Question Overclocking a non-k Skylake CPU on a Gigabyte H110-DS2 motherboard ?

lolvatveo

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Hello there. I have Gigabyte H110-DS2 motherboard and Pentium Gold 4400. I downgraded BIOS to F20 and I can adjust BCLK from 80 to 500MHz, it seems all Gigabyte H110 boards have unlocked overclocking BCLK with the F20 BIOS, which is a rare stroke of luck. All other manufacturer boards don't have this option. Before updating the BIOS to F20 I was able to overclock the G4400 with 133.33MHz BCLK and get 4.4GHz. but Intel made it die when I updated to BIOS F20, even though the overclock option was still there, I couldn't get past 100.26MHz BCLK.

My PC won't boot and I couldn't downgrade to earlier BIOS, now I only can squeeze G4400 10MHz out with H110. BIOS newer than F20 removes the BCLK overclocking option. Intel has separated PCH/PCIe dependent on BCLK since Skylake, so the PCIe/PCH issue shouldn't be in the way of overclocking, making it much more overclockable. Instead of Ivy Bridge and Haswell you won't be able to go too high a few MHz before the system crashes and won't POST because of PCIe issues.

If someone knows how to hack Intel XTU and I will use it to overclock directly. I have a good idea to revive BCLK overclock on H110, I can adjust BCLK on Intel XTU from 99.5 to 100 I think the system will be able to overclock if system is still running, only when you overclock the CPU won't post on boot, overclock directly in BIOS impossible now. Can I trick or fool the CPU to overclocking? So I really need a application modder now. Why would Intel make non-k overclocking dead when it's possible, the warnings about H chipsets being a low-end and dangerous non-k overclocking bla bla makes no sense to overclocker. When a big company like Intel doesn’t want you to overclock its processor, they would’ve certainly implemented safeguards against an overclock. What can I do against Intel to squeeze free performance without paying a lot? Hack BIOS and microcode or a trick?
 
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You might be able to downgrade the microcode of your BIOS to one that supports overclocking, despite the restriction put in place to block users from downgrading to older BIOS versions. From a quick search around, I found this guide detailing that process...


They describe the process for another brand of motherboard, though they claim it should be similar for Gigabyte boards as well. Of course, the filenames and the BIOS installation process will be different.

The link is broken to the BIOS patching utility they used, but it appears to be this one...


As a warning, modifying the BIOS could potentially prevent your system from being able to boot, though I believe your motherboard does feature a backup BIOS (DualBIOS) in case the main BIOS gets corrupted, which may offer some level of protection against that. You might want to visually verify that there's a chip labeled "B_BIOS" on the motherboard near another "M_BIOS" chip, and that the backup chip is actually present, and not just an empty placeholder.
 
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lolvatveo

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Nov 11, 2021
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You might be able to downgrade the microcode of your BIOS to one that supports overclocking, despite the restriction put in place to block users from downgrading to older BIOS versions. From a quick search around, I found this guide detailing that process...


They describe the process for another brand of motherboard, though they claim it should be similar for Gigabyte boards as well. Of course, the filenames and the BIOS installation process will be different.

The link is broken to the BIOS patching utility they used, but it appears to be this one...


As a warning, modifying the BIOS could potentially prevent your system from being able to boot, though I believe your motherboard does feature a backup BIOS (DualBIOS) in case the main BIOS gets corrupted, which may offer some level of protection against that. You might want to visually verify that there's a chip labeled "B_BIOS" on the motherboard near another "M_BIOS" chip, and that the backup chip is actually present, and not just an empty placeholder.
Thanks you very much.
There is a problem with UBUTool, it says no MMTool.exe I don't have MMTool 4.5, I tried to use MMTool 3.6 but it got an error reading BIOS information, maybe I will try to find it in the BIOS mod tool H110 running CPU Coffee lake. Currently my BCLK O'Cing stuck at 104,9MHz but it does not take effect on CPU frequency, BCLK still is 100MHz in CPU-Z. So I'll be the guinea pig, despite everything to overclock.
 
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DSzymborski

Titan
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I gotta be honest; I doubt the overclock you get from a Pentium Gold 4400 is worth the risks to tinkering with the BIOS. Considering you can get used i7-6700Ks for $50-$60 now, that strikes me as a way safer option for trying to squeeze the last bit of performance out of an eight-year-old platform.
 
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lolvatveo

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Nov 11, 2021
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I can buy an i9 9900k, 10/11900k and a piece of z370/490/590 to play with. I'm an avid overclocker, I want to torture/blend my ailing H110 board to harness/sqeeze its power. I feel uncomfortable when I can't adjust BCLK to my liking, tested i9-9900k on H110, its VRM source phase didn't melt :)), Now I'm annoyed because my G4400 stays cool even under heavy load and can't get run to full potential so I don't like it and feel like a waste of performance polential but Intel has locked the overclock with microcode, I want to try to overclock it, just my mischief
 
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lolvatveo

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Nov 11, 2021
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I can't find suitable MMTool.exe for UBUTool. It is missing American Megatrend International BIOS MMTool v5.0.0.7 for reading H110 AMI BIOS Aptio V. I searched to download MMTool 5 but it seems to be non-standard and official version, BIOS module part is encrypted and this MMTool.exe can't decrypt it, thats is the reason the microcode cannot be downgraded, it also gives me a message like this since I open UBUTool. I need the official version of MMTool v5.0.0.7 right now, on AMI's website no longer exists the download link for MMTool. Can someone hack Intel XTU or EasyTune for overclocking instead?

Edit
I will try this method to downgrade bios:
So even if I downgrade the microcode, Intel ME will be the second line of defense against overclocking. So I need to downgrade to BIOS released before 1/2016
 
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lolvatveo

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I had to use z170 to overclock skylake, kabylake and above bclk frequency wont be able to exceed above 103MHz. I realize sometimes bclk frequency is unstable and goes up to 103.5MHz in cpu z. So I realized non-k cpu is overclockable if the system has booted into windows. When Intel Xtu or easytune is modded to unlock bclk adjusting we will have a chance to overclock all non-k cpu
 

lolvatveo

Commendable
Nov 11, 2021
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stupid idea, system can freeze immediate when I try to manage bclk higher than 100,5mhz in windows. no way overclock h,b,non k unless intel ucode didn't block. only 102,7mhz overclock non k on z board in general