How to overclock z370 motherboards step by step

After the success we have had with the overclocking guides of the X299 and AMD Ryzen platforms ! We have put together an excellent guide on how to overclock Z370 motherboards step by step. A very easy way to get a plus out of your processor and avoid the occasional bottleneck with your graphics card.

Do you want to learn how to get the most out of your processor without damaging it? We help you!

Index of contents

How to overclock Z370 motherboards step by step

Most newbies will wonder what is or what does the famous overclocking mean? In short, it is the term we use when we pretend that our processor increases its clock speed, that is, it is the unit in which we measure the frequency of our CPU in MHz or GHz. It sounds a little more to you now, right?

For example, the processor that we will make this guide is the Intel Core i7-8700K 6 cores, 12 threads of execution, a base speed of 3.7 GHz and which goes up to 4.7 GHz with the turbo. But does this speed go up in all its cores? No, only 1 or 2 depending on the task. In tasks that require the use of many cores, we will have a good performance jump. The idea will be to increase it to 4.8 GHz or 5 GHz in all its cores.

This guide is intended for Z370 boards and Intel end-K termination processors. These processors have the multiplier unlocked and it will help us raise your speed easily. The current list (for the moment) is summarized in:

Before I start… what do I need to have?

The first thing is to lose fear , this practice is with safe values ​​(the ones we offer in this guide), and it will not harm your processor or any component of your computer. But if you go out of the values ​​that we indicate you may electro-migrate your processor and it breaks. Other interesting points:

• Have the BIOS updated in the latest version. This will prevent us from dragging any important BUG on our motherboard. Maintain our entire computer: clean it internally, change the thermal paste to the processor and have a good positive / negative pressure in our chassis. Have a good thermal cooling suitable for our processor. In other words, quality liquid or air cooling. There is no use trying to overclock the processor with a low-end or stock heatsink. Our efforts will be quickly destroyed. All modifications will be done under BIOS. Avoiding the use of software in Windows, since they normally generate instability and are not 100% reliable. Always overclock in BIOS, except in isolated cases. We are not responsible for the practice of overclocking or misuse when overclocking.

Terms to consider

• Multiplier / Multiplier / CPU Ratio: It is the ratio between the clock frequency of the processor and that of an external clock (usually the bus or BCLK). This means that for each cycle of the bus to which the processor is connected, the processor has performed as many cycles as the value of the multiplier. As its name suggests, multiplying the speed of the BCLK (100Mhz series on this platform, and on all recent ones from Intel) by the multiplier gives us the processor's working frequency.

  That is, if we put a multiplier of 40 for all the cores, our processor will work at 100 x 50 = 5, 000 Mhz = 4Ghz. If we put a multiplier of 41 in the same processor it will work at 100 x 51 = 5, 100 Mhz = 4.1Ghz, with which we have increased the performance (if it is stable) by 2.5% compared to the previous step (5100/5000 * 100). BCLK or Base clock: It is the clock at which all the chipset buses, the processor cores, the memory controller, the SATA and PCIE buses work… unlike the main bus of previous generations, it is not possible to increase it beyond a few few MHz without having problems, so the usual thing is to keep it at 100Mhz that is used as standard and to overclock using only the multiplier. CPU Voltage or Core Voltage: Refers to the voltage that the processor core receives as power. It is probably the value that has the most impact on the stability of the equipment, and it is a necessary evil. The more voltage, the more consumption and heat we will have in the processor, and with an exponential increase (against the frequency, which is a linear increase that does not worsen the efficiency by itself). However, when we force the components above the frequencies specified by the manufacturer, many times we will have no choice but to slightly increase the voltage to eliminate the failures that we would have if we only increased the frequency . The more we can lower our voltage, both stock and overclocked, the better. Offset Voltage: Traditionally, a fixed voltage value was set for the processor, but this has the great disadvantage that, even without doing anything, the processor is consuming more than necessary (far from its TDP, but wasting a lot of energy anyway).. The offset is a value that is added (or subtracted, if we seek to reduce consumption) to the serial voltage of the processor (VID) at all times, such that the voltage continues to drop when the processor is idle, and at full load we have the voltage we need. By the way, the VID of each unit of the same processor is different. Adaptive Voltage: Same as the previous one, but in this case instead of adding the same value at all times, there are two offset values, one for when the processor is idle, and the other when the turbo boost is active. It allows a very slight improvement in the idle consumption of an overclocked equipment, but it is also more complicated to adjust, since it requires many trial and error tests, and the idle values ​​are more difficult to test than those of turbo, since with low load even an unstable system has little chance of failure.

The chosen components

We will use one of our preferred test bench and it always offers us a great result. The famous Intel Core i7-8700K (best for gaming), an Asus Maximus X Apex board that has broken numerous overclocking records worldwide, 32GB of 3600MHz DDR4 RAM and dual radiator Corsair H100i V2 cooling and two good fans.

• Intel Core i7-8700K processor Asus Maximus X Apex motherboard Corsair H100i V2 liquid cooling. Corsair AX860i power supply

This guide is focused on ASUS Z370 motherboards, although the rest of manufacturers have similar options in their BIOS. Personally, I really like the Maximus series as they are designed to get the most out of all our equipment: processor, memory, graphics card and it has better components than the Strix series.

If you want to get the most out of your processor. It is recommended to make a delid and reseal it with quality thermal paste. Although this modification would VOID the warranty of our processor.

Required software

To monitor and perform all the tests on our system we need different applications. For this, we recommend the following (if we do not say anything they are free):

• CPU-Z allows us to see the frequency, voltage and if the RAM memories in our system are properly set. AIDA64: It is a paid application but you have a free version that works for us. It is worth to us to make tests with the memories: reading speed, writing and bandwidth. It also has a very practical test that allows us to stress the entire system with a single click. HWinfo64: One of my favorite applications, it allows us to quickly monitor temperatures and whether the processor is throttling. Cinebench R15: It will serve to check the performance of before and after overclocking with a synthetic benchmark. Prime95: Prime number test and great performance. We use it every time we analyze a base plate or processor for 72 interrupted hours. Other interesting applications: 3DMARK Fire Strike, 3DMARK Time Spy, PCMARK8 or Realbench are interesting enough for us to pass a greater number of tests.

How to know the MHz, latency and voltage of our RAM memory

Normally with the part number we can quickly identify the main characteristics of our RAM memories on the manufacturer's website. For example, our memory kit is the CMK64GX4M4B3600C18. And we will only use two modules of the four that it incorporates, because we only have two DDR4 slots.

If you lost the box or do not want to go straight to the storage room for it. You can remove a memory module from your PC and quickly identify it on the sticker. As we can see in the previous image, in the first row we see the Part Number of our memories, in the second row a barcode, in the third row they are 64 GB in 4 16 GB modules and in the last row it indicates the base frequency, latency and operating voltage. We write it down on paper in case we need it during the configuration in BIOS or later we want to check with CPU-Z.

Modifying parameters in BIOS Z370

To enter the BIOS of our motherboard we will press the F2 or DELETE key on our keyboard as soon as we press the power button on our computer. Once inside, a screen like this should appear, in the event that a different one appears, pressing F7 will put you in advanced mode ? We are going to look for 5 GHz on a first attempt, in the event that it is not possible we will go down: 4.9 GHz or 4.8 GHz. Good luck with your processor!

In the Extreme Tweaker section we will set the following settings:

• Ai Overclock Tuner: We will activate the XMP profile.

Automatically several profiles will appear, in our case XMP DDR4-3597 18-19-19-39?

• BCLK Frequency: We will put the BLCK with this value so that it " nails " us the frequencies and we do not see it below the normal one. What you don't like, you can set it to 100 by default. ASUS MultiCore Enhancement: We will select Disabled. SVID Behavior: We will select Best-Case Scenario. AVX Instruction Core Ratio Negative Offset we will keep it at 0.

• CPU Core Ratio: We can choose between Per Core as All cores. I always put it in all, but this time I decided to leave everything selected in 50 manually. Having all the same value gives us one option equal to another. BCLK Frequency: DRAM Frequency Ratio we will select Auto. DRAM Odd Ratio Mode select Enabled. DRAM Fequency: We will leave the 3603 MHz (in your case the maximum frequency that your RAM memory can have under your profile will appear. Xtreme Tweaking select Disabled TPU select Keep Current Settings

• CPU SVID Support we will leave it in Enabled. CPU Core / Cache Current Limit Max. We will write the maximum limit of 255.50 (super important this data). Ring Down Bin we will keep it in Auto. Min. CPU Cache Ratio we will leave it by default in Auto. Max CPU Cache Ratio we will leave the cache at 47, more than this value we doubt that it is stable. BCLK Aware Adaptive Voltage we will leave it disabled.

• CPU Core / Cache Voltage. We have three options: manual (it will always go 100% at rest and full), Offset and adaptive which are very similar and work very well at rest. I personally like the Offset Mode a lot so we will choose this one. Offset Mode Sign we will select +. CPU Core Voltage Offset. At first we will dial 0.035 although my processor was not stable and I had to go up to 0.045. These data are approximate so it will depend on your stable processor, you will have to play with the CPU Core Voltage Offset and the CPU Load-Line Calibration. DRAM Voltage: By default 1.35 is selected, but we can raise it to 1.36v in case it has some vdroop on our motherboard. CPU VCCIO Voltage we will dial 1.10000 CPU System Agent Voltage we will write 1.15000

• CPU Load-Line Calibration we will leave level 5 or 4. It will depend on what we put, it will put more or less voltage in the offset section. CPU Current Capability will mark 140%. CPU VRM Switching Frequency we will keep the Auto value. VRM Spread Spectrum we will mark in Active Frequency Mode we will leave it in CPU Power Duty Control and CPU Power Phase Control we will select CPU VRM Thermal Control we will leave it in DRAM Current Capability, this is optional but if you have quick memories my advice is to leave it at 130%.

The rest of Extreme Tweaker options are left as standard. I am leaving all the screenshots for you to serve as a 100% reference.

Tired? We have the last pull… Patience! These parameters are also super important:

• Long Duration Package Power Limit -> 4095 Short Duration Package Power Limit -> 4095 IA AC Load Line -> 0.01 IA DC Load Line -> 0.01

Once selected, we will only have to go to exit, save the changes and restart our computer.

If Windows 10 does not start, we will mark in CPU Core Ratio 49 instead of 50 and we will try again. If you have doubts, as always, can you ask us?

Checking stability

To check that our operating system is stable, we will use the following applications: CPU-Z, HWinfo64 and Prime95. Data to take into account:

• We will not let our processor rise more than 80 ºC at maximum power. It should not exceed more than 1.30 to 1.35. Exceeding this value is not recommended for a 24/7 overclock.

We will open CPU-Z and we will check if the RAM memory is set to the frequency that we have marked. How do i do it? We go to the "Memory" tab and look for the "DRAM Frequency" box and the value that appears must be multiplied by two: 1800 x 2 = 3600 MHz.

With Hwinfo64 we will only start sensor monitoring. We will go down until we find the temperature zone of our processor:

We must look at the CPU Package sensor, which is the most real measurement of the temperature of our processor. Although if you want you can see until the temperature reaches core 0 to core 5. Another fact to consider is if the processor has Thermal Throttling (throttling), so we will have to lower the voltage and the multiplier of the processor until we find the sweet spot.

While to stress we will use Prime95 software in its customized version 1792 or In-place large FFTs mode that we will leave between 6 to 8 hours. If you pass any of these two tests, the prime number test is stable with a good hit ratio. (If you do not have DELID to your processor, it will surely reach 100 ºC quickly).

The best way to prove that your PC is 100% stable to your needs is to work and play daily and see if you have any problems. Remember that if the operating system crashes with a BSOD, do not worry, this will not break any component of your computer, but you must adjust the voltage (giving it points of +0.05) and if it is not possible, we will have to lower the multiplier of your overclock. If we see instability when looking for the lowest voltage, we will leave the configuration that is totally stable.

What performance do I overclock to my CPU?

Now I leave you several performance tests, so you can see the differences in Cinebench R15 from the processor in stock against the processor at 5 GHz and the RAM at 3600 MHz.

Awesome ? And in games? Are there improvements? We have tested our 5 games from our test bench and the results will surprise you.

As we can see the differences are quite interesting in 1920 x 1080 (in higher resolutions it is less noticeable) and if you have a delid, you will have a beastly processor that is really worth it. I hope this guide helps you and above all to lose the fear of overclocking . Remember that you should always do it with your head.