Recommendations for a Z170 board with BCLK overclock functionality

forester46

forester46

forester46

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2 May 2016
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8
Hello all,

I'm new to the forum only joined last night.

My background is that I've built PC's for the last 15 - 20yrs, usually a handful a year and normally just budget builds with the odd gaming card thrown in.

I'm currently running an old machine that I built around 8 years ago, that pretty much sees me right for most things but I think its about time to change.

I need a lot of SATA ports, will have to buy a PATA card (or use my existing SATA/PATA VIA card if the new board has a PCI slot), and don't need any SLI or Crossfire setup.

I have a decent 700w PSU, and decent case, with around 8 x 2tb HDD's already fitted. Running a slightly old but reliable 2GB Radeon HD7870 OC and it's good enough for the older games I play.

I'm only into FPS and the very occassional flight sim.

OK - so to the point.

I've read about the BCLK overclock being available and now pulled, so am looking for an i5 6400 that I can tag into a cost effective board that can still be reverse flashed with the right bios.

What board do people recommend (that can still be reverse flashed !)
Requirements are (minimum) , 1 PCex16 slot, 2 PCI and PCIex slots. USB 3.0, m2 slot (for future upgrade) and like i said earlier at least 6 Sata connections.

Thanks

J
 
Hi and welcome to the forums. :)

Have you seen the bundle deal that does the very thing you want:-

My basket at Overclockers UK:


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Are you aware of the downsides to overclocking this way:-

1) You have no power saving so the CPU runs full speed all time. BCLK overclocking like this means no speed step. An i5 Skylake is burning almost zero power anyway but I should mention.
2) Temperature monitoring with progs like Core temp is disabled so you need to use HWmonitor or the software provided in the motherboard bunble if you wish to check temps. This is ofcourse not the most accurate but does give an idea and like I said previously this i5 is putting out very little heat even with 1.4v and Prime its well under TJmax on Air cooler. Ofcourse the CPU will still throttle and shut down the system should cooling ever become an issue. But in my teating the headroom in terms of cooling was large.
3) IGPU is disabled.
4) updating the CPU microcode via BIOS update or software may effect the ovreclocking of this bundle. So once installed CPU microcode on provided BIOS should remain the same.
Click to expand...


Personally the downsides outweigh the positives and I would rather pay the little extra for a 6600k and a Z170 board.

My basket at Overclockers UK:


​
 
the other issue is Intel AVX is crippled, which is minor, no game uses it. And memory is capped at 2600mhz. Seen a 6400 for £129 so i'm quite tempted.
 
@hedgey
Same here. I have also seen the 6400 at £129 and was looking for cheap BCLK motherboard that would match.

@pastymuncher

Thanks for the detailed response. I did see the deal from 8pack, but it just seems like a lot of money for a 6400 setup. To be honest the 6600k bundle @£296.98 would be my preference if it wasn't for the fact the the 6400 is available at such a good price.

8pack has included the Asus Z170-E which seems to be working in the deal posted below so it looks like an option I might look at.

I know I lose the power management, and cpu temp features. But to be honest I'm still running a Q6600 (2.4Ghz) clocked to 3.2Ghz on the stock intel cooler (done it for years) and it's coped. The skylake should be in a different league in terms of power consumption. My worry was the BCLK feature being pulled, but from the sound of things it's still working.

Do others have this working with a different board? I was really looking at the Gigabyte offers.


Thanks for your advice so far.
 
Intel can stop that BCLK overclocking of the nonK CPUs at anytime by forcing an update through Windows itself, no need to update the BIOS to change the microcode.

So at anytime overclocking the nonK CPUs could be a thing of the past and anyone with a overclocked system could find their CPU reset and locked.

Now you could say you disable windows update permanently but then you open yourself up to risks from not having the latest security patches etc.

Good video about it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZFOfO9Buag

Then again they might not do this ever.

That Gigabyte board in that bundle does have something called Turbo BCLK which is some generator to allow you to overclock the BCLK to very high level.

But then again as the CPU included is a K variant, just increase the CPU multiplier to overclock.
 
Intel can't force an update.
Microsoft can't force an update. You can disable auto-updates (recommended anyway) and merely uninstall anything containing microcode.
The microcode update can be disabled in BIOS.

It's a non-issue.
 
@hedgey, my worry was buying a new motherboard that's pre-flashed with a newer bios with no ability to roll back to an older "SKY OC" type rom.

I can see from the website http://overclocking.guide/ that a lot of the old bios files are still available, and people are posting positive feedback.

It looks like I'm going for the i5 6400 + Asus Z170E.

To be honest, I'm surprised not to see a user thread on this combo since it seems to be the most talked about option on the net.
 
Most people on here do it properly and buy a k series cpu. Like I said, for me the bclk method has far too many compromises and by the time you factor in the more expensive motherboard even with your £129 i5 6400 the difference is only £40 between the 6400/Z170-E and a 6600k with a cheaper Z170 board. Looking elsewhere I can get that difference down to £27 which is very little money at all.
 
pastymuncher said:
Most people on here do it properly and buy a k series cpu. Like I said, for me the bclk method has far too many compromises and by the time you factor in the more expensive motherboard even with your £129 i5 6400 the difference is only £40 between the 6400/Z170-E and a 6600k with a cheaper Z170 board. Looking elsewhere I can get that difference down to £27 which is very little money at all.
Click to expand...

This. Also having the cpu going at full pelt the whole time will wear out its lifespan quicker.
 
@pastymuncher, is doing the base overclock not doing it properly and stretching the CPU / board to maximise cost / performance. It's what I did with my Q6600 that served me well for the last 8 years. I do take onboard your point about matching a 6600k with a cheaper board option, that wasn't something I had originally considered but is definitely something I will look into.

What board were you looking at as an alternative just to give me a steer?
Does it need to be a Z170? Can it be an alternative Socket 1151 board type? H, etc...
 
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The only cpu's designed for overclocking on socket 1151 are the i5 6600k and i7 6700k. The only reason this bclk method has popped up is because someone found a way around things using a modded bios which Asrock and Asus picked up on and issued bios updates that have since been withdrawn. It's a bit different to the good old days of overclocking on socket 775 (I really miss fettling like you had to back then).

When you overclock with a k series cpu and once you are stable you can turn on all the power daving features and have the cpu clock and voltage drop significantly while at idle or browsing the internet. My whole pc at the moment is only pulling 68w at the wall with the cpu idling along at 798mhz. BCLK clocking doesn't allow this as the cpu is running full speed with max voltage 100% of the time.

To overclock on 1151 you have to use a Z170 motherboard whichever method you use. None of the other chipsets will do it. The board I saw for £77 was the Asrock Z170 pro4/D3 but I have just seen that it's only DDR3 (didn't realise that there where any Z170 DDR3 boards) so best to stick with a DDR4 board. Looking around you can easily get a Z170 board and 6600k for £270.

One possible problem with the bclk method that nobody has seemed to think about is that you are stuck on the same bios which can't be updated. What happens if you buy a gpu that needs a motherboard bios flash for it to work? You either send the gpu back as all you get is a black screen or update the bios and lose your overclock. Think it's unlikely to happen? Think again. It has happened and very recently too. When Z77 was still the current chipset both Nvidia and AMD launched new cards that were incompatible with the motherboards and the only fix was a bios flash. It seemed to affect Gigabyte boards most but they were not the only manufacturer that needed updates. It's something that need's to be thought about before going down this route.
 
OK - been surfing, and found a good deal (for me anyway).

My brother lives in the USA and is coming over in 4 weeks times, he's offered to bring stuff back for me so i need to order in the next few days.

I can pick up an i5 6600k for $240 (amazon), and a Asus Z170-E for $86 (newegg) so $326 (£225 all in). Sounds like a good option to me, and it's probably cheaper than buying an i5 6400 + z170 board in the UK.

Cheers bud. Looks like I have a plan !
 
I am not sure how that would work regarding warranties. Just keep in mind that if anything fails you may have to get your brother to deal with the warranty in the USA. That is much cheaper though he may get charged import duties if he gets pulled up at customs.
 
@pastymuncher, it's a chance worth taking as the cpu is likely to be OK with either the motherboard or ram at risk of being faulty. I'll build the PC up while he's here, if there is a faulty component he can take the part back for a refund and I can buy the same part in the UK albeit at a slightly higher price.

I ordered some ram too. Reserved and ready for collection - he picks it up tonight.


Reservation Summary - Items Ready for Pickup:
Date: 7:54 PM on May 4 2016

SKU DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE PER TOTAL
958793 16GB 2 x 8GB DDR4-2800 PC4-25600 CL16 Desktop Memory Kit 1 $69.99 $69.99
804815 Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz 1151 Boxed Processor 1 $209.99 $209.99
818591 GA-Z170-HD3P LGA 1151 ATX Intel Motherboard 1 $79.99 $79.99
Subtotal »
$359.97
Tax » $21.60

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESERVATION TOTAL » $381.57 (about £265).

The CPU and ram alone would cost me that here, so the board is effectively free.

I need a CPU cooler now, but I'll pick that up here as he might be tight on luggage space.

He's coming over as part of a bigger group so will split up the RAM, CPU and mainboard into different bags. I should be OK on the customs front.
 
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Whats a suitable air based cooler that'll let me get up to 4.5Ghz?

I was looking at either the Hyper 212 Evo or Hyper TX3 Evo but I'm open to better options if there are any !
 
Didn't know EVGA did ram. You had better remove the links as they may be classed as a competitor. I know they are in the USA but it's better to be safe than get a holiday for breaking forum rules.

As for air coolers the Hyper 212 Evo would be fine. Don't bother with the TX3 Evo as it uses crappy push pins to fit it. These are worth a look as well:-

My basket at Overclockers UK:


​

Just make sure you have the required clearance in the case.

If you want to try a AIO the Antec ones are excellent value for money:-

My basket at Overclockers UK:


​
 
Thanks.

Links removed - didn't think it through when posted !! :)

I do like the idea of the Antec H600 - for not a lot of money too ! It certainly seems more sensible than whacking on a big heat sink to a CPU that could lever the board to bits if manhandled.

I'm going to look at the others too ... and buy one of the above from overclockers

Cheers

J
 
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