[Guide] Overclock BIOS mods for Chinese X99 MBs

BIOS/UEFI Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems
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New overclocking BIOS with a very complete feature set
While the core modifications I list below are fully focused on overclocking/extracting CPU performance, the Huananzhi BD4 BIOS has (what I consider) all the other important features as well:

  • Very good smart fan control
  • RAM overclocking and timings
  • Above 4G Decoding and Resizeable Bar support
  • Secure Boot and TPM support

Files can be downloaded here, including a detailed change log.

Important notes on compatibility
The ME (Management Engine) is the part that potentially changes between motherboards. The BIOS changes depending on CPU used. The B1 BIOS will boot on all V3 CPUs, but B2 will not boot on multiplier unlocked V3 CPUs like 1660V3. I have done basic testing with just one V4 CPU (2620V4), and it booted and worked fine on both BIOSes. CSM is disabled, so make sure that your GPU works in UEFI mode. I am introducing what I believe is a simple and practical naming scheme here

  • Dx_M1_Bx_yymmdd (ME verified working on X99Z V102, X99-XD4)
  • Dx_M2_Bx_yymmdd (ME verified working on ZX99EV3 v1.23)

D1=Descriptor 1=The descriptor region from Machinist X99-B9, (direct link to BIOS)

M1=Management Engine 1=The Management Engine region from Machinist X99-K9, (direct link to BIOS). Note: Due to a slightly different flash layout (Gbe region included), the early K9 ME region is a bit too small. Therefore I “FF” padded the remaining part from 7FD000h to 7FF000h using a hex editor.

M2=Management Engine 2=The Management Engine region from ZX-X99EV3, (direct link to BIOS)

Bx=The BIOS region from Huananzhi X99-BD4, (direct link to BIOS)

B1=Overclocking multiplier unlocked CPUs like 1660V3. In particular, the OcInit PEI module was taken from the iEngineer C612RD24 BIOS, to enable overclocking from within the BIOS. Not by software like XTU or Throttlestop, but from within the BIOS. There are indeed good reasons to avoid having to rely on software for CPU overclocking.

B2=TBU (Turbo Boost Unlocked) for 26xxV3 and 46xxV3 CPUs. The BD4 is an extremely rare past year 2020 BIOS, that works after being processed by UPT (Ultimate Patcher Tool). Hence you can set desired undervolt from within the BIOS, which is very convenient and greatly speeds up all undervolting/stability testing.

Swapping regions with UEFITool 0.28.0
In below example the BIOS region is swapped, but if there is a need, you can also swap the ME region in a very similar way. So let us take a simple example. If you for instance have a more recent motherboard that is compatible with the X99-K9 ME region and a 26xxV3 CPU then:

  • Open UEFITool 0.28.0, and then open the D1_M2_B2 file
  • Right click on the BIOS region, select “Extract as is”, and save it with a name like B2.rgn
  • Open the D1_M1_B1 file and right click on the BIOS region. Select “Replace as is”, and just take the .rgn file from previous step
  • Final step in UEFITool is to click “File/Save Image file”. Give it a new name like “D1_M1_B2.bin”
  • Flash the new file with an external programmer
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Some notes around X99-XD4 and X99D4M4

I recently bought what I honestly hope is my last X99 board, namely X99-XD4. In brief when comparing this board with X99D4M4:

  • There is an M2 WiFi slot on the board
  • There is a MSI 14-pin LPC TPM header, so no need to solder on any pins
  • The board uses a common Winbond BIOS chip instead of the problematic XMC. See above post, I literally spent 10 minutes on the stock BIOS, since the Huananzhi BD4 based BIOS worked perfectly

More on problems with XMC flash on X99D4M4 and X99D3M4

  • The only non-stock BIOSes that I ever got booting, already had SPI ID “204018” (XM25QH128C) in their flash descriptor. Post #1, Post #2. All other BIOSes that comes far into the boot sequence, hangs on debug code B7 (Reconfigure NVRAM settings).

  • There are two posts from the same user on the Russian Overclockers forum, where BIOS compatibility problems with the XMC flash chip is solved by swapping to Winbond instead. Post #1, Post #2

  • There is implicit evidence in the Bilibili BIOSes, where 2 out of 3 simply does not have SPI ID “204018” in the descriptor region (=impossible to boot if that is the flash). The most likely explanation I can come up with, is that earlier batches of the board came with a Winbond instead of XMC flash chip.

All in all, this makes a very compelling argument that the XMC flash chip is to blame for the extremely poor BIOS compatibility. So I will do the following:

  • See if I can figure out what could be wrong, primarily by analyzing the JGINYUE X99-TI D4 PLUS BIOS. I will use my ZX-99EV3 with a socket-able BIOS, and put in an XMC chip for testing and verification
  • If I cannot solve this issue, I will simply swap to a Winbond flash chip and test. But this will be sometime in the middle of next year, when I get one X99D4M4 board back
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Hey, I’m a bit stuck and was hoping you could help.
I’ve flashed your BIOS onto my X99M4D4 / X99-B9 board using the USB flashing method, and everything seems to work fine but I can’t get overclocking to work with ThrottleStop.

Whenever I try to enable the overclock option in the FIVR tab, it instantly gives me a BSOD. The max clock I get is 3.5 GHz, even though I’m using an E5-1660 v3.

Any idea what might be going wrong or what I could try next? Really appreciate the work you’ve done on this BIOS.

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Hello and welcome! Based on your description, I think this comes down to what order you do things in Throttlestop

  • If you start by ticking the “Overclock” box and hit apply, you will attempt to run 4.1 GHz on stock voltages. Very likely a BSoD
  • If you instead start by voltages (say static 1.15v) and limiting the multipliers (say 36), then I think it will not BSoD straight away

Clarifications:

  • Exactly what BIOS did you flash? What is the filename of the zipped archive?
  • USB flashing method = External programmer like CH341A or?

On a side-note, I have made significant progress with the very problematic XMC flash chip. I now have a booting and working system based on the Huananzhi BD4 BIOS. However, there is one major showstopper: While BIOS settings do work (I can for instance overclock the CPU from the BIOS), they are not read back on the next reboot. So a lot more work needed on the NVRAM.

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I flashed the OC.bin file and followed your instructions to gradually overclock the CPU. It worked, but I can’t push the clock speed beyond 4.09 GHz. When I run the CPU under full load, the clock speed drops due to hitting a power throttle limit.

Also, just to clarify: when I mention the USB method, I mean putting the BIOS file onto a USB drive, plugging it into the back of the computer, and flashing it from there

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Let me start by asking: What is your overall goal here?

  • In my own experience, you will not really get that much more real world application benefits, with that “extra 100-200 MHz”. See for instance this video for reference. Also note that the branded MSI board runs with 2666 MHz RAM speed

Instead, it becomes a lot more important to ensure that the computer is perfectly stable and will last for years to come. For reference, here is a brief overview of my overall gaming focused setup/tuning on Chinese X99 boards:

  • Use a large downdraft CPU cooler for the VRM
  • Do not exceed the 200A current limit. You can turn off Hyper-threading, to decrease power/current draw
  • Tune the RAM heavily, a lot of performance can be extracted here
  • Tune the CLR/Ring properly, at least 3.5 GHz
  • There is not so much more gaming performance to be had above 4.0 GHz. Just a lot of stability issues.

To answer your questions:

  • If you want to have no current limit at all (=burn your at best mediocre VRM to toast), then increase the current limit setting from 1600 (200A) to 2048 (unlimited).
  • If you want to increase the multiplier above 41, then you need to change “Core Ratio limits”
  • See the included file “OC changes.txt” for the locations in the BIOS
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alright thanks for the info

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JGINYUE X99-M D4 BIOS will it work? the one i want to enable here is uefi on csm only legacy working no display on uefi so icannot disable the csm and cannot enable the resizable bar please reply
thank you

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Let us start in this end: Please take a photo of the board you actually have in hand, and attach that here. Why on earth do I ask for such a “stupid” thing?

  • You are stating X99M-D4, which is another name for the old and great X99Z V102.
  • However, the BIOS you attached is from an X99M-H D4. In addition, it has been processed with UPT

If you indeed have an X99M-D4, then you are in luck. You can without a doubt flash my D1_M1_B1_251005 BIOS with an external programmer. Default configuration is CSM off / Secure Boot enabled.

If you instead have an X99M-H D4, then just flash the stock BIOS from the official homepage and see if that helps with your problem.

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im using the x99m-h d4 the red one with 2 ram slot ready flashed the stock bios on official homepage but still not fix the csm disabled, will it brick my motherboard if i use your bios? JGINYUE X99M-H D4 motherboard V12.1

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The reply I wrote here happens to apply for you as well (both 8x series chipset and 9.1.x ME). So it will probably work. But there is always a risk of a brick when swapping/testing different BIOSes. Is it worth the risk, especially if you do not have an external programmer? I leave that decision up to you.

Please note that it is enough to just flash the BIOS region (fptw64.exe -f X9BD4006.bin -BIOS) to run the initial test. Normally a lot less risky than flashing everything.

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ok will try just ordered external programmer, will try to flash later using fptw64 like you said thank you i think i will risk it just a question is the bios already unlocked the resizable bar? also im using 2680v4

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Just a bit of clarification

  • You do not need an external programmer to flash just the BIOS region with fpt
  • But if the board does not start afterwards, you will need an external programmer get it running again

With regards to resizable bar, then all info is clearly written in this post.

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I flashed the b2 , i can get to bios but shutdowns if trying to boot in os, i have 2680v4 cpu , also the first turn on not working need to be restarted before booting, update hanging oon boot fbi display no keyboard feedback. Slow bootup how to fix how can i reflash it using bios not external programmer. Also the os installer using rufus stock on loading screen spinning cannot reinstall fresh windows keyboard numlock and capslock no response

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You started with stating the wrong motherboard (X99M-D4 vs X99M-H D4). Now I think you are not properly following what I wrote

  1. First of all: What was the result when flashing the stock BD4 BIOS? Did that work properly?
  2. I quote: “If you want TBU, flash the B2 BIOS. In all other scenarios, flash the B1 BIOS”. You have a V4 CPU for which TBU does not work, so why did you then flash the B2 BIOS?
  3. What ME (Management Engine) did you use? Kept your original, or changed to either M1 or M2?

Did you try loading setup defaults once in the BIOS and save? Anyhow, looks like you are most likely going to need an external programmer. If you run into problems, this thread is a good start.

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Hi guys . I have x99 (i dont know brand) but its ZX-99EV3 v1.31 . I try to over clock with bios but it doesn’t work . No screen and 19 error on moderboar . Enable intel xtu from editing its own bios and try it i goes on 3.6 but not completely working . Im a little confused . I will be thankful if you know a bios with overclocking futures for 1660 v3 and interduce it to me . Tnx🙏

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Hello and welcome! Yes, you can use the BIOS in this post, I have verified it on my own ZX-99EV3 v1.23 (B2=TBU with 26xxV3 ; B1=overclocking with 16603V3).

Just make sure to put together a BIOS “D1_M2_B1” by using the information provided in the section “Swapping regions with UEFITool 0.28.0”

1 Like
79

I already have my extrenal programmer the problem is its not detected ch341a , in winbond 25q128jvsq

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Thank you my friend . I downloaded d1 & b1 but when i try to download m2 i think file is removed(404 not found ) . I couldn’t find it any where else

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I got it . Export b1 from file that includes it and made a d1-m2-b1 . I flashed it with ami flash utility but it bricks . It has a error i check dont check … number and i continue to flash …. Please if its possible help me bring it back and flash a right overclocking bios :folded_hands: