BCLK Overclocking Intel Non-K Skylake CPU

BCLK overclocking is making a comeback and it may be as simple as a BIOS update. According to the article, ASUS, ASRock and Supermicro are working on updates for their motherboards as we speak. Thanks to Philip Dias for the heads up.

Anyone who has kept tabs on the extreme overclocking community recently would have noticed that the overclocker Dhenzjhen recently took a Core i3-6320 up to 127 MHz on increasing the base clock on his modified SuperMicro C7H170-M motherboard. We have heard that this feature may be coming to other motherboards through a simple BIOS update in the near future.

Is there any difference between an overclock achieved by base clock adjustment versus multiplier increase? I mean, on Skylake, if you overclock a CPU to 4.5Ghz by increasing the base clock or by increasing the multiplier, is it exactly the same thing like 3 x 5 = 5 x 3? Could one method overclock higher than the other?

If you are intending to run a 6700K at 4.5Ghz and have a motherboard that can increase base clock, is there any reason not to get the cheaper 6700?

evilsofa said:

Is there any difference between an overclock achieved by base clock adjustment versus multiplier increase? I mean, on Skylake, if you overclock a CPU to 4.5Ghz by increasing the base clock or by increasing the multiplier, is it exactly the same thing like 3 x 5 = 5 x 3? Could one method overclock higher than the other?

If you are intending to run a 6700K at 4.5Ghz and have a motherboard that can increase base clock, is there any reason not to get the cheaper 6700?

Click to expand...

From the techspot review, it seems about 127 is rough limit to how high you can go on bclk, so if your multiplier is locked to something low then you won't get as high as if you had an unlocked multiplier. Also it seems you need to disable integrated graphics to do this.

evilsofa said:

Is there any difference between an overclock achieved by base clock adjustment versus multiplier increase? I mean, on Skylake, if you overclock a CPU to 4.5Ghz by increasing the base clock or by increasing the multiplier, is it exactly the same thing like 3 x 5 = 5 x 3? Could one method overclock higher than the other?

If you are intending to run a 6700K at 4.5Ghz and have a motherboard that can increase base clock, is there any reason not to get the cheaper 6700?

Click to expand...

I would think there would be no reason to get the K version as long as you could get a stable BCLK increase.
The only issue would be if the BCLK fusses with other systems that you would also need to adjust....I believe the AnandTech article says the BCLK also affects RAM timings/frequency, so you would need to fiddle with that most likely.

The neat thing anout multiplier is it only deals with the CPU, so a voltage bump and the multiplier increase is all you need. I'd like to see what a BCLK and multiplier increase could do to a "K" cpu, that might be interesting.

I'm I correct in expecting [H]ard to start testing this as soon as possible? OC'ing has become so mundane and boring with the K's, but this seems so much more to what OC'ing used to be. Buying that cheaper proc and getting way more out of it then what was intended.

evilsofa said:

Is there any difference between an overclock achieved by base clock adjustment versus multiplier increase? I mean, on Skylake, if you overclock a CPU to 4.5Ghz by increasing the base clock or by increasing the multiplier, is it exactly the same thing like 3 x 5 = 5 x 3? Could one method overclock higher than the other

Click to expand...

This site was pretty much founded on overclocking, so it's a bummer how things like this have been forgotten in just a few short years, but I guess technology moves on and there isn't much of a reason for overclocking.

BCLK overclocks everything on the northbridge, including the QPI link and memory. You will see improved performance by BCLK overclocking vs just simple multi adjustments. Downside is it requires more voltage to those components. I believe it's the ICH voltage, but it's been awhile.

Wow, we have come full circle. All we need is PCI/AGP overclocking brought back

Umm.. I posted the original story a week ago.

For some reason this makes me feel like the good old days of overclocking are back. This is how it should be. I'm digging it!

I've been wondering what the holdup with this was. Non-K overclocking was my first thought on the Skylake's after hearing that the BCLK is not running everything now. I was going to order my new system, but I think I'll wait to see what is compatible and needed memory wise.

evilsofa said:

Is there any difference between an overclock achieved by base clock adjustment versus multiplier increase? I mean, on Skylake, if you overclock a CPU to 4.5Ghz by increasing the base clock or by increasing the multiplier, is it exactly the same thing like 3 x 5 = 5 x 3? Could one method overclock higher than the other?

If you are intending to run a 6700K at 4.5Ghz and have a motherboard that can increase base clock, is there any reason not to get the cheaper 6700?

Click to expand...

I think you are looking at this the wrong way. This form of overclocking most benefits those on a budget who are looking to get an i3 because an i5 is too expensive. Overclocking a Skylake i3 like this would put you close enough to an i5 in many things while saving a good chunk of money.

pgaster said:

I think you are looking at this the wrong way. This form of overclocking most benefits those on a budget who are looking to get an i3 because an i5 is too expensive. Overclocking a Skylake i3 like this would put you close enough to an i5 in many things while saving a good chunk of money.

Click to expand...

This guy gets it. Sure this advancement could help the high end overclockers get a few more clock cycles out of their rigs. The place this makes the most difference is in the segment composed of people who are having to scratch their tech itch on a tighter budget.

If this proves to work reliably, I could actually make the jump to an Intel based rig within my budget. I've basically been holding myself over with this AMD rig due to it getting the job done while I acquired the supporting parts for a new rig (new semi-custom WC rig, better disks, wiring management and other odds and ends, new PSU etc.) Being able to BCLK overclock a lower priced CPU would save me enough to get a better Motherboard.


And for the poster who spoke of the good old days of overclocking being back, I salute you . A lot of us who were just lurkers mostly back then miss the hands on fun that was required back then. The bug to do so is still there. Most of us just have families and kids now, or crushing student loan debit sadly so we can't really indulge out nerd needs as we once could.