Anyone tried disabling e-cores? What were your results?

[Evelynn]

I have a 12700k on the way and almost strictly game with my system. From what I've researched, most people recommend disabling e-cores if you only game - since the cache speed can be increased by around 20%. I've also heard that it's possible to achieve higher p-core clocks with e-cores disabled.

Coming from a 10850k, this is all very new to me. Is it true that your p-core overclocks can be higher? If so, that's a really big sell to me disabling them.

 

[EarthDog]

Hey there! Your screen name is my wife's name (and she isn't 90 years old, LOL!).

Last I understood...disabling e-cores to improve gaming only works with certain games. Some work just fine with them. So you'll have to check that out first to see if it's worth it in the games you play.

Heat is the major factor in these chips. If you disable the e-cores and save some thermals, you could increase clcoks. For gaming, I don't see much of a point in overclocking anything as these are already almost maxed out. The 100-200 Mhz you may get on the p-cores from disabling e-cores doesn't really translate to a tangible increase in a lot of cases.

It's a lot of tweaking for minimal gains is the short of it, but, that's what we're here for!!

 

[freakdiablo]

I'll agree that these chips boost pretty well on their own. Haven't tried disabling e-cores but the thing already hits 5.1-5.2 with a 360mm AIO. Getting a few extra MHz from disabling them at that point doesn't seem worth it, especially since I'm the type that has a lot of crap running in the background that can be offloaded from the p-cores.

 

[Evelynn]

Thanks for the replies! I love overclocking but may just leave this chip at stock if they hit 5.1 to 5.2 out of the box. The majority of threads I've read have people hitting 5.3 to 5.4, which isn't worth the effort. Undervolting might be the way to go then.

 

[freakdiablo]

Yeah, the days of 35-50% OC gains are gone, sadly. I did play around for a weekend, got it to 5.3 stable but would hit >=95c if I ran any serious stress tests.

Like ED said, these do run kinda hot.