I am trying to reveal BCLK option in BIOS so what should I do in order to reveal that and stop intel ME from preventing system booting when BCLK is set higher than 102.5.
I have gone ahead and used UEFITool to compare this H310 MB BIOS with a Z370 from the same series of gigabyte MBs and found almost no difference in setup section inside the bios. both has almost the same options and values.
however inserting the z370 setup section into H310 MB did nothing, but only changing the monitored BCLK from 100 to 100.000 and nothing else. by doing some research I found something about Intel ME which maybe the cause of hiding these options so I used me_cleaner to create 2 modified BIOSes. one with HALT bit set and other with all ME partitions deleted except 1 and with that bit set then I found that gigabyte has locked the intel ME region for official roms only and only Q-Flash can write on that region after validating the bios file which is invalid as it is moded not official so I think I need an SPI programmer to do that or maybe you guys has something to bypass gigabyte lock.
anyway before going ahead into that risky modification. should disabling intel ME reveal BCLK option in bios or I have to do something else in bios main block to reveal that?
@Islam_Ghunym - Gigabyte has unlocked FD, so you can write ME FW region with FPT any time you want, however neither of the things you mentioned doing with ME FW will help you with what you want to do.
You need to use old ME FW, transfer your settings from current ME FW, and you need to use certain old CPU microcodes. Which of either of those, I am not sure, you will have to research your CPUID and non-K OC and you will find answer (ME FW probably 11.6, microcode I can’t guess because I don’t know your CPU)
If you cannot see the Bclk option at all, that’s totally different kind of edit, and has nothing to do with anything I mentioned above or anything you mentioned above either. Bclk option can be made visible to use anytime on any BIOS.
Here, for now, please dump your BIOS region for me, and I will reveal Bclk option for you
BE VERY Careful with FPT, you can brick your board in one click, do not do anything you read in other threads, and don’t mess with ME FW either or you’ll likely get stuck with corrupted ME FW or disabled ME FW and have to use FPT in DOS until you fix it
Before you do this, please flash in the proper stock BIOS for your board using Qflash
Check BIOS main page and see if ME FW version is shown, if not then download HWINFO64
Then on the large window on left side, expand motherboard and find ME area, inside that get the ME Firmware version.
Once you have that, go to this thread and in the section “C.2” download the matching ME System Tools Package
(ie if ME FW version = 10.x get V10 package, if 9.0-9.1 get V9.1 package, if 9.5 or above get V9.5 package etc)
Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools
Once downloaded, inside you will find Flash Programming Tool folder, and inside that a Windows or Win/Win32 folder.
Select that Win folder, hold shift and press right click, choose open command window here (Not power shell).
At the command prompt type the following command and send me the created file to modify >> FPTw.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin
If you are stuck on Win10 and cannot easily get command prompt, and method I mentioned above does not work for you, here is some links that should help
Or, copy all contents from the Flash Programming Tool \ DOS folder to the root of a USB Bootable disk and do the dump from DOS (FPT.exe -bios -d biosreg.bin)
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-add-c…creators-update
https://www.windowscentral.com/add-open-…menu-windows-10
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/open-…ator-privileges
Or here is simply registry edit that adds “Open command window here as Administrator” to the right click menu
Double-click to install, reboot after install may be required
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…134606820377175
@Lost_N_BIOS I can see from HWiNFO that:
CPU ID: 000906EB
CPU Brand Name: Intel(R) Core™ i3-8100 CPU @ 3.60GHz
CPU Stepping: B0
CPU Code Name: Coffee Lake-S
CPU S-Spec: SR3N5
CPU Thermal Design Power (TDP): 65.0 W
CPU Power Limits (Max): Power = Unlimited, Time = Unlimited
CPU Power Limit 1 - Long Duration: Power = 65.00 W, Time = 1.00 sec [Unlocked]
CPU Power Limit 2 - Short Duration: Power = 81.25 W, Time = 2.44 ms [Unlocked]
Microcode Update Revision: B4
ME Current Working State: Normal
Manufacturing Mode: Active
ME Current Operation Mode: Normal
Boot Guard Status: Enabled
Boot Guard Verified Boot Policy: Disabled
Boot Guard Measured Boot Policy: Disabled
Intel ME Version: 11.8, Build 3561, Hot Fix 60
I did not find anything yet related to Coffee Lake-S for BCLK OC as these CPUs are not old enough.
I cannot see BCLK option at all in my BIOS and from my own experiment I couldn’t unlock that.
I can’t find the matching ME tools to my MB Intel ME Version: 11.8, Build 3561, Hot Fix 60 and the most close one is v11.7.0.1069 so should that work?
I already has a complete official raw BIOS file that contains Me region for my MB so no special tools needed to dump my current one as I already flashed that F12 version with Q-Flash with Descriptor region and ME region (full intact)
https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/B…h-20_f11_v1.zip
There was a similar Thread about BCLK overclocking here: [Searching for] Asock Z370 Taichi or Pro4 BIOS 1.0x (2)
Non-K Skylakes were BCLK overclockable but Intel fixed it via a Microcode update, and nothing about doing so in more modern platforms resurfaced. I don’t think that you can get it working unless someone discovers a major breakthough.
@zir_blazer Lost_N_BIOS already told me what exactly I need to do in order to achieve that and I do believe that what he said is completely true (that I need a bios mod to reveal BCLK option and modify ME) but not sure why he told me disabling Intel ME won’t stop initiating the BCLK lock at more than 103. in addition to that modifying Intel ME is not simple at all. Coffee Lake-S are capable of doing 5 GHz on good VRM motherboards and specifically my I3 is fused at 36x ratio while it can do 4.8 if my MB VRM is very good. anyway H310 VRM is usually in 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 phase design for pro ones. mine is 5 phase design and still better than ASUS counterpart which is 4 phase design and both rated to 95W TDP. howver I checked some tests showing that the maximum load for an OCed I3-9350KF to 5 GHz was 88 W which is less than what my board can do. I am not interested in more cores but only more speed so a 4 cores 5 GHz coffee lake-S would be better than Ryzen 7 3700X for me specifically and paying that much for Z and K processors is out of my budget. I also can’t afford enough power to run a system with higher end motherboards. I am very limited in power matter. I know that OC is not power efficient but I need the extra speed for 4 cores mini system powered by deep cycle batteries. I got GTX 1060 overclocked and power limited to 60 watts only and my total system consumption now is 120 watts and I can sacrifice a bit more to 180 watts beside that I like messing up with everything like moding. I do know risks and I accept it. almost no device I have is in it’s official state (router bios mdoed, phone firmware customized, MAC address changed, IMEI changed… etc)
@Lost_N_BIOS if you don’t want to help, just tell me so I can go head and keep diving into what I wanted to do.
@Islam_Ghunym - Sorry, I was not ignoring you, just always behind and buried and can never keep up here anymore 
I can mod BIOS for you to reveal Bclk option, but that wont help if it’s locked out by PCH or CPU silicon from Intel. Modifying Intel ME is simple, at least for anyone familiar with Intel FITc program, so I’m not sure what you mean by saying your not sure what I meant by it’s easy 
You linked F11 BIOS above, then said right before that you flashed F12 already… 
Anyway, all you need to do to look at ME FW stuff is download the V11 ME System tools package and open BIOS as a whole or ME region only in FITc
What you showed at #3 has nothing to do with bclk possibilities, only power draw limits or lack of etc
I believe @zir_blazer is correct - Please see here, I assume after that, it’s all gone in silicon by Intel - Request for downgrading ME FW from 11.8 to 11.7 (2)
I was thinking of older boards when I replied to you ini9tially, sorry for my confusion, this is not something I deal with daily or even weekly, so I don’t keep up on what’s possible and what’s not in regards to overclocking (I mainly edit BIOS menus, and update BIOS internals for people)
@chinobino could confirm, no Bclk worth trying for on Coffee CPU, correct? Especially not on H310
If it is possible on H310 w/ Coffee CPU, do you know off hand what ME FW needs to be used, and what microcode? If it is possible, I will reveal the bclk options and do the ME/uCode edits too, then he can play around.
Base clock ~103 MHz max oc with Kaby Lake and later CPU’s if the motherboard allows for base clock adjustment.
All the H310M CPU-Z entries on valid.x86.fr have standard base clock such as Gigabyte H310M M.2, ASRock H310M-STX/COM and Asus PRIME H310M-K so your chances are pretty slim.
The extra performance from the gain in clock speed would be very small even if you do manage to overclock via modded BIOS, for example i3-8100 on Z370 with 103 base clock = 3706.34 MHz, only 106 MHz increase.
@Lost_N_BIOS so the problem is that coffelake has locked BCLK by a hardware lock inside the cpu itself? so no way above 103 whatever ME or Bios is?
@Islam_Ghunym - Yes, it’s in the CPU or PCH (chipset), or both Yes, BIOS/ME does not matter. Again sorry, I was thinking earlier systems when I made those initial comments
I can make Bclk option visible for you in BIOS though, but you wont get much about 102.5 generally. Do you want such BIOS? If yes, which version F11 or F12?
F12
@Islam_Ghunym - Show me image of your BIOS @ MIT >> Advanced Frequency Settings page (F12 screenshot to USB, then zip for me)
Also show me MIT >> Advanced CPU Core Settings - Scroll up/down as needed and take a few pics, if you have to
@Islam_Ghunym - Flash via Qflash only, after flash, clear CMOS, boot to BIOS and load optimized defaults and save/exit, reboot back to BIOS to make all changes you need
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?fil…292694331010178
@Lost_N_BIOS I thought that I should report for ya what happened. simply adjusting bclk to 200 changed nothing, but it just fooled the system reporting in task manager that memory is now 4800 so the actual BCLK still varies from 99 to 101 or stg like that reported by BIOS monitoring.
Yes, WOW, 200 would never boot 
Reminds me of the good old days when we’d say "Just start by setting 400 FSB and get it over with already"
I would have shot for 105 as my “here goes nothing” attempt 
Can you adjust little at a time to 101, then 102, and have it show for real in BIOS and CPU-z?
BTW, thanks for quick report back 
So you see 3x new settings in Advanced Frequency Settings + 2x new in Advanced CPU Core Settings, correct?
Has anyone had much luck with finding out a method to circumvent the 103mhz bclk limit on non-K coffee lake or kaby lake?
I’ve picked up an i5-8600 and i5-7400 for cheap, would like to do some testing when my Clevo P870DM arrives.
Will start from the Dsanke bios, but if some kind of ME mod would help with bclk overclocking I would be all over it!
It appears to be a hardware lock so that there is no way unless the chipset itself get moded by motherboard manufacturer. Just forget it…
Get AMD. Intel is pretty mean for locking there CPUs performance to charge us high prices.
The part I fail to understand is why the K models do allow a higher than 103 bclk, seems like it’s not a motherboard limitation, rather than something artificial implemented by Intel to gimp the non-K models.
Which is why I was hoping for perhaps something like an ME firmware mod to get around that.
In the meantime, I plan on using the throttlestop “disable and lock power limits” FIVR feature to hopefully get the best out of the chip.
EDIT: I should mention I paid around $80 AUD for the two chips, so can’t complain really.