Intel's recently launched Core i9-9900KS which offers a 5 GHz clock speed across all its 8 cores is now available on Silicon Lottery with pre-tested frequencies of up to 5.2 GHz. Silicon Lottery has also shown stats which reveal that only a few golden samples can reach up to 200 MHz overclocks.

Silicon Lottery Reveals That Only Top 3% Intel Core i9-9900KS CPUs Can Hit 5.2 GHz, Priced at $1199.99 US

The retailer has also shared some interesting pre-binning statistics which show that Intel has squeezed every last drop of frequency themselves, leaving users with little overclocking headroom to exploit. All pre-binned processors were qualified based on their AVX2 frequency which is the max stable frequency for AVX2 workloads.

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There are three variants listed on Silicon Lottery which start at 5.0 GHz and go all the way up to 5.2 GHz. Now, you must be wondering, why do I need a 5.0 GHz pre-binned chip when Intel themselves said the Core i9-9900KS can hit 5 GHz across all cores at all times. Well, the difference is that Silicon Lottery's chip is overclocked for 5 GHz all the time unlike the regular variant which hits 4.0 GHz at base frequency. Then again, should you buy this chip for $100 US more than the regular box chip? I would suggest not to as according to Silicon Lottery themselves, 100% of the Core i9-9900KS chips were able to hit 5.0 GHz or greater which means even the standard one you buy off a retail shelve will give you the same performance and for $100 US less.

But if you want better overclock speeds, the higher-binned chips range from 5.1 GHz ($749.99 US) and 5.2 GHz ($1199.99 US). These are some pretty hefty prices you would have to pay for a meager 100-200 MHz overclock. According to Silicon Lottery, only the top 31% Core i9-9900KS chips can hit 5.1 GHz while only the top 3% chips can hit 5.2 GHz or greater frequencies. For achieving 5.1 GHz, Silicon Lottery pushed the voltage to 1.287V with an AVX Offset of 2 while the 5.2 GHz overclock is achieved using a voltage supply of 1.325V.

Now here's the interesting part, while Silicon Lottery has no 5.2 GHz pre-binned chips listed for Core i9-9900K and Core i9-9900KF, they do have 5.1 GHz models listed. Compared to the 5.1 GHz Core i9-9900KS which is being sold for $749.99 US, the Core i9-9900K 5.1 GHz was priced at $930 US while the Core i9-9900KF 5.1 GHz was priced at $850 US. The main reason for the higher price compared to the Core i9-9900KS is because only 5-8 percent of the top tier chips were able to hit 5.1 GHz while with the Core i9-9900KS, you're always guaranteed a 5.1 GHz overclock.

While I worked on this post, the Core i9-9900KS 5.2 GHz chips sold out. These chips may probably have been picked up by enthusiasts and overclockers considering that they are golden samples. Still, paying $1199.99 US for 200 MHz is quite insane but I guess people are willing to pay that much for special binned chips. Since we are talking about the Core i9-9900KS, you may as well check out our own review of the processor which we overclocked to 5.3 GHz (1.350V) across all 8 cores.