[OFFER] AsRock Z170 Gaming Fatal1ty K6 - Coffee Lake 4c/6c

@MexqQ - Good to see it’s there now! Blck limit may be chipset/ME limitation, or due to no external clock controller. Or yes, could be that specific CPU you have (Maybe now all i3-8100), if you could clock other CPU’s higher on that board. Did you try jump to 110-125 direct setting?
Ohh, yes, see you mentioned ME limits bclk in this situation you know from experience already. I think your me swap method would work, if I understood you correctly.
Do you have a BIOS that you know can Bclk overclock with ME 11.6-11.7? If yes, then you can swap out that ME into new BIOS, or simply reflash that ME region to the board as it is now using FW Update tool or FPT

@Lost_N_BIOS
Asrock fatal1ty z170 gaming k6 supports Hyper BCLK Engine. The original 7.20 bios (not modded) bios I was able to overclock i3-6100 @4500Mhz. ME 11.6.0.1126 is originally included (not modded). By what means would I get rid of ME region? Unpack with UBU? I think the ME region swap method would work. Maybe.

(Now I’m trying over 110Mhz.)

Original Asrock 7.20 bios: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty…ming%20K6/#BIOS

You understand these things much better. You’re a master of this. :slight_smile: I just ponder, but it’s worth a try. :slight_smile:

@mexqQ - You don’t want to get rid of ME though correct, don’t you have one BIOS/ME that allows Bclk overclock, but now current BIOS/ME does not? If that is correct, then you take ME from BIOS that allows Bclk overclock, put into current BIOS that does not allow it.
However, if both those BIOS are already same ME version, then it’s not ME version that allows the Bclk overclock. What made you think “ME Controls” Bclk overclock in your previous statement, sounds like it’s already same ME, correct?

Sometimes yes, ME disabled allows certain things, but it also breaks many others. I know instances where this helped bclk overclock but only on Xeon’s. Maybe you just need same ME into current BIOS that you bclk OC before with other BIOS/CPU?
To swap out ME in a BIOS, you use UEFITool, extract ME as-is, replace as-is. But if it’s same ME already, no point in that, if it’s different ME you can just extract from BIOS and flash ME region by itself using ME FW Update tool or FPTw.exe -me -f meregionfile.bin

If you are wanting to test a disabled ME (Like edited with ME Cleaner, or other similar method to disable), then before you flash that in be sure you have FD edited to allow ME region Read/Write and ME Re-Flash enabled in BIOS setup, that way you can easily put back working ME once testing is done
Only one of those methods is required, preferably FD edited to enable Read/Write to ME region, but the BIOS setup edit to ME Re-Flash can work as well possibly, however I’m not sure if that works with ME Cleaner or otherwise disabled ME because this setting is only meant to allow ME FW Update tool to update the ME (if disabled/broke that may not work)

@Lost_N_BIOS - Original 7.20 Bios I modified the coffee time 0.7. I patched everything but left ME 11.6 originally. I added the ucode to MMTool. Everything works fine but BCLK overclock still does not work. I think something else hinders the tuning not ME. But I don’t really know. There is little difference between skylake and coffee lake. Maybe there will be a solution for bclk overclock.

ME 11.6: https://imgur.com/a/q3AEUKS

7.20 BIOS: https://imgur.com/a/hCzhZYy

Thank you for everything.
I only have one question. Which ME region is better to use. Is 11.6 or 11.7?

Maybe @revlaay or @chinobino or @svarmod knows solution to this bclk Xeon issue (When BIOS/Board could Bclk overclock before, with non-xeon CPU)
I’m not sure which ME best to use for this situation, sorry

From my personal experience base clock overclocking on a z170 with a i3 6320 and i7 6700k I had to set some things in the BIOS specifically or Intel ME will limit the base clock overclock to ~103 MHz or slightly less.

CPU Clock Ratio - For i5/i7 set it manually to the maximum supported by your CPU at default speed, not Turbo speed
Uncore Ratio - Set same as CPU multiplier
Intel Turbo Boost Technology - Disabled

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) - Disabled
C3 State Support - Disabled
C6/C7 State Support - Disabled
C8 State Support - Disabled
CPU Thermal Monitor - Disabled
CPU EIST Function - Disabled

CPU VCore - 1.15 V to 1.35 V depending on how far you are trying to overclock
Fast Boot - Disabled
Chipset Internal Graphics - Disabled

Set CPU Baseclock to 105 then save and reboot to test if you can get over the 103 MHz limit.

On Skylake you also needed to have microcode 74 or earlier - I have no idea what microcode to use for Coffee Lake.

[Edit] I managed to get to a base clock of 120.52 MHz but I would have intermittent cold boot issues, so I had to increase PCH voltage to 1.05 V and VCCIO 1.165 V and VCCSA 1.20 V

If your RAM is also being overclocked you may need to increase VCCIO up to ~1.2 V, VCCSA up to ~1.2 V and (DDR4) VDIMM 1.25 V to 1.35 V depending on the IC’s.

Thanks for your response.
Skylake processor works with overclock. Not with coffee lake. I tried several microcodes with 72, 8E, A4. ME 11.6 and 11.7 as well. 103Mhz for maximum. The uncore ratio is i3-8100 3600Mhz / 3300Mhz. (not adjustable). May that be a problem? Which is the first coffee lake microcode for i3-8100 and where can I download it?

Meanwhile, maybe the first microcode (30/05/2017) 906EB 5E

I try. :slight_smile:

So you need uncore setting visible you say?

@Lost_N_BIOS - Yes! :smiley: But unfortunately it seems in vain and can be adjusted in vain even with a difference of 300Mhz. If I set it to 36/36 then it will not be the same. Only seemingly. The difference is 300Mhz.

I’ve set everything as described in @chinobino . I use the 5E microcode. 103Mhz no boot … I have no idea what prevents the bclk tuning. But I’ll give it up

Current Bios: https://www.sendspace.com/file/91ilpb

CPUZ: https://valid.x86.fr/zvamks

Coffee Time 0.7 Patch. Normally works with multiple microcodes (sky, kaby, coffee) and ME 11.6 or 11.7.
bclk overclock? no!

By the way i3 8100 is a pretty good processor.
i5 7500 level. There is where better.

Littlehill claims to have used base clock overclocking on a ASUS Z170-PRO & i3-8100 in this thread post.

Maybe try shooting him a pm to ask if what microcode and settings he used?

i3-8100 @ 110 MHz base clock

The only other requirement seems to be an external base clock generator, which according to the ASRock Z170 Gaming Fatal1ty K6 product specs, it has one.

sorry i don’t known bclk OC on CFL processor.

@chinobino - Yes Hyper BCLK Engine has an external clock generator on fatal1ty z170 gaming k6. I ask LittleHill maybe he knows what the solution is. Although on the Asus motherboards, the TPU chip is slightly different from the Hyper BCLK Engine. But it’s worth a try. Thanks for your help!

@MexqQ - Uncore visible - … pause… Not in there??? What is uncore name in this BIOS, I don’t see uncore (not familiar with Asus term for this, sorry for the delay)

@Lost_N_BIOS - Thanks a lot for your help. Asrock motherboards CPU chace ratio. But I think you know that. I changed the cache to 36. Aida64 and Asrock F-stream show 3300Mhz (33x).
The chace ratio in UEFI can be adjusted in vain. Apparently. It doesn’t really change.
I searched a lot for bclk overclock and I think something in microcode needs to be changed to overclock the i3-8xxx processor. But it can also inhibit ME. I am replacing ME regio 11.7-> 11.6 (original 7.20 bios) in vain. I’ve tried 7.50 bios with Coffee Time 0.7. Whatever I do 103Mhz the maximum. In vain asrock hyper bclk engine. This doesn’t work. My knowledge is very little for this.

@MexqQ - sorry, I meant Asrock So you don’t need uncore option visible, or you can already see it but changing does not have effect? Did it work with other CPU?

@Lost_N_BIOS - Yes you can see with i5 6600K and everything is fine. Everything works fine and performs well on the i3-8100. The problem is that you can’t bclk overclock the i3 8100. But maybe it won’t be a solution. Skylake non-k were possible because the DMI and PCIE were separated in the CPU, and were 100Mhz with constant bclk overclock. In the Coffee Lake CPU I don’t know how it is. But ME may block or maybe special microcode. I do not know. There is no solution.

Maybe someone will find eventually

will this work on the k6+

@imbatman - Does the bclk overclock work? What processor have you tried?

I haven’t tried
I want to know if it works with k6+
Currently running stock bios 7.20
And BCLK i5-6600 4.4mhz at 1.30v