Adjust voltage and boost performance by overclocking or undervolting a 13600kf board on B660 or B760 platforms.
Adjust voltage and boost performance by overclocking or undervolting a 13600kf board on B660 or B760 platforms.
Hello, I aim to create a new setup and you mentioned Z boards are costly. My concern is whether I can overclock and undervolt my 13600kf on a B board or if I should stick with a Z board. I understand that for older Intel CPUs, a Z board is typically needed to unlock any performance gains.
To get overclocking support - as in, pushing the CPU multiplier past its out-of-the-box performance, you will need a Z series board. There's no way around that. For undervolting, it depends. Some B series boards support it in a limited capacity - it is quite restrictive compared to what you get on a Z series board. Some B series boards have no support for it at all. The only thing in this vein that you get on B series boards is memory OC. The CPU is still locked down. Blame Intel.
To boost performance, you'll need a Z-series board. B-series options can support undervolting, though you might encounter unexpected speed problems, making a dedicated Z board a better choice if you don’t aim for top speeds. While some B-series boards do allow overclocking, they’re typically priced similarly to Z790 models, so the value isn’t great.
These boards include voltage control features. Likely the Mortar Max models are responsible, and US versions don’t seem to support it either. The B660M PG Riptide is similar, though it wasn’t released in the US. These boards are around $180, which is much higher than budget options like the Z790 UD AC or Z690-A Pro. It’s only justifiable if you’re targeting a non-K 12th gen processor, and even then it’s questionable.
The differences between Z690 and Z790 become less noticeable when you slightly underclock your CPU. Both chips support similar voltages, but the Z790 offers better efficiency at lower voltages.
You think you got it on the B660 MSI PRO for your son? At 15,000 euros it’s quite a price.
The variations stem from each board model differently. The main certainty is a Z690 board likely requires a BIOS update to function with the 13600KF, whereas a Z790 board probably won't. Z790 boards should generally receive updates faster and offer stronger memory support, though this depends on the exact unit.