An upcoming BIOS update for EVGA Z170 motherboards to allow BCLK overclocking on non-K Intel processors.
The news came from EVGA Product Manager Jacob Freeman via Twitter this afternoon:
New Z170 BIOS for BCLK OC'ing on non K CPU's coming right up
— Jacob Freeman (@EVGA_JacobF) January 15, 2016
Update: The new BIOS 1.07 enabling non-K BLCK OC is now available from EVGA.
We have been following the story of BCLK overclocking of locked Skylake CPUs since early last month, when Techspot published benchmarks from an Intel Core i3-6100 clocked at 4.70 GHz – thanks to a pre-release ASRock BIOS. The BIOS has since been released, and other vendors are updating their Z170 motherboards to support these locked processors as well, the latest being EVGA.
It remains to be seen if Intel will have anything to say about their cheaper "locked" processors becoming more attractive to potential overclockers, as the unlocked K parts have provided a nice profit margin for the company. So far, board partners are moving forward seemingly unimpeded with the updates to remove the overclocking limitations, and that's great news for enthusiasts.
It’s really shitty of Intel
It’s really shitty of Intel to artificially gate Overclocking behind a damn paywall.
It’s like ordering an icecream but having to pay extra for the cone – even though you’ve already paid for it.
With how frequently the
With how frequently the higher clocked Skylake parts have been out of stock, at least they are allowing for some overclocking. Perhaps the parts can easily reach the higher clocks, but they can not guarantee the stability at acceptable levels to sell the part at the higher clock. If you overclock, then Intel is not responsible for any stability issues.
With all the big players
With all the big players supporting BCLK non-k OC on Skylake, it will reflect pretty poorly on Intel if they decide to pull it back. (Not that they would care).
In my 775 days when FSB OC’ing was the thing I bought a lot more CPUs because cheap ones were fun to play with. Now I buy one every 3 generations are so. Even if there margins are high on K CPUs whats the point if people buy chips 1/3 as often.
Besides it seems like anyone doing real work on a computer runs from overclocking like it’s the plague. They all pony up and pay for top tier CPUs anyways.
Looking forward to eventually getting iGPU/temperature support with OC’d on skylake non-k.
It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to know how this will affect sales across Intel’s product line, as potential 6600k and 6700k buyers try their luck with a less expensive i3.
It will also be interesting to see how far each motherboard manufacturer goes toward getting non-K Skylake chips stable when overclocked. Since the non-Z 100-series chipsets were not originally designed for this task, and the BIOS out now are using an exploit, then a lot more work will be needed to make all the power states, temp, and other features available, if possible.
Are non-K i5’s as receptive
Are non-K i5’s as receptive to BCLK overclocking as i3’s are? I don’t think I’ve seen anything talking about them.
Yes they are. Check out
Yes they are. Check out digital foundry or hardware unboxed on youtube. They both have have segments on oc’ing the skylake non k i5’s.