Solutions for my i7-6700 (non-k)
Solutions for my i7-6700 (non-k)
I rarely encounter this problem with first generation i7, whether 45nm or 32nm westmere and lynnfield. If the multiplier is fixed, you can easily reach over 200 BLCK on good motherboards with these. What stable BLCK values are achievable with skylake?
Correct. The first generation base clock OC worked perfectly fine. The issue started with Sandybridge, where the base clock was tied to the PCI bus, leading to crashes of base clocks around 104. This severely limited overclocking, except for purchasing premium unlocked "K" SKUs. After Skylake, the base clock was reopened quietly, but subsequent BIOS updates reintroduced microcodes that restricted boot speeds, allowing only a few MHz overclocks on early beta versions.
Hopefully they will revert to older methods for the new generation, it would be nice to see 200+ black for 2021 processors (if this architecture can even support it).
Are all Skylake processors, including Xeon, BLCK not dependent on the PCIE bus? It seems like a great overclocking opportunity if you just have the right motherboard and downgrade your BIOS.
These are merely CPU-Z tools for record-keeping, not intended for regular use.
All the "Lakes" remain detached from the PCI bus, yet restricted by microcode that manipulates the Intel Management Engine. They also made significant efforts to prevent reverting to older BIOS versions. It's frustrating because you might still be able to overclock the newer "Lakes" at base clock, but without compatible microcodes this isn't possible. No known BIOS hacks have succeeded in bypassing these protections. Some users simply remove the components and replace the ROM chip to restore overclocking capabilities. Back then it offered a big performance boost, but now it's only worthwhile for serious overclockers because even budget Ryzens are now cheaper and faster, and fully unlocked.
This is what im running for 24/7 right now, this is after delidding. I used to run this at 4.3ghz or 4.35ghz at 1.45-1.475v on the core but theres no point since 4.212ghz is stable at 1.415v.
From what ive seen its really hard to degrade these 45nm chips, even when intel set maxium limit to 1.40v vcore i dont think that is accrate, i been running 4 chips out of specs for 5 years or more and nothing happened. This is ofcourse with with good cooling, never went above 85c on the cores. I have been more careful with the VTT/IMC voltage since i heard over 1.35v will degrade the first gen 32nm westmere chips. I can get up to 2450mhz on the ram and 205 BLCK with just 1.300v VTT and thats my upper limit.
When i move on from x58 and lynnfield, the next step could be, but i really don’t want to upgrade to something that can’t be BLCK overclocked. Updating the ROM isn’t an issue—I have a ch341a programmer, and i’m used to doing it when fixing laptops with corrupt BIOS or Intel region.
From what i gathered only asrock motherboards support this "SKY OC" feature. There is no list of boards where you can simply downgrade the BIOS to enable it, or it becomes impossible to reflash the chip when newer BIOS versions are installed on every board.
It seems likely that all brands had boards available. The staff here has been trying to limit information about non-K Skylake OC for nearly five years, so you won’t find much data on THW. Once, Pro-overclocker der8auer ran all the unlocked BIOSes on his own site, overclocking.guide, but that page was removed about two years ago. You can reach out to him via HWBOT, his YouTube channel, or one of the overclocking forums—don’t go to THW. He usually responds. Alternatively, check this old thread if you’re interested:
https://community.hwbot.org/topic/141067...ainboards/
Or browse the results database at HWBOT, which contains hundreds of Skylake non-K overclocked entries. You might contact a user there to see if they still have the BIOS file you need.
Im actually looking for a cheap Z170 motherboard, i found more interesting things about this chipset, it ACTUALLY supports even 8th and 9th gen processors via bios and hardmod. You literally have to mod your bios with tool from win raid (for your exact processor stepping and microcode) and solder one wire. No need to even touch the cpu only motherboard.
Looking at the prices like 50-75$ or euro used with great vrm , support up to 4400mhz ddr4 and also i9-9900k. Literally third of the cost of a newer motherboard mid/high end motherboard)
Is there any possibility to BLCK overclock any of the kaby lake / coffee lake or newer prorcessors with "sky oc" bios ?
It functions with the mod, though it won't overclock KL/CL unless someone finally solves that. Be cautious the Coffee mod isn't assured.