I9-13900 Overclock_What to Expect

[altenae 171]

Expect nothing. 
More heat

[DANgerousFlyer 9]

I recently upgraded to the i9-13900k. I'm a VR user with a 4090, and still suffer from the CPU bottleneck when flying some airlines (FBW/Fenix particularly). I did the factory overclocks available through MB software/BIOS (i.e. no manual tuning of anything, I'm not that hardcore) - apparently the CPU squeezes out a few more MHz but for me this does not translate to any perceptible difference in VR.

However, one upgrade I made even more recently which did make a noticeable difference to the above was when I upgraded by DD5 memory from some something like 4000MHz to a 32GB 7200 kit using the XMP profile. I couldn't believe the additional smoothness.

With all said above, when in 2D mode the sim is smooth a butter at max/ultra everything before overclocking. Hence if you are not using VR, I wouldn't worry about overclocking.

However, with so many different possible hardware configurations and graphics settings, YMMV. However, I feel sure that if you get at 13900 that's going to be a decent upgrade without you doing anything! Good luck!

[Noel 4,487]

54 minutes ago, G-YMML1 said:

I'm not impressed with the performance of stock 13900k vs. overcloked 9900k. 

Here's the reality of single-thread performance via Passmark's CPU bench:  stock 13900K is a grand total of 14.3% faster in single-thread performance.  That is significant, but underwhelming especially considering the benchmark accounts for IPC.  Does turboboost come into play w/ this benchmark, i.e. did this actually hit 5.8Ghz?  If so, that's pathetic!

[LRBS 944]

1 hour ago, G-YMML1 said:

I have 45-50FPS with the same settings at the same airport and same planes with my 9900k@5.0 and 2080Ti. Add AI traffic into the equation and your 55-60FPS will be slashed at least by 50%.

With that being said, I'm not impressed with the performance of stock 13900k vs. overcloked 9900k. 

Also, what level of TLOD you have set in Inbuilds KJFK? I run it at 140 and I hoped that with 13900 I can raise a bar up to 200 at least. 

I see, I have my FPS locked @ 50 on a 4 K monitor, no OC, actually MOBO limited not to exceed 90C and -0.05 undervolt. I'm using DX11 TAA, render scaling @ 170 (6527/3632), and had initially LOD 200, then I went to LOD 350 and back to 200. Due to high render scaling at 170 (on my PC) raising LOD did not make a big difference. At LOD 350 I lost 5 FPS and smooth even 45 FPS. With Inbuilds. As I stated, my focus is on smooth performance and clear visuals rather than chasing high FPS, benchmarks, or overclocking. Additionally, I only make a few adjustments to the Nvidia control panel.

Edited June 1, 2023 by LRBS

[Bob Scott 7,716]

First, to be clear, you can't overclock a 13900.  You need a K-suffix CPU for that.

I found that overclocking my 13900KS (a 13900K that's top-binned from the factory) was mostly a drill involving maintaining turbo speeds on the cores that matter while keeping the cores from throttling back due to thermal limits.  The 13900K/KF/KS has a lot of flexibility w/r/t performance--the ability to independently clock cores and the ability to shut down unneeded CPU cores to minimize unnecessary heat production.  The 13900K has to move a lot of heat through a fairly small IHS footprint, so a very good quality cooling solution is a real necessity.

I don't use my primary sim rig for MSFS...I run that on my secondary system (10900K @ 5.3GHz/RTX3090), but keeping P3D's main thread running at 6.0 GHz was worth the effort.

The 13900K is a beast of a CPU...it'll do a good job stock out of the box (when paired with a high-quality cooling solution), and if you're so-inclined there's some more performance still there available for the taking with some time and effort.  If you're not technically competent to manage an overclock, I'd stick with stock speeds.  I think the auto-overclocks generally crank up voltages way too high for daily use.

[Noel 4,487]

I challenge anyone to post a screenshot demonstrating a clear improvement in visual quality between TLOD of 100 and 300.

[Noel 4,487]

6 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

The 13900K is a beast of a CPU...it'll do a good job stock out of the box (when paired with a high-quality cooling solution)

Do Noctua air coolers qualify?  My CPU temp at MSFS load now is around 49-53C using a Noctua cooler w/ CPU at 5Ghz all cores, 9900K that is.

[Seth2021 291]

13900k Is a Beast, and no reason for any tweaks & manual overclocking. I am at 5.7ghz with all cores running on MSFS stable with out any issue. So far even on high-demanding  Aircrafts, Airports, Sceneries and high-populated areas i never went below 70fps. On cruise i am always at 130-141 fps.

13900k + 4090  = Success Flight Simulation Story.

 

 

[Bob Scott 7,716]

14 minutes ago, Noel said:

Do Noctua air coolers qualify?  My CPU temp at MSFS load now is around 49-53C using a Noctua cooler w/ CPU at 5Ghz all cores, 9900K that is.

I doubt it.  The 13900K has a lot more silicon producing heat--8 performance and 16 efficiency cores versus the 9900K's 8, and at much higher clock speeds.  With a very aggressive water cooling system (two 360mm deep radiators in series external to the CPU case, 0.5" ID tubing, Laing D5 pump) temps spike rapidly into throttling territory under an all-core load.  It might be possible with some of the E-cores shut down and careful load management, but I wouldn't even think to try it.

[G-YMML1 582]

45 minutes ago, Seth2021 said:

13900k Is a Beast, and no reason for any tweaks & manual overclocking. I am at 5.7ghz with all cores running on MSFS stable with out any issue. So far even on high-demanding  Aircrafts, Airports, Sceneries and high-populated areas i never went below 70fps. On cruise i am always at 130-141 fps.

13900k + 4090  = Success Flight Simulation Story.

 

 

 

Is it stable (constant) 5.7Ghz or it's fluctuating under load?

[G-YMML1 582]

40 minutes ago, Bob Scott said:

I doubt it.  The 13900K has a lot more silicon producing heat--8 performance and 16 efficiency cores versus the 9900K's 8, and at much higher clock speeds.  With a very aggressive water cooling system (two 360mm deep radiators in series external to the CPU case, 0.5" ID tubing, Laing D5 pump) temps spike rapidly into throttling territory under an all-core load.  It might be possible with some of the E-cores shut down and careful load management, but I wouldn't even think to try it.

So...what is the recommended cooling solution for 13900k then without robbing a bank?

[Rocky_53 1,566]

49 minutes ago, Seth2021 said:

13900k Is a Beast, and no reason for any tweaks & manual overclocking. I am at 5.7ghz with all cores running on MSFS stable with out any issue. So far even on high-demanding  Aircrafts, Airports, Sceneries and high-populated areas i never went below 70fps. On cruise i am always at 130-141 fps.

13900k + 4090  = Success Flight Simulation Story.

 

 

Seth, so how do you get to 5.7ghz, without manually OCing? Are you liquid cooled? 

[Rocky_53 1,566]

Thanks for all the constructive advice fellas, all good stuff.

[Bob Scott 7,716]

1 minute ago, G-YMML1 said:

So...what is the recommended cooling solution for 13900k then without robbing a bank?

As a minimum, a good quality AIO liquid cooler like the Corsair H110i/150i or NZXT Kraken X63/73 or equivalent.  2x140mm or 3x120mm radiators.

[Seth2021 291]

2 minutes ago, G-YMML1 said:

 

Is it stable (constant) 5.7Ghz or it's fluctuating under load?

So far is stable, never had a single bsod but needs a good cooling + Motherboard. Regarding thermal throttling, depends always of MSFS heavy multitasking loading  on all P-cores which is rare.