8Pack super fast smash the rest i5 Skylake Overclocked, Discounted killer GAMING bundle.

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Prime is fine in terms of temps even at 1.4. I tested a while. But its not a use for end users so I test with real bench, games and VGA benches to check performance on real world apps.

Yeah I know. Just meaning to establish / know for sure that top end outer bracket of the power envelope would be. And to be sure that the cooling is always enough to keep. i.e. that level which cannot ever be exceeded by the CPU because it physically isn't able to go above.

For comparison (when I did that exact same test on an i5):

My i5-6600K, with inadequate cooling and cheap regular paste. It gets up to a consistent 119.75 watts, and 100^C on that specific test. So unlike the i3, not thermally balanced / stable. (Although to be fair i didn't permit it the CPU fan to go any higher than 857 rpm.)

I suppose you're right it doesn't really matter much because the system will never be used that way in real life.

The regular 'full load' testing TDP (various other benchmarks) all get that same i5 chip either 55 watts or 77 watts TDP. And 70^C temps. So it should always be less for the i3-6100 (having fewer cores). Despite similar single-threaded performance.

Kindda makes we want to get rid of the i5 now (sell it). But then again I've no graphics card yet. So couldn't OC it until Pascal / Arctic Islands comes out.
 
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NoIt's a BIOS download that anyone can share. Just like OC BIOS for VGA etc. Really they can't stop it
at all. If Intel block this at hardware level then we pull the bundle.

Sorry but I think you are incorrect. For example:

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/07/25/intel-overclocking-block/1

They released the update as a "stability" update via Windows update. After that, no more overclocking on cheap boards.

They will release a microcode update and boom... blocked again.
 
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OK the common assumption (myself included) was that Intel microcode updates only ever get backed into future BIOS updates. Meaning that so long as you don't ever re-flash your BIOS, you should be OK. You seem to be referring to this bit:

For the article's user comments:

> "AFAIK Microsoft only do this for critical bugs, so in theory you could just use a older BIOS ROM."

The correct way to deal with windows update, it to disable it first. Then use the WSUS Offline tool (e.g. from a weekly scheduled task) to download and install any new windows updates. The WSUS tool can block / exclude KBs too, but only if you know and are aware ahead of time which KBs to look out for.

Or just use linux. Linux isn't going to silently install microcode updates without telling you beforehand.
 
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If u stay on the same BIOS its fine.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Microcode

Processor manufacturers release stability and security updates to the processor microcode. While microcode can be updated through the BIOS, the Linux kernel is also able to apply these updates during boot. These updates provide bug fixes that can be critical to the stability of your system. Without these updates, you may experience spurious crashes or unexpected system halts that can be difficult to track down.
It will be blocked as a "stabilty" update. Unless you want to overclock and not connect your PC to the internet ever then I really do not recommend relying on it.
 
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I really do not recommend relying on it.

I think you are wrong about the linux for sure... Because for all the major linux distros, none of them will update the intel microcode except by a manual process (which is distro-specific), and always requires to be initiated by the user.

It's only Microsoft that may silently apply intel microcode updates without the user explicitly telling it to do so. But even so, it's my current understanding that is not terribly likely to happen there either though.

Furthermore, Intel has release no public statements yet (or at any prior time) that they are against BCLKing. And given the cetainty of cheaper hexa-core unnlocked AMD Zens entering the market in coming months. Intel will want to stay ahead / price competitive with Zen. So to start blocking this new BCLKing would be not be any kind of a rational move for Intel in light of that.
 
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I think you are wrong about the linux for sure... Because for all the major linux distros, none of them will update the intel microcode except by a manual process (which is distro-specific), and always requires to be initiated by the user.

It's only Microsoft that may silently apply intel microcode updates without the user explicitly telling it to do so. But even so, it's my current understanding that is not terribly likely to happen there either though.

Furthermore, Intel has release no public statements yet (or at any prior time) that they are against BCLKing. And given the cetainty of cheaper hexa-core unnlocked AMD Zens entering the market in coming months. Intel will want to stay ahead / price competitive with Zen. So to start blocking this new BCLKing would be not be any kind of a rational move for Intel in light of that.

Yes I agree it is unlikely with Linux. But my point is that Intel can easily block this if they wish to do so. They have a reason to block it, it harms sales of the K series CPU's, who in their right mind would buy a 6600k over an i5 6400 if BCLK was offcially unlocked?

After all they blocked the B85/H87 chipset from overclocking as it harms sales of the Z87 chipset. No amount of staying on the right BIOS fixed that, it was pushed via Windows update.

Asrock even state:

4. Due to future hardware/firmware updates or other reasons, the availability of SKY OC is subject to change without notice in advance.
http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?id=3132

To just brush it off as "it won't happen" and to not put any kind of disclaimer I think is just crazy!
 
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If u use the micro code in the BIOS provided and don't change BIOS then this is ultimately fine. I mean how many times does anyone need to change BIOS. This is a bundle we are supporting on the BIOS provided.

The OS does not dictate microcode BIOS does. On asrock OCF u can even select the microcode u wish to use from within the BIOS its self and switch accordingly.

Intel may be pleased about this at i3 level. They have great extra publicity and a chip now that beats AMD in the same price bracket.

Sales of such chips should explode with this.
 
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I dare not update the bios when everything is tweaked as I like it and there's no features I feel like I'm missing.

Props to OCUK for doing this.

I cant describe enough how much I miss FSB overclocking :p
 
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Yes these bundles are a tweakers delight..real fun to OC and test slightly different blk to truly Max out your CPU.

The options are sensible upgrades that give u higher OC headroom a quieter system or of course more RAM.

Yes I mean 6400 non K

It's 285 for i3 bundle that's a different thread and product.
 
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If u use the micro code in the BIOS provided and don't change BIOS then this is ultimately fine. I mean how many times does anyone need to change BIOS. This is a bundle we are supporting on the BIOS provided.

The OS does not dictate microcode BIOS does. On asrock OCF u can even select the microcode u wish to use from within the BIOS its self and switch accordingly.

Intel may be pleased about this at i3 level. They have great extra publicity and a chip now that beats AMD in the same price bracket.

Sales of such chips should explode with this.

The microcode is updated via windows update. It has nothing to do with staying on the same BIOS.
 
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I'm not going to pretend to understand the inner workings of this but can you explain how a windows update could lock out a feature of a bios?

Sure, just look at how overclocking was stopped by Intel on the B85/H87 chipset.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2332999

They CAN push microcode updates via Windows Update:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/936357

They cracked down on it for motherboard chipsets that do not have such a price difference as CPU's.

You could use the old bios on Asrock boards to overclock on them, but then you had this problem:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=517&KW=Non-Z&PN=1&title=g3258-on-windows-10-8-5-update

If you wish to overclock with G3258 instead of installing Win10, please use the previous BIOS.
But again Asrock are now saying on this new feature:

4. Due to future hardware/firmware updates or other reasons, the availability of SKY OC is subject to change without notice in advance.
http://www.asrock.com/news/events/SkyOC/

So all in all, I just think adding a simple disclaimer stating the same as Asrock would really cover this. Otherwise it could lead to a lot of unhappy customers!
 
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For those interested the bundle with low end GPU which will burn very little is pulling 88w from the wall at idle and 140 Peak during Prime non AVX stress testing. So this bundle without speed step still very energy efficient.
 
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