarding building an i9 9900K rig that runs at 5GHz. From what I've read, the 9900K runs extremely hot and needs water-cooling. Here's my list of main parts I'm considering and I'd appreciate any suggestions or recommendations.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro motherboard
Corsair H115i Platinum AIO cooler
WD Black SN750 500GB NVMe SSD

I want to make sure this is the best mobo and water cooler to run it 24/7 at 5GHz. Also, could use some suggestions on the best RAM as well. TIA!
 
Pretty much any of the medium end boards will be able to get it to 5Ghz it'll vary on you chip how much voltage it will take to get there (Generally around 1.3v +- 0.2), the H115i plat is a solid choice for cooling without going for a custom loop.

That being said if you haven't bought it yet I recommend waiting to see what they're doing with the new R0 stepping (availability on the 9900k are really low atm too because of the impending change).
https://hardforum.com/threads/intels-9th-generation-core-family-r0-stepping.1979494/#post-1044142952

Mine runs a bit hot on a H110i (normal gaming gets to mid-70s, benchmark to high 80s), the H115i should be a little better, my plan is to delid the chip with liquid metal and a copper IHS anyway though.
 
AORUS PRO is a good choice.

For cooling it all depends on how the chip you get is binned. Mine only hits 5.0 GHz with 1.34V, while others can do it with as little as 1.27V. The higher the voltage you need to feed it at your target speed the more heat you will have to dissipate. With my Kraken X62 (280mm radiator) it was hitting 80-85C across all cores while gaming. With the X72 (360mm rad) it hovers right around 80C.

For memory I'd shoot for a good set of 3200 MT/s Samsung B-die and overclock it. You'll save money while being able to go for 3666 MT/s or higher. The memory I have was expensive, but it does run the XMP flawlessly in my setup out of the box, so there's that. G.SKILL seems to have the best timings on their modules compared to everyone else.

I agree with Spartacus09 that at this point it would be a good idea to wait for the 9900KF with reports of it being able to hit 5.3 GHz.
 
Armenius said:
I agree with Spartacus09 that at this point it would be a good idea to wait for the 9900KF with reports of it being able to hit 5.3 GHz.
Click to expand...
Side note even if you dont plan on going to 5.3Ghz it will likely be able to run cooler and with less voltage at the 5.0 you want.
 
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Nearly any of the Aorus boards are a good choice for Z390 just because of their awesome VRMs. I have an Aorus Ultra w/ a 9900k that can do 5.1GHz easily without breaking 65c, haven't tried pushing it to 5.2GHz though. The VRM on it is AWESOME. Truly interested to see if the KF has a bit higher headroom.

Edit: Cooling, I have a Corsair H150i Pro, and it definitely does the job. I haven't tested a 240 or 280mm rad, I figure 280 or 360 would be somewhat necessary for it though. RAM wise, I'm running 32GB (4x8 due to Gigabytes T-Topology for memory on these boards), GSkill 3600MHz, CL15. Really solid memory kit from what I've done with it so far.
 
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