Hey folks, hope you’re all well. New user here.
I’ve been looking through resources to guide me on how to mod my ASUS Maximus VIII Impact (Z170) so I can use it with an i7-9700f. As far as I can tell, these are the steps I need to take:
-Run revlaay’s tool to generate a modded BIOS
-Flash the BIOS onto my motherboard (currently I’m a bit unsure about this, but I’ll research how to do it further)
-Isolate/connect pins on the i7-9700f as necessary
-Install the processor and cross my fingers that the PC boots.
Is this everything that needs to be done or am I missing out some things here?
Additionally, has the ASUS Maximus VIII Impact been shown to work with Coffee Lake refresh CPUs before? I found mention of it being done on other ASUS boards when searching the forum, but not this one in particular. Its VRMs should be capable of it as far as I can tell.
Top work on these mods everyone, I’m really impressed by everything shown when looking through these threads.
EDIT: So, I’ve progressed a little further with this. The tool wasn’t working with the latest BIOS for this motherboard (3801) so I reverted to an earlier version (2202) and it ran okay. However, there was an issue at the gop/vbios step as it couldn’t find the vbios file. I continued with the process regardless and it all completed, giving me a modified BIOS file. Will this work since the gop/vbios step wasn’t able to execute? Additionally, the file created is a .bin file, rather than .cap, how do I convert this in order to flash the BIOS on my motherboard via USB BIOS flashback?
@Lost_N_BIOS My USB SPI flasher arrived and I flashed the (same) modded BIOS with it. Now the CFL CPU immediately worked on my Asus Z170I. Now I have a running i5 8600k. 
I should have got this programmer right from the start, this would have saved lots of time. 
Thanks for all your help and efforts! Now it is up to try how much OCing my i5 8600k can take. Edit: it runs 5.0GHz on 1.33vcore. Very happy with it!
Hey guys, I’m cross posting this from the other coffeelake mod thread since this one seems more active.
I’ve got a bit of a unique situation and I was wondering if I could get some help or advice.
I’ve got an Asus strix z270I and I’d like to mod it to work with a Xeon E-2288G I recently got my hands on.
The E-2288G seems to be identical to the i9-9900k other than the fact that it supports ECC memory and has a 100mhz higher base clock. From what I’ve read it seems that if I make the physical modifications to the CPU all that I need to do do the BIOS is add the correct microcode and update the ME firmware to a corporate version that will enable Xeon support.
I downloaded coffeetime 0.85a and used the advanced mode to modify the most recent BIOS for my board, v1205, I had to use advanced mode because it was the only way to add the 906ED microcode required by my processor since it is the R0 stepping. I received this warning message, which concerned me:
"Best way to use ASUS 200-series with 16-thread CPUs (even Xeons!) is manual porting bios from
compatible Z370 board. Automodifying is available for test purposes only.
Contact with CoffeeTime author to recieve ported bios variants for testing or wait this function
will be added."
I made the following changes to the stock BIOS in coffeetime:
s1151v1 BIOS updater for Coffee Lake CPUs v0.85a
[ 1 ] ME ver. - 11.8.60.3561 # Corporate
[ 2 ] VBIOS ver. - 1062
[ 3 ] GOP ver. - 9.0.1080
[ 4 ] PCIe x16 - Activated
[ 5 ] SKU hack - Activated
[ 6 ] Cores sync - Activated
[ 7 ] Init 16CPUs - Activated
[ 8 ] ACPI tables - Patched
[ 0 ] Microcodes - 906ED 506E3
[ H ] ME HAP-bit - ME ENABLED
[ T ] 12T blocker - Not found
[ N ] NVME fix - Installed
[ U ] FD Regions - Locks found!
[ M ] MAC-address - 888888888788
MCodes info - Found 2 microcode(s) in volume(s) 4, 5
I ordered a CH341A rom flasher and it should be here today. Can anyone tell me if the BIOS I made with the above modifications should work? Or do I need to get someone to back-port a z370 BIOS for me? Asus made a z370 version of my board that is almost completely identical so if anyone could help me with that I’d really appreciate it
The stock BIOS can be found here https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LG…G-ASUS-1205.zip
And the Z370 version’s downloads are here: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG…/HelpDesk_BIOS/
I’d really appreciate any help or advice anyone can give me, thanks! If there’s anymore info I can provide please let me know.
@JayCar - great to hear it! Everyone really needs to have programmer before they get into this, or do pinmod, otherwise you can’t flash in mod FD/ME properly
@emeraldx86 - Sounds like you need to ask @svarmod for test BIOS, from that message you received
@Rubl - What is your current ME FW version in the motherboard now? You really need flash programmer like CH341A + U Type Flat IC Extractor to do this properly, unless you are going to do pinmod and unlock the FD so you can flash FD/ME regions
What is your old CPU, I will make you mod BIOS with latest BIOS version.
Hello Guys
I hope I can find some help, I have a Asus Z270-A Prime MB and a i5 - 9400F CPU - it has a U0 stepping
I believe I already modded the BIOS, however whenever I install the 9th gen CPU the computer it does not boot, I have already connected the 2 pins on the CPU so that is taken care of,(I can upload a picture if needed), is there a way I can confirm if the BIOS is properly modded?
I believed is flashed properly since I had version 1009 and I was able to flash the version 1302 moded.
Please let me know what else is needed from me
I am currently running a i5-6500K and the system works fine with the i5-6500k
@Rubl : You are missing nothing, though some of theses steps can be more difficult than one expects, especially flashing without flasher 
Mimp has been modded several times, however. I think there are even readily modded UEFIs from pre-tools days and there should be an onboard SKTOCC-guide, allowing on to manipulate the mainboard instead of the CPU for the physical compatibility.
@emerakl: Using Z370 UEFI where possible is always better because these got optimizations for CFL. But it is much more difficult to do, especially as there are no general guides or tools as every board is different (unlike all coffee lakes which are pretty much the same). In your case you get the additional burden of the Xeon locks. While your CPU is physical identical to 9900K, IME is programmed to operate it only on a C-series board. I think CoffeeTime has an experimental remedy for this as well, but trouble shooting might get difficult because you are in fact trying to do two UEFI mods at the same time and failing either of these will end with no boot.
Hello,
I have asus z170 deluxe motherboard and I tried to mod bios for i3 9100f processor.
I used coffeetime 0.85a and try to add all microcode from advanced options. But when I try to patch ACPI tables I have lots of errors.
What can I do to resolve this errors?
Sorry for my bad English.
@Lost_N_BIOS Currently the ME firmware version is 11.8.50.3399, do I need to roll this back? I was under the impression that that will be done at the stage I flash the custom BIOS onto the board rather than now. I’m happy to purchase a CH341A + U Type Flat IC Extractor if that’s the easiest and most reliable way to do this. My current CPU is an i3-6100, if you were willing to make a mod BIOS I’d be very appreciative and happy to donate you some money once I get it running.
@PCGH_Torsten When you say manipulate the mainboard instead of the processor, do you mean physically or through other means? If this can be done whilst physically altering as little as possible then that would be preferred, since there’s less chance of me accidentally bricking something then.
Physical. Asus often routes the SKTOCC tracs to the surface somewhere on the board so one can short to ground from there instead of shorting on the CPU. Usually this involves soldering in a wire, though sometimes there is a grnd pad nearby and a bit of solder is sufficient (I don’t know for Mimp). Technically the risk to damage somethin is definitley higher than the rather simple shorting on CPU, but extreme overclockers prefer modding the boards because than the can plug in any CPU at will and for all other it is a question of economics: If you brick the board, could you just buy a new Z370/Z390 an be done? Or would you be sitting there with a useless 9900K? On the other hand if you should manage to brick the 9900K, you are back to your old system and quit a bit poorer.
Hey guys, my i5 8600k CFL on the Asus Z170I is still running fine.
However the vcore voltage readings in BIOS and in windows tools totally differ. i.e. my BIOS shows 1.360v (manual set) and HWiNFO and other tools show only ~1.223v vcore.
Is this a known issue?
@Rubl - yes you need to downgrade, and you can’t use ME FW 11.8 and you can’t easily either (unless it’s a Gigabyte board) So yes, yes get a flash programmer so you can do all this properly.
And get U Type Flat IC Extractor if BIOS is in socket, otherwise if soldered you need SOIC8 test clip with cable. And then yes, all will be flashed in at once with programmer.
I can make you BIOS, but please tell me your old CPU and new CPU (And it’s SSPEC) all in one post, so I don’t have to dig around. Also, remind me the motherboard model too, for same reason.
I try to steer clear of this thread, because it’s so hard to keep track and or help anyone easily (Due to no one wants to spend $6 and wait to get a programmer setup), so apologies if I missed a reply previously
Me included. But now I know that the 6$ make totally (!) sense and these CH341A programmers are easily available everywhere
I have a problem to connect the two pins, what should I use to put the conductive paint on? An ear tip?
If you are using something like paint: A toothpick. Ear tips are much to thick.
@davidtheking - As mentioned above, but before you go at it, tape off all other pads, so you can blob on a mess and it wont matter
Also, some/many boards may already have this connected, so you can always try without it first too 
Not sure about Asus, but many Gigabyte I’ve tested it on it was already connected, even on cheap budget boards like B150 etc
Help, I already successful mod bios and now run coffelake cpu, I use afu /gan to flash mod bios but I lose serial number and Mac address, before I flash mod bios, I already make backup
Bios with afudos mybios.rom /O command , what should I do to get my serial number and maccdres sir ?
My motherboard msi b250
@Lost_N_BIOS : I have never heard of an Asus ignoring SKTOCC, neither Asrock. It is very common, though, on Asrock to not require this mod. (Do not know about Gigabyte or Biostar. Apparently they were not that popular during Sky/Kaby Lake times. I must admit that I never found a reason to recommend them either. (Except Gaming G1 in case of acute "too much money")
Hi. i am want to use a Asrock z370 pro4 with celeron g3900 sky lake cpu. i modified the latest oficial bios (v4.30) with the AIO tool, ME replacement to 11.7.xx procedure done, but fails in intel BMP GOP driver update (some like array error. used ctrl+alt+del to continue) (maybe z370 bios already got the update GOP version required??) but the same ended process. i checked with ubu tool the modified bios and cpu microcode has the “506E3” for skylake cpu. my question is do it work? the pin mod to the g3900 is the same for another coffee lake cpu or don’t need pinmod? thanks!!
Hey Guys it boots without pinmod, but I get an a2 Error code when I use two memory Sticks. This is memory related, so I guess I should isolate the Pins regarding memory?
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I Just Set everything to Default in BIOS & it Just works without Any pinmods lol
If you get to post, you are always done with pinmods. However, RAM and voltages remain a big issue. After all you just forced the UEFI to work, but you did not implement all the auto optimizations a true CFL UEFI would have, so a lot of settings are running on a generic default and can cause stability issues.
Did you mod nothing at all or just no isolation? The latter is rarely needed on Asus, but this would be the first board to boot without SKTOCC-short.