Overclocking the BCLK can be risky, potentially causing instability or damage if not done carefully.
Overclocking the BCLK can be risky, potentially causing instability or damage if not done carefully.
Hello, your setup looks good overall. Running an i7 9700 on a Z390 board at 4.5-4.65GHz is feasible, especially with DDR4 16GB at 3600MHz and XMP settings. The BCLK value you mentioned (102.3) is within typical safe ranges for most systems. Increasing BCLK can boost PCIe and USB speeds, but it shouldn't damage components if done correctly. Just ensure your BIOS supports higher frequencies and that your power supply can handle the load. It's safe as long as you stick to recommended settings and monitor temperatures.
Max safe BCLK is influenced by many factors. It’s not necessary to deviate significantly from default settings unless dealing with unusual cooling methods such as liquid nitrogen. If the XMP profile provided that number, it’s completely acceptable.
Based on your motherboard, some offer excellent clock controllers that let you adjust the BLCK added to the CPU, so everything else except the CPU and RAM operates at a different BCLK. Certain devices such as NVMe drives may become unstable during write operations at specific frequencies like 102, 101, or 115—you'll notice the issues once your files become corrupted. Typically, you opt for BCLK overclocking to capture the final performance bit needed for competitive tests, unless you prefer not to interfere if BLCK offset isn't available.
You're right to question this. It seems PCIe now has its own dedicated reference clock, especially since Skylake was introduced.