The World's First 9 GHz CPU | Talk at Intel

In April 2024, ‪@ElmorLabs‬ and I were invited to the Intel headquarters to talk about the first 9 GHz CPU overclock. This is the recording of that talk. Due to confidentiality requirements, we unfortunately had to cut the 1H Q&A from the talk. Hope you still enjoy the content.
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00:00 Introduction
00:57 Relive the 9 GHz
02:24 A Brief History
04:28 Raptor Lake, Record Breaker
06:39 Chasing Records with Liquid Helium
13:38 Beyond 9 GHz (feat. ‪@ElmorLabs‬)

[@lolmao500]

A message to intel... it would be nice if they could restart telling everyone how many transistors there are in their CPUs... for some unknown reason, theyve stopped telling us how many there were in their cpus?? Why?? Theres no valid reason for that??

[@yuan.pingchen3056]

That's because the way we use CPU has changed, back in 2000 we used single core CPU full loading to edit videos, render 3D images, but now, we just use the CPU to feed code/data to the GPU, let it execute, and we retain All our managers (cores) are loaded as evenly as possible for maximum energy efficiency since modern PC system almost never let all processor core running at full loading condition, but more cores still have a big performance improvement compared to a few cores, probably because of the compiler/software Optimization, different cores have their own cache, which makes them suitable for performing specialized tasks. Back to the topic. For your question, you can use cpu model name + wikichip to query the wafer wiring diagram of a specific processor model. If you have some ideas, maybe You can deduce how many transistors the processor uses

[@noreng9333]

@@yuan.pingchen3056 So what if how we use CPUs has changed? The number of transistors is purely a fun fact. It doesn't cost Intel anything to disclose the approximate number

[@christophermullins7163]

​@@noreng9333they likely don't know exactly but I would imagine that the number is much higher per core vs AMD even though AMD has great performance. This is shown clearly in the double efficiency AMD has. That is due to Intel on a worse node and requiring more transistors to produce the same performance. They don't want you to realize the architecture team is actually not doing as well as theyd like you to believe.

[@mikebruzzone9570]

No designer optimizes to the potential density increase, node to node, on clear signal and endurance requirements. mb

[@yourma2000]

@@christophermullins7163 Of course Intel know exactly how many transistors are in their chips, it's not like counting the number of sugar grains used to make a cake, there's an electronic map of their designs which details every last circuit element used.

[@jrherita]

This is a very fun historical romp! Thank you for putting this together!

[@carloshenriquez125]

Imagine the speed at opening word documents and playing Solitary at the same time

[@deadghost1189]

So can i just apply the bios profile they have onto my pc?

[@emperorSbraz]

after 6.9GHz back then, with this the groundwork is laid for the 9.6GHz milestone. :)

[@steakhoux]

Not stable with Cinebench 2024 like their regular CPUs I would guess.

[@morthim]

i'm kinda confused why it is so low. intel controls the IPC so, they could do more pipelining, and increase the clock count. if hyperthreading wasn't just a recovery for cache misses, they could have SIMD rapidly increase the number of effective cycles per seccond.

[@spankeyfish]

Well done!

[@marcelb5045]

Good job!

[@scanlly]

Congrats !

[@Tech2C]

Baseline used in BIOS ?

[@SkatterBencher]

The settings are manual (e.g. AC LL = 0.01). Here's the full replay of that session, including the BIOS configuration kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6C3pWVprsmsacU

[@mylittlepwny3447]

I think overclocking is a blast!

[@Ami_BK]

But does it play Crysis?

[@kelvinjinxd]

With Intel baseline profile, yes.

[@Innosos]

Not at those speeds.

[@meppie1922]

starting to get a bit old, dude..

[@Corrosion37]

@@kelvinjinxd lmao damn

[@MrEdioss]

Maybe 1% can, 99% unstable

[@lolmao500]

Intel promised us 10ghz CPUs in 2005! And on air! Not on liquid helium! The silicon limit if obviously 9ghz. We need new materials for higher clock rates. The next target for overclockers should be 9ghz on a gpu lol Imagine a RTX5090 at 9ghz. Thatd be epic. Right now we're not even at 4 ghz... weak :p Theres 20 times more transistors in a 4090 than a 14900K but thats a minor detail :p

[@dcorbe]

We already have a semiconductor that can achieve 10Ghz clock rates. There just hasn't been enough research to commercialize it yet. Gallium Nitride semiconductors are the future. Unfortunately, the future is still 25 years away.

[@karlos1060]

The silicon is not the limit for ghz. It's the architecture. As shown with the slow AMD buldozer that could reach insane clockspeeds on 32nm. If that would be scaled down to todays 3 or 4 nm it would easy hit 10ghz. But at what use?

[@dcorbe]

@@karlos1060 At what use? Single-threaded performance still matters. You can't parallelize everything.

[@MrEdioss]

Is it really a badge of honor to beat FX?

[@christophermullins7163]

Yeah I am always struck with the idea that a cpu manufacturers could easily produce a 20ghz CPU but the IPC would be 1/10 of that of a modern CPU. Frequency is nice but IPC needs to be up to a modern standard in order for it to be honorable. Like you suggested.. FX may have clocked high but frequency does not make a CPU faster. Personally I would be more impressed with an all core overclock that completes a bulky 10 minute benchmark... Not just single thread. Just like high frequency.. a single thread test means nothing for actual real world usage.

[@mastervorn6380]

I think so. The current top 25 in highest frequencies are all 13th and 14th gen Intel and FX 8000 CPUs. The difference...These 13th and 14th gen actually are good silicon. FX simply boasted high frequency but could barely handle Minecraft. FX could overclock, that's it. FX was like a condom, single use and toss it. 13th gen especially, is like a good single father, can do it all!

[@user-vsmsdos]

9ghz on 1.3v with like 3% load is like... technically 9ghz

[@terrabyteonetb1628]

Nitrogen, 9ghz , lasted 2min, cpu died. Def cpu on standard pc, 2 years, cpu burn in, warranty job, bios oc chip too high, l9ng term heat cause Electron migration, .... Yay, new pc e ery 2 years, no. L9nger can you keep you 8088 for 30 years, n still runs.

[@terrabyteonetb1628]

200 year old fallout pc?, screen burnin 3 months, cpu dies 2y, ssd not used goes nlank in 5 10 years. Yay..

[@mikebruzzone9570]

Good application note. mb

[@mikebruzzone9570]

Raptor Lake will continue parallel Arrow? 2 different processing approaches. Arrow has to keep up on what should b a more effective compiler supporting parallel instruction set processing and then the on board DSP currently and whatever comes next driving SIMD? However low latency processing continues across pipes and registers coded for this and that. mb