Hardware·19,046 discussions

How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

Tags: Hardware

I have owned an Intel Core I9 14900K for quite a while now. My cooler is an H150i Elite. When I purchased these pieces of hardware, it was my intention and understanding that these were top of the line for gaming. I play a lot of competitive shooters, and strive for high FPS. Based on temperatures, my frames and overall performance seems to bottleneck based on the CPU temperatures as opposed to my GPU temp. My GPU temp seems to get up in the 80s (Celsius) where my CPU temp reaches well into the 90s, and sometimes above 100 degrees. According to the manufacturer, this CPU is intended to reach up to 115 degrees Celsius, but it scares me to get temps that high (especially because the software that monitors these temps stops reading temps after 100).
All of this being said, I feel that there is something I am missing with unlocking the real potential of my hardware. I feel that with what I have, I should not be struggling to keep high frames, or have any performance issues playing at 1080p with graphics settings turned somewhat down. Is there something I am missing with my CPU that I can increase its performance? Is there something specific in BIOS that I should be looking for to turn off or on? I haven’t spent time understanding overclocking or what that really does, but I am assuming that would increase temps of the CPU in order to give it more power.

Topic

Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

In reply to How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

How long have you had/used the I9 CPUz? As components age, they tend to perform slower or newer applications are designed for higher-end components. Often times, it’s not you CPU and may be the grapics card that is slowing things down if it lacks certain features or specifications required in some newer games.

Remember that Intel isn’ necessarily the fastest or best processor for every system and the competition (AMD for example) are giving them a run for the money. What is top of the line today may be second rate tomorrow as technology evolves at a mind-blowing rate. My system is running on I7 CPU and it suits my needs very well. YMMV.

You can attempt to make your system future proof with higher end hardware (RAM, CPU. graphics, etc) but eventually you will have to upgrade to “keep up with the Jones”.

The rest of the system matters.

In reply to How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

Just last month I fixed another gamer PC. It was the HDD. Sure their OS and games were on SSD but the HDD was dogging the system. And yes they wanted to discuss why at length. Sorry but I don’t do that discussion. I stopped doing that in 2022.

I only have SSD

In reply to The rest of the system matters.

Thank you for the response! I only have an SSD in this build. It’s a 2TB Samsung SSD. I made sure when I made this build to only have what I understood to be up to date and solid hardware, so I don’t think this is part of my problem.

This build is mostly up to date; AMD is getting very tempting

In reply to The rest of the system matters.

Thanks for the response! This whole build has been a more recent project. All of the hardware has been purchased within the last year, and the intention was to have only up-to-date and relatively higher end hardware. Brand new 2TB SSD, 64gb Ram, GeForce RTX 3080 for the GPU, and the CPU was the highest performing processor Intel provided at the time. The CPU (again, an Intel Core I9 14900K) ended up having a swarm of temp issues that Intel acknowledged and has supposedly “fixed”. It still ranks as one of the highest performing processors made by Intel, although they have released a few different versions that seem like upgrades, but the marginal increase in power doesn’t warrant the purchase for me. With this build, I was hoping to future proof some components like the RAM and the SSD, and while I might have bought myself a couple of years before I’ll need to upgrade those, you are definitely right that everything else will sooner or later need an upgrade.
I’ve always rocked Intel processors, just as they have been something I understand, however I am seeing all the new AMD chips score significantly higher, I just have to think about working the rest of the build around swapping over to AMD next time.

Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

In reply to How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

I am curious, when you built the system did you use thermal paste on the CPU before seating it on the motherboard socket?

Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

In reply to Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

Yeah of course! And like any good amateur PC builder, I spent a good half hour researching the proper way to apply, and how much to apply, because that was genuinely one of my biggest concerns with the whole build. If I’m not mistaken, I even went back and redid the thermal paste just because I was freaking myself out thinking I didn’t do it perfectly

[birdmantd]

Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

In reply to Reply To: How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

Thanks for the reply. I didn’t want to assume you did or did not apply thermal paste as it seemed a potential explanation for the over-heating.

When I built my first computer, I learned from my own mistake. I used a mini-tower case and the system kept overheating and shutting down. Turned out that the case was too small and as a result, there was insufficient airflow inside. When I finally realized my mistake, I bought a full size tower with redundant 5 inch fans, moved my motherboard and system components to the larger case. Resolved my computer issue and I learned from my mistake. Stuff happens and sometimes we overlook the obvious initially.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 3 days ago by birdmantd.

Ok what you need to do

In reply to How can I get the most out of my CPU? (Intel Core I9 14900K)

is make sure there are no obstructions inside the case Data leads and power leads can block airflow through the case and make things run hotter. You also need to stuff as many fans into the case as you can not only in the back to blow air out but also in the front to suck air in but even then things like Power Leads, Plug in Cards and SATA Leads can restrict air flow through the case.

The next thing to look at is the Make and Model of the M’Board as these can vary dramatically from pathetic to brilliant depending on the chip set used and flashing the BIOS may be needed with an i9 to get the best performance possible. Also look at the Power Supply a good one is rated to the number on the outside of it where as the more common ones are only showing a Peek Rating that droops back to something much less when the peek passes and can cause things like CPU’s to overheat and also run slowly. I have personally found the best PSU’s are from Antec, Corsair and Gigabyte as they will absorb any spikes and burn out rather than pass that over voltage event inside the case, they are also showing a constant Power Level on the sticker on the outside of the PSU Case not a peek loading.

If all that is right then your only real option is Fluid Cooling of both the CPU and GPU with the biggest radiator you can fins and the highest airflow fan that you mount on the back of the case. Here I’m assuming that the case isn’t stuck inside a slot in a computer desk that is sealed as that will kill most airflow through the case and be sucking heated air in the front as it escapes out the sides of the case so the case effectively becomes a heater constantly heating the incoming air so it can not cool down much inside the case.

The other thing to look at is the air temp of where you are if it’s 35C it is not going to do a lot of cooling Here I’ve seen some capacitors rated to a lower temp that the air temp in summer so they are overheated before you apply any power to heat them up, a killer of Polyester Capacitors which makes them go Open-circuit and constantly become what is a short circuit. Not sure what something like that would do to the CPU Temp but it wouldn’t be good.

[Author]

Replies