Talk about a surprise upgrade! The Intel XTU update gave my 7700K a 4.7 GHz all-core boost! :)
Talk about a surprise upgrade! The Intel XTU update gave my 7700K a 4.7 GHz all-core boost! :)
I was away from my primary computer for a year, outside the country, which meant a lot of Windows and app updates when I returned in mid-Sept. After updating Intel's XTU, I found out that my 7700K had lost its "XTU-approved" status, dropping it from 4.2 GHz all-core to 4.7 GHz all-core turbo—still balanced, but only sustained at full load and slowed to 800–1000 MHz otherwise. It was a bit frustrating, though not too obvious.
The good part was that I adjusted the Asus Z270A-Prime BIOS without raising core voltage, letting Asus auto-tune the optimal OC. This raised the all-core turbo to 4.6 GHz, still 100 MHz below the XTU target. I set the BIOS standard settings to revert to my previous 4.7 GHz speeds (noted in the initial Asus splash screen), and it worked perfectly!
This win beats the disappointment of losing the OC due to Intel's XTU update. It’s a reminder that sometimes updates can surprise you, but with the right tweaks, you can still get good performance.
For those using MCE mode with an Intel XTU and balanced power settings on older CPUs, this change might not be obvious until you check your clock speeds in tools like HWMonitor or Task Manager. I noticed it quickly—only turboing to 4.4 GHz all-core, which is still enabled in BIOS MCE mode.
Another response is: Occasionally it isn't worth updating to the newest software version simply because it exists. Any program you depend on shouldn't be changed just to fix an issue you face. It may frequently introduce problems you hadn't encountered before. This applies particularly to the BIOS.