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Anyone OC 6600K or 6700K on a Gigabyte Z170 board ?

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shaheer123

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey all,

I am kind of new to overclocking. I know the basics, but the CPU VCore settings on this gigabyte motherboard are driving me nuts. I am pretty sure everyone else in the industry handles this better. I am using Gigabyte Z170X Ultra Gaming, but I believe all their Z170 mobos have the same BIOS. The manual does not have anything at all, like 0, when it comes to VCore section.

My main issue is finding and turning on the "adaptive" mode when it comes to VCore value. Lets say I am able to get a stable 4.4GHz at 1.28ish volts. Now, I want my system to turn down the clock speeds and the VCore when at idle. BIOS won't provide me with a list of possible options for VCore, unlike ASUS. So if someone has done a successful skylake OC on a gigabyte mobo, please share information. It would be very helpful!

Also, I have done some research on EIST and Intel Turbo Boost, both of which are enabled / set to Auto by default. Could someone please explain the difference between these two.

Looking forward to hearing from you, thank you!
 
#2 ·
There should be a setting for VCore that allows Auto/Manual/Offset. You would have set it to Manual to set your voltage. Set it to offset instead. You may also need to play with Additional Turbo Voltage so you can keep your idle voltage as low as possible.
 
#5 ·
Hey Shaheer123,

I've been fighting my Gigabyte z170x Ultra-Gaming as well. I finally figured it out after some research and trial and error.

I don't believe these boards have adaptive mode, if they do it's not clear that it's in use when configuring for dynamic turbo voltage. I have an i7 6700k running at 4.6ghz (turbo/dynamic).

First thing I did was try a static overclock which I didn't like because the voltage stayed high. This seems unnecessary. I found that the Vcore needs to be set to 'Normal' in order to access the dynamic settings below it in the UEFI. Use pg up or pg dn/+ or - to change the setting to Normal. It's not clear that this is an option, but it's there as long as you use pg/+- keys. Now with the dynamic voltage no longer locked you can set it. I set it high at first which was a mistake, I backed it down to (+.0.005) and gradually increased it until I could boot all the way into Windows at 4.6ghz. I knew from previous testing that 4.7ghz was possible but I didn't like the voltage required or the amount of heat, so I backed down to 4.6ghz. Maintaining 4.6ghz with the dynamic voltage was my goal.

The next thing I noticed was the vcore was all over the place, ranging from .7 to 1.45+. I didn't like this. I found that the 'CPU Vcore Loadline Calibration' setting under 'Advanced Power Settings' needs to be changed. There are 4 options, Auto, Standard, High, Turbo. You need to press pg up or pg dn/+ or - on the keyboard to change this setting(again, it's not clear that this is now to change this setting). I went to Turbo thinking that would lock the voltage it needs to be and not "range" so far. Turns out I was completely wrong, I'm on Standard now which is keeping the upper end of my voltage below 1.39. My core temps touch 75C max at times under 100% load(AIDA64 stress test).

The dynamic voltage will probably need tweaking to be stable under load after setting the load line calibration. Mine did even though I could boot into windows, it needed another +.01 to be stable.

One note about the dynamic voltage(DVID) setting. It's important to increase it slowly. I foolishly assumed that at +0.1 it would dynamically range from normal (1.3v) up to 1.4v. This is not the case. I have it set to +.025 and the voltage goes up to 1.39 dynamically according to CPU-Z although it doesn't sit there for long and is usually around 1.33 to 1.36 which is acceptable to me.

To summarize my settings:

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core)
Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025

Everything seems stable for now. I hope this helps you and anybody else that's having trouble. Gigabyte really needs to get their act together in the UEFI.
 
#6 ·
Regarding EIST vs Turbo mode. As far as I understand it, EIST is Intel's stepping technology to step down the processor when full speed is not necessary. Turbo mode is extra power for when the processor is under a lot of load and the extra power is needed.

I like to think about it like this:
Eco GHz<<<<EIST<<<<CPU default GHz>>>>Turbo>>>>Turbo GHz

I might be completely wrong here so if somebody knows better, please correct me.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gargantuan View Post

Hey Shaheer123,

I've been fighting my Gigabyte z170x Ultra-Gaming as well. I finally figured it out after some research and trial and error.

I don't believe these boards have adaptive mode, if they do it's not clear that it's in use when configuring for dynamic turbo voltage. I have an i7 6700k running at 4.6ghz (turbo/dynamic).

First thing I did was try a static overclock which I didn't like because the voltage stayed high. This seems unnecessary. I found that the Vcore needs to be set to 'Normal' in order to access the dynamic settings below it in the UEFI. Use pg up or pg dn/+ or - to change the setting to Normal. It's not clear that this is an option, but it's there as long as you use pg/+- keys. Now with the dynamic voltage no longer locked you can set it. I set it high at first which was a mistake, I backed it down to (+.0.005) and gradually increased it until I could boot all the way into Windows at 4.6ghz. I knew from previous testing that 4.7ghz was possible but I didn't like the voltage required or the amount of heat, so I backed down to 4.6ghz. Maintaining 4.6ghz with the dynamic voltage was my goal.

The next thing I noticed was the vcore was all over the place, ranging from .7 to 1.45+. I didn't like this. I found that the 'CPU Vcore Loadline Calibration' setting under 'Advanced Power Settings' needs to be changed. There are 4 options, Auto, Standard, High, Turbo. You need to press pg up or pg dn/+ or - on the keyboard to change this setting(again, it's not clear that this is now to change this setting). I went to Turbo thinking that would lock the voltage it needs to be and not "range" so far. Turns out I was completely wrong, I'm on Standard now which is keeping the upper end of my voltage below 1.39. My core temps touch 75C max at times under 100% load(AIDA64 stress test).

The dynamic voltage will probably need tweaking to be stable under load after setting the load line calibration. Mine did even though I could boot into windows, it needed another +.01 to be stable.

One note about the dynamic voltage(DVID) setting. It's important to increase it slowly. I foolishly assumed that at +0.1 it would dynamically range from normal (1.3v) up to 1.4v. This is not the case. I have it set to +.025 and the voltage goes up to 1.39 dynamically according to CPU-Z although it doesn't sit there for long and is usually around 1.33 to 1.36 which is acceptable to me.

To summarize my settings:

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core)
Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025

Everything seems stable for now. I hope this helps you and anybody else that's having trouble. Gigabyte really needs to get their act together in the UEFI.
Click to expand...
Very detailed response, thank you so much , really appreciate it!
 
#8 ·
excellent words Gargantuan, literally everything I wanna say.
In my case there's a moment not long after booting into Windows when there's a suddenly demand of voltage and the adaptive mode couldn't keep up for my 4.8GHz causing PC to turn off straight away. And I need +0.01XV offset pushing idle voltage up to prevent this from happening.

Another note is that even with same voltage setting, if u push your OC further (e.g. 4.6 to 4.7) the highest voltage range under load & max voltage would go up as well. Hateful nature of adaptive voltage.
 
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#9 ·
I am still looking for the best way to overclock this 6700k. My son has the 6600k and his overclocked to 4.4GHZ running temps of around 60C using an H105. I on the other hand with the 6700k struggle to hit 4.5 and my temps push 70C and often higher. Thought I would try Gargantuan's method and IMHO I think the temps are too high for this method.

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core) *I would be happy with 45


Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025


Max temp 77. Agreed its stable. But my temps are getting a bit hot. I am using the H100i v2.

 
#10 ·
I've purchased 6600k with Gigabyte Z170x G1 Ultra Gaming MB two days ago. I really like the some of the features, the cpu is great and more importantly very cool using Cooler Master Nepton 120XL, but the UEFI sucks. It's very buggy.
The first thing I did was go into the BIOS and just set my XMP profile, fan profiles and I've set CPU "Upgrade" to 6600k @ 4.4, everything worked right away, no tweaks needed. This option did what you've asked for, it OC'd the CPU, locked the multiplier and set the adaptive voltage, but I thinks it's far from perfect.
The voltage varies depending on the load, 0.something on idle, 1.2ish on daily tasks, 1.31-1.32 when gaming to 1.34-1.35 on stress testing I don't know is that a bad thing for Skylake, on the internet it has very mixed opinions. I don't know if it is too high for this CPU.
For example my CPU VID at stock settings is 1.3 and I think that is too high,for Haswell I thnik it was 1.1 or something.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I think CPU VID is the Voltage the CPU asks, and Core Power is the actual voltage +- 10% from the power delivery of the MB.
I don't think that is necessary in my case to go very high with the OC on this CPU (it is pretty fast for now) and because I don't want to upgrade it in the next 5-6 years.
I hope that it will last for that long, but I want to go crazy with the OC and I want to find a reasonable voltage and frequency (the heat from the CPU isn't an issue, as I've said the cooler does it's job pretty well), also I was wondering, if dynamic voltage is better for OC'd CPU's or fixed one.
I've tested if you set the OC in Easy Tune (Gigabyte's OC Win Utility) it's with a fixed voltage (unless you specify otherwise) and it works at 1.3 CPU VID @ 4.4 just fine, but the core voltage is fixed at 1.28 or so, and because I'm also a beginner the dynamic voltage seems to me a bit of a handful for now. To summarize, how to "measure" what's best OC to lifespan ratio
biggrin.gif
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cornerer View Post

excellent words Gargantuan, literally everything I wanna say.
In my case there's a moment not long after booting into Windows when there's a suddenly demand of voltage and the adaptive mode couldn't keep up for my 4.8GHz causing PC to turn off straight away. And I need +0.01XV offset pushing idle voltage up to prevent this from happening.

Another note is that even with same voltage setting, if u push your OC further (e.g. 4.6 to 4.7) the highest voltage range under load & max voltage would go up as well. Hateful nature of adaptive voltage.
Click to expand...
Thanks Cornerer,

I am guessing that this happens because Intel removed the voltage regulator from the CPU die and relies on a motherboard voltage regulator for the VCORE. There's a slightly longer delay between the CPU requesting more voltage and the regulator delivering it on Skylake.

I tried pushing mine to 4.7Ghz but the temps and voltage were too high for my liking, although I think they were safe (75-80C and 1.42v).

Great point about the adaptive voltage. I wish the UEFI was clearer about this because the actual DVID setting seems like and on/off switch rather than a dynamic bump to the voltage.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by specterm View Post

I am still looking for the best way to overclock this 6700k. My son has the 6600k and his overclocked to 4.4GHZ running temps of around 60C using an H105. I on the other hand with the 6700k struggle to hit 4.5 and my temps push 70C and often higher. Thought I would try Gargantuan's method and IMHO I think the temps are too high for this method.

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core) *I would be happy with 45


Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025


Max temp 77. Agreed its stable. But my temps are getting a bit hot. I am using the H100i v2.

Click to expand...
I agree those temps are a little high but not unsafe. I am also running the Corsair H100i V2. My temps settle out around 69C when running Aida64 stress test, max temp during the test is 75C.

These seem to be the agreed upon normal temps for Skylake:

80C Hot (100% Load)
75C Warm
70C Warm (Heavy Load)
60C Norm
50C Norm (Medium Load)
40C Norm
30C Cool (Idle)

I have read a few different Skylake overclocking guides and articles and they all seem to agree that anything up into the mid 80s is hot, but safe. It's best to keep it under 80 if possible which is why I backed down from 4.7 to 4.6Ghz. Max temp is 100C at which point the CPU will start to throttle itself to reduce temperature.

Also keep in mind that stress testing the CPU is not a realistic load. It's a "heat virus" as some like to call it. Although if you can get through a short test without crashing then you should be stable, in my opinion.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by dzivana View Post

I've purchased 6600k with Gigabyte Z170x G1 Ultra Gaming MB two days ago. I really like the some of the features, the cpu is great and more importantly very cool using Cooler Master Nepton 120XL, but the UEFI sucks. It's very buggy.
The first thing I did was go into the BIOS and just set my XMP profile, fan profiles and I've set CPU "Upgrade" to 6600k @ 4.4, everything worked right away, no tweaks needed. This option did what you've asked for, it OC'd the CPU, locked the multiplier and set the adaptive voltage, but I thinks it's far from perfect.
The voltage varies depending on the load, 0.something on idle, 1.2ish on daily tasks, 1.31-1.32 when gaming to 1.34-1.35 on stress testing I don't know is that a bad thing for Skylake, on the internet it has very mixed opinions. I don't know if it is too high for this CPU.
For example my CPU VID at stock settings is 1.3 and I think that is too high,for Haswell I thnik it was 1.1 or something.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I think CPU VID is the Voltage the CPU asks, and Core Power is the actual voltage +- 10% from the power delivery of the MB.
I don't think that is necessary in my case to go very high with the OC on this CPU (it is pretty fast for now) and because I don't want to upgrade it in the next 5-6 years.
I hope that it will last for that long, but I want to go crazy with the OC and I want to find a reasonable voltage and frequency (the heat from the CPU isn't an issue, as I've said the cooler does it's job pretty well), also I was wondering, if dynamic voltage is better for OC'd CPU's or fixed one.
I've tested if you set the OC in Easy Tune (Gigabyte's OC Win Utility) it's with a fixed voltage (unless you specify otherwise) and it works at 1.3 CPU VID @ 4.4 just fine, but the core voltage is fixed at 1.28 or so, and because I'm also a beginner the dynamic voltage seems to me a bit of a handful for now. To summarize, how to "measure" what's best OC to lifespan ratio
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...
I tried the CPU upgrades in the UEFI as well and the voltages were way too high for my liking. For longevity, I would keep the voltage and temps lower. Something around 1.3x and under 80C when stressed. I'm not sure if the 6600K is different from the 6700K as far as voltages and temps go, so I would do some more research on that before settling on a range. I am assuming they are the same or within 10%. Using dynamic features will also add to the lifespan as the voltage and temps will stay lower when load is low.

I had terrible luck with the Gigabyte Easy Tune software and immediately uninstalled it. I tried it once and my computer locked up to the point that the reset button didn't work. I had to hold the power button to shut it down and then it went into a pre-post loop where it continually turned on and off again by itself. I thought I had destroyed the board or my CPU. I unplugged it from the wall and let it sit for a few minutes, plugged it back in and it booted up just fine. I was worried for a few minutes though.
 
#14 ·
I am still looking for the best way to overclock this 6700k. My son has the 6600k and his overclocked to 4.4GHZ running temps of around 60C using an H105. I on the other hand with the 6700k struggle to hit 4.5 and my temps push 70C and often higher. Thought I would try Gargantuan's method and IMHO I think the temps are too high for this method.

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core) *I would be happy with 45


Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025


Max temp 77. Agreed its stable. But my temps are getting a bit hot. I am using the H100i v2.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Gargantuan View Post

I agree those temps are a little high but not unsafe. I am also running the Corsair H100i V2. My temps settle out around 69C when running Aida64 stress test, max temp during the test is 75C.

These seem to be the agreed upon normal temps for Skylake:

80C Hot (100% Load)
75C Warm
70C Warm (Heavy Load)
60C Norm
50C Norm (Medium Load)
40C Norm
30C Cool (Idle)

I have read a few different Skylake overclocking guides and articles and they all seem to agree that anything up into the mid 80s is hot, but safe. It's best to keep it under 80 if possible which is why I backed down from 4.7 to 4.6Ghz. Max temp is 100C at which point the CPU will start to throttle itself to reduce temperature.

Also keep in mind that stress testing the CPU is not a realistic load. It's a "heat virus" as some like to call it. Although if you can get through a short test without crashing then you should be stable, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Your spot on. gaming temps stay more in the 60's. Thats reasonable.
 
#15 ·
I'm thinkering around with this adaptive voltage witchcraft, I'll update here how things go... So in theory if I hit max 1.3 at full load and 70C (which I'm not, i'm barely touching 60 and I like my fans loud, just like my cars
biggrin.gif
) I'm good to go.
I was wondering also, if i go with the option of "cpu upgrade" and what setting should I lower to not spike as much on full load. On the amd side of Gigabyte BIOS was LLC from extreme to medium let's say, but on this MB it's a bit overwhelming for me with all the options.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by dzivana View Post

Anyone got the OC working with dynamic voltage, I can't get it to work at a lower voltage, it always spikes up above 1.3 when on stress test,
Click to expand...
You can try to reduce the offset & see if its still stable and you can try changing the LLC settings, but that's about it. If it's stable and not overheating while stress testing, I wouldn't worry about it. 1.3V is fine on Skylake. If you check out the Skylake Overclocking Results chart on the first post of the Skylake Overclocking Guide, you'll see that only 11 out of 119 of us are running under 1.3V Core, with the average & median being 1.38V. I was one of those under 1.3V, but only because 1.36V @ 4.7GHz was overheating something (I assume VRMs, but no reported temps were over 86C) & I dropped to 4.6GHz to join. I've since switched from static to dynamic (actually as a result of discussion in this thread, couldn't figure out how to before), & I've had to bump it up slightly for stability (crashed while unpausing game) & now see 1.308V under load. I would even be fine with the 1.36V I was running before if I figured out how to deal with the heat better.
 
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#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gargantuan View Post

Hey Shaheer123,

Turbo mode: auto
Turbo clock: 46 (on each core)
Vcore Voltage: Normal
DVID (Dynamic voltage): +.025

Everything seems stable for now. I hope this helps you and anybody else that's having trouble. Gigabyte really needs to get their act together in the UEFI.
Click to expand...
I just can't thank you enough, Gargantuan, for your detailed overclocking guide on our weird motherboard.

Just bought a Gigabyte z170x ultra gaming and installed an EK monoblock on it



temps are the same as any water block save it also cools the VRM and mosfets via thermal padding. A d5 runs the closed loop and a 360mm cooler. the fans however are only regular 1200rpm fans for silence and encased in a NZXTh440. GPU is a gainward gtx 1070 phoenix. i dont want to use watercooling since the heavy and effective air cooler works fine.

anyway, i was able to overclock my motherboard through the same settings except for the following:
overclock: 4.5ghz @ 85*c on asus real bench @16gb ram stress test. so tempted to de-lid the damn thing!
Dynamic voltage : +0.035
deactivated turbo technology
ram set to xmp 3600mhz and enhanced stability

at first i disabled some c-states and the cpu temps went up to 95*c in 2 mins of asus real bench stress test! i reconfigured the c-states to full auto and the temps went down. used HWinfo to trace the voltages and it never went above 1.4V and maintained a steady 76-85*c as the stress test looped and looped.

delta temps are at around 50*c
gpu temps: 63*c
ram temp: 42*c

for those new to overclocking and want a short cut for the z170x ultra gaming follow these steps for solid overclocking:
@UEFI BIOS
MIT>ADVANCED VOLTAGE > LOADLINE CALIBRATION - PRESS PAGE UP OR DOWN>NORMAL SETTING
CPU CORE VOLTAGE > THEN SET THE DYNAMIC VCORE(DVID) > PRESS PAGE UP OR DOWN TILL YOU SET TO "NORMAL"
CPU CORE VOLTAGE > +.025 THEN ADD +.010 UNTIL YOUR PC CAN BOOT AND HOLD 4.5GHZ CLOCK RATIO in stress tests.
deactivate turbo technology
allow EIST and all c-states - this will allow your cpu voltage to go down as well to help save power

thanks again to gargantuan and i hope this mini instruction can help!
 
#19 ·
Thanks all for the tips!! Was very confused with gigabyte's uefi and this board was a huge help. Very happy with my results:

Overclock: 6700k @4.6ghz
Dynamic Voltage: -0.07
Load Line Calibration: Standard
Turbo: deactivated
Temps (Prime95 small): 74*C
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
 
#20 ·
I realize I am late to the party, but I am just getting around to starting to overclock. After reading through here 3 times, I think I may be on the wrong thread? I am looking at some of these BIOS options mentioned, and i do not seem to have the same options. I have a Z170x Gaming 7 Mobo, and for example, Post#5 states to set the Vcore to Normal, but post #2 states that the options for that are Auto/Manual/Offset,,, I have the options of Auto/Norm & changing the value?

Post 18 (at the bottom of it) provides a quick navigation that states in the Loadline Calibration, to set it to Normal. My only option in Loadline Calibration is Standard/High/Auto.

Am I in the wrong place to get Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 MOBO BIOS info for overclocking?

Thanks
 
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