Hi everyone,
I'm trying to achieve a conservative and stable overclock on my i7-6700K, while keeping the CPU frequency and voltage dynamic.
My motherboard is an MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon with the latest BIOS.
My goal is:
- 100 MHz BCLK
- Around 4.4–4.5 GHz under load
- ~800 MHz at idle
- Voltage dropping at idle
- Adaptive voltage
- Good stability and reasonable long-term longevity
I don't want an extreme overclock. I'm mainly interested in a small performance increase while keeping the CPU's normal power-saving behaviour.
My RAM is 32 GB (2×16 GB) DDR4-3200, with 3200 MHz being an overclocked memory frequency for this platform.
The operating system is installed on a Samsung 990 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD.
I've tested several configurations. Interestingly, 100 MHz BCLK has been less stable for me, while 103–105 MHz worked better.
For example, 103 × 44 = ~4.53 GHz worked quite well and the CPU correctly dropped to around 800 MHz at idle and increased to ~4.53 GHz under load.
However, after some time using Windows I experienced a kernel-related BSOD/system crash.
I eventually switched back to the motherboard's fixed OC profile because I couldn't figure out what was causing the instability.
My question is:
What is the correct BIOS configuration for a stable dynamic overclock on this motherboard?
In particular, should I use:
- CPU Ratio Mode: Dynamic
- EIST: Enabled
- C-State: Enabled
- C1E: Enabled or Disabled?
- CPU Core Voltage: Adaptive or Adaptive + Offset?
Could the DDR4-3200 memory overclock be contributing to the instability? Could the M.2/NVMe SSD or its power-management states have anything to do with the crashes?
I'd prefer to keep BCLK at the standard 100 MHz and achieve the overclock primarily through the CPU multiplier.
In your opinion, what could be the problem? Is there something I'm overlooking or not considering?
Thanks!