Boosting BCLK raises the base or turbo frequency.
Boosting BCLK raises the base or turbo frequency.
Base clock no longer depends on PCI-e bus speed after Skylake, meaning you're mistaken because the Coffee Lake update changed that.
USB, PCI-e and similar interfaces are now independent of base clock after Skylake, which resolves the previous concern. Today CPU and memory remain the main factors. The only drawback is that starting with Kaby Lake, Intel introduced a micro-code on Kaby Lake and later versions that blocks booting if the base clock exceeds the 102.98 tolerance. This change made it more common to opt for higher-end processors like i5 6400 and i7 6700 instead of overclocking cheaper models. It's worth noting that Intel often creates product categories in a way that feels artificial.
Sorry, Jurrunio, but your statement is incorrect. The BCLK on Skylake and newer chips aren't linked to PCIE or DMI anymore. PCIE always uses a 100 MHz reference clock, independent of BCLK. (Remember this isn't connected to *System agent clock*—keep that in mind.) I've never seen how this ties into FCLK. I noticed someone running a NVMe drive at 141 BCLK for a month with an i5 6500 without issues. That wouldn't be feasible otherwise. The main concern is RAM stability. I believe "external clock generation" is meant to work around that firmware problem at 102.98 MHz. Some BIOSes also offer "BCLK aware adaptive voltage" settings. What do you think WRs are encouraging at 180 BCLK these days? https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threa...0k.215665/