Intel i5-10600K Cache Ratio & RAM Overclock Beats 10900K: How Much Memory Matters

We overclocked the Intel i5-10600K Cache Ratio, the core, and the RAM in under an hour in order to match i9-10900K results from our review. This benchmark looks at whether RAM matters for Intel.

In this video, we're benchmarking the Intel Core i5-10600K with cache & memory tuning to see how much RAM matters on Intel, but also to see if we can equate a 10900K (on our standard bench platform -- see its specs in test methods content below) with under an hour of testing and validation. The Intel i5-10600K Ring clock (uncore or cache) is often overlooked in overclocking, so this testing helps illustrate the impact of a Cache ratio increase alongside core multiplier increases, all split-out from higher memory clocks. AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 3700X, and 3900X CPUs are included in the charts, but they're not the topic for today. We're focused just on the Intel vs. Intel impact from these overclock changes, similar to our Ryzen 3 3100 Infinity Fabric overclock. If you want comparative numbers of the R5 3600 or R7 3700X vs. i5-10600K, watch our review (linked above).

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro to Concepts
02:00 - Settings Applied & Easy Overclocks
05:08 - Memory Bottleneck in Three Kingdoms Campaign
06:51 - Hitman 2 10600K Memory Overclock CPU Benchmark
07:50 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10600K Benchmark
08:30 - F1 2019 1080p & 1440p CPU Benchmarks
10:55 - Blender Benchmark with RAM & Cache CPU Overclock
11:55 - 7-Zip Compression & Decompression Benchmark
12:40 - Conclusion & Initial Guidance



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Editorial, Testing: Steve Burke
Video: Keegan Gallick, Andrew Coleman

[GamersNexus]

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro to Concepts
02:00 - Settings Applied & Easy Overclocks
05:08 - Memory Bottleneck in Three Kingdoms Campaign
06:51 - Hitman 2 10600K Memory Overclock CPU Benchmark
07:50 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10600K Benchmark
08:30 - F1 2019 1080p & 1440p CPU Benchmarks
10:55 - Blender Benchmark with RAM & Cache CPU Overclock
11:55 - 7-Zip Compression & Decompression Benchmark
12:40 - Conclusion & Initial Guidance

[TechManTY.]

Disclaimer: No LN2 was harmed in the making of this video.

[thomas]

Steve you and your crew (I forget how many people you got with you now) are awesome. Y'all set the bar high on what tech videos should be and show that yall are continually working on improving testing methods. Your superior testing methods makes it basically impossible for me to believe a random video on cooling performance of different aio and air coolers, because you show all the variables that need to be controlled to get true results. Thank you, you are badass!

[Winnetou]

For GN: if you have the time and curiosity... since you can disable HT per individual core, and, if I'm not mistaken, also each individual core can be disabled completely, could you test a handful of games, to see if using these could notificeably increase performance (in a handful of games, theoretically each will differ from the others by A LOT) or decrease power&temp ? For example, in GTA 5, the CPU could be set to only have 8 cores, all without HT. I realize that this game is a pretty bad example, since it has that stupid 187 FPS limit, but you get the idea. Disabling HT should lead to performance because of less resource contention, while disable a core completely should help with power draw & temps and maybe latency ?

Related to this, I'm personally very curious how did the skylake did improve after all these years. Could you take a 10900K, set it to have the same a) core & threads, b) power targets, c) clock frequencies and d) all combinations of the before against a 6600K and 6700K ?
So, for example, a 10900K configured to match the 4/4 and 4/8 cores/threads of 6600K and 6700K also with the same frequencies of said CPUs, how much less power it consumes ? Does it perform the same ? On another test, with the same cores/threads and the same power limits, what frequencies and performance does it achieve ? Is that also the same ?
To remind here that the 10900K should have some security fixes directly in the hardware. I'm not certain if right now for a 6700K the security fixes would be in software or none at all.

[thespicyswede]

Playing Steve at .75 speed is just hilarious it sounds like he’s drunk or something

[TheXimena]

*Cash Overcock*

Fixed it for you guys!

[adamambler]

I’d really like to see direct comparison between AMD and Intel pushed to their max. Comparing something like 3600/x to the 10600k and 3700x to the 10700k with all these CPU’s at the redline for clocks, memory and other architectural factors. It would be a direct 6c/12t and 8c/16t comparison. I think the results might be quite interesting.

[MrMarcost]

I dont know who started the whole "memory speed doesnt matter for intel hurr durr" train, but it has always been bullshit; also, memory bottlenecks in games are more common than you would expect, take late game cities skylines save, or ONI saves or KSP saves; they are terribly memory bound. Any simulation type game will get more and more memory bound the longer you play it because the amount of data it need to pull is ever increasing

[robertdunlop]

Finding a 10600k is definitely more difficult than overclocking the chip.

[baddog]

Hah, that’s funny. You’re running almost the exact same OC settings as I am on my 8700k. 4, 8 cache and 5, 0 core with 1, 35V!

Difference is I’ve been running this since October 2017. And 8700K was retailing for 360€ before the 14nm shortage, and 10600K is currently selling for 314€. Not much of an improvement...

[Defr_m]

Thank you very much for this video! Finally, you tried to tune the RAM! It's great! But you didn't mentioned that samsung b-die chips are available in cheaper memory like t-force xtreem 3733 or patriot blackout 4000 MHz. And if you spend more time on RAM tuning you'll get even better results in games! Even if you have videocard bottleneck, you'll significantly improve your 0.1 and 1 percent low fps with memory tuning!

[cptnsx]

Steve I wish you had done the same ring overclock and ram overclock on the 10900k to see if there are any diminishing returns when applied to the 10/20 CPU.

[OfficialSteve]

Can we get a 10th gen overclocking guide with ram oc'ing and timing tweaking included?

I'm getting a 10th gen chip soon and while i'm sure it's as simple as overclocking my old 4690k, it would be nice to see an updated guide for the 10th gen chips, along with a Ram overclocking guide which I've never tried myself.

[Quplas]

Any chance you could include Total War: Warhammer 2 skaven benchmark in some gaming tests? This benchmark is very sluggish, but represent many of the real battles players run into during the game. I think there might be interesting findings in this benchmark.
This is also a benchmark that responds strongly to overclocking.

[jofrelloreto]

@gamersnexus could you make a 1h overclocking guide for the #10600k?
Most average users will appreciate it

[vcupiano]

These videos are by far the most concise computer related videos on YouTube. It almost feels like I’m taking a class when I watch them.

[callidusvulpes]

Will we see the 10900k with the overclocked memory?

[IslamGhunym]

This actually got me lost. I wonder now how other CPUs will perform with high end memory + cach OC with and without core overclocking. I don't like too much power consmption and heat.

[RoNy]

Guys you should do some reviews of older reviews something like a "How good was it" showcasing how accurate was your review and if it hold your expectations like what happened with the Enermax watercoolers, as a matter of inform people and provide more info about products.

[MrCipolenio]

The amount of work this guys put into these experiments is amazing