Intel's move to restrict overclocking to its enthusiast-grade K-series processors looks to be coming to an end, with motherboard makers issuing BIOS updates that enable base-clock overclocking on all models - even entry level parts.
While Intel supports its enthusiast customers with a range of high-price K-series parts, its bread-and-butter comes from volume sales of entry-level processors. These chips are low power and low cost, and to prevent customers getting more performance than they had paid for - or, more fairly, from ending up with an unstable system by pushing the parts too hard - are overclocking-prevented. This left a clear gap in the market: enthusiast customers building lower-power or lower-cost systems who still want the benefits of overclocking, like in the old days before the K-series was ever a thing.
Those days appear to be coming back: Techspot has a write-up on a new BIOS which has allowed an entry-level Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz processor running on an ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard to hit 4.7GHz - thanks to a new option to boost the base clock (BCLK), previously locked, while leaving the multiplier alone. While there are trade-offs - unlocking the base clock on the motherboard required disabling the integrated graphics processor on the chip, requiring the use of an add-in discrete graphics card - the extra performance certainly helped push the machine up the benchmark rankings.
Hearkening back to the days of overclocking via increasing the front-side bus (FSB), the base clock overclocking method increases both CPU speed and memory bandwidth. Techspot's testing on the machine showed a 25 per cent increase in singled-threaded Cinebench performance as a result, with similar 10-30 per cent increases in various applications including Excel and Handbreak.
ASRock is due to release a base clock update for its various Intel Z170 chipset motherboards in the near future, with other manufacturers expected to follow suit in due course.
While Intel supports its enthusiast customers with a range of high-price K-series parts, its bread-and-butter comes from volume sales of entry-level processors. These chips are low power and low cost, and to prevent customers getting more performance than they had paid for - or, more fairly, from ending up with an unstable system by pushing the parts too hard - are overclocking-prevented. This left a clear gap in the market: enthusiast customers building lower-power or lower-cost systems who still want the benefits of overclocking, like in the old days before the K-series was ever a thing.
Those days appear to be coming back: Techspot has a write-up on a new BIOS which has allowed an entry-level Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz processor running on an ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard to hit 4.7GHz - thanks to a new option to boost the base clock (BCLK), previously locked, while leaving the multiplier alone. While there are trade-offs - unlocking the base clock on the motherboard required disabling the integrated graphics processor on the chip, requiring the use of an add-in discrete graphics card - the extra performance certainly helped push the machine up the benchmark rankings.
Hearkening back to the days of overclocking via increasing the front-side bus (FSB), the base clock overclocking method increases both CPU speed and memory bandwidth. Techspot's testing on the machine showed a 25 per cent increase in singled-threaded Cinebench performance as a result, with similar 10-30 per cent increases in various applications including Excel and Handbreak.
ASRock is due to release a base clock update for its various Intel Z170 chipset motherboards in the near future, with other manufacturers expected to follow suit in due course.
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