[i7-6820HK] Overclock Settings for 4.0GHz to 4.3GHz (Stable)

For those concerned about BGA solder melt point, a Google search brings up several sites stating "The lead-free alloy used for BGA solder balls has a melting point of 217°C" or "lead-free BGA balls with melting point of 217˚ to 221˚C". Either way it looks like there's nothing to be concerned about unless you're microwaving the laptop!

 

Hey guys I cannot get my voltage to stay below 1.23v no matter what I do including setting to static with voltage offsets. I can reach an OC 4ghz from bios but Temps reach high 80s in xtu benchmark and get slight current throttling every now and then. How can I prevent the core voltage from automatically increasing?

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You can't as far as I'm aware. I thought I had this nailed when I set the "Core Extra Turbo Voltage" to 1000 which is effectively 1v.

XTU would read this setting as 1v too but because the voltage is adaptive it doesn't matter, the voltage will increase depending on the load. To set a "static" voltage there would need to be the option in the BIOS, which there isn't.

So yeah, we can overclock but we've not got the BIOS to do a proper job

 

That explains it, I get having an adaptive voltage to save battery just wish you could cap it wasting all that extra voltage for more heat.

I can't seem to get past 3.6ghz when overclocking solely with Intel XTU (cpu performance enabled in bios and over clock set to default. It seems settings don't take at all in Intel xtu. Is there another overclock tool I can use tor the CPU? I've also noticed that if I don't use bios to overclock I am constantly getting 100% Power limit throttle and tdp doesn't go over 45watts or so regardless if cpu performance mode is enabled in bios.

Also I don't really understand "core extra turbo voltage" setting in bios. For example setting this to 1000 will show a core voltage of 1v in Intel XTU which indicates it's for adjusting core voltage. However oc level 2 has a setting of 50 by default for the core extra turbo voltage. From what is show in Intel xtu and what it's supposed to do seem to conflict. This setting to me seems like it is for a core voltage offset but doesn't change that setting in Intel xtu instead changes the actual core voltage. Makes zero sense!

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That's the mystery that we've all been experiencing.

Rule of thumb, regardless what xtu may be telling you...

Bios settings take priority over xtu, so if you have something set in bios, that becomes your cap....again, regardless what xtu or any other software read outs may be telling you....this is where it gets goofy.

There is major conflict happening...

Dumb I know....stupid Dell...worst Bios ever in history.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

You can't override Voltage settings with Throttlestop? A lot of other Brands notebook models can do that <if I remember correctly.>

 

I haven't tried setting to static with throttle stop yet. I have my system running great now there is a trick to setting voltage offset. Basically the steps are:

1. Go into bios and set to CPU performance mode enabled
2. Set to OC level 1
3. Save and Exit bios
4. Load Intel XTU application. All settings should reflect what was set for OC level 1. Adjust voltage offset to -40.03mv. Adjust CPU Multiplier on all cores to 3.9ghz.
5. Run Intel XTU benchmark. Now getting max temp of 80c with score of ~1237 Marks (1080 Marks on stock clocks) and core voltage never exceeds 1.20v during bench. The benchmark was run after a 10 minute stress test in Intel XTU as you can see the clocks never dropped.

Core Voltage still fluctuates around 1.15 and 1.20 but nowhere near before when it would go all the way to 1.25v sometimes and with temps in high 80s. Also keep in mind I haven't done a repaste yet. See

 

It's quite possible but I've not tried. Personally I don't like using 3rd party programs to change setting that would otherwise be found in the BIOS. Obviously in this case the option (along with pretty much everything else) is missing from the BIOS so I have left it at that.

Since my recent re-paste with Conductonaut and the addition of better thermal pads, I have reached a level of performance I am more than happy with so I don't feel the need to tinker any further. The machine is stable, fast and does everything I need with ease.

 

@iunlock I never mention great initial post with instructions how to overclock our 6820HK seems it is very picky in how overclock is implemented.

One thing I would recommend is to update your initial post. It was confusing to me at first in the following section when you said set bios to Default and use XTU to set cores to 42. However earlier in the post you said you MUST set cores to 42 in bios because it sets the max ceiling for any overclock you do in XTU(which is indeed true based on my findings). I was unable to overclock beyond 3.6Ghz utilizing either Intel XTU or throttlestop when bios was reset to optimized defaults.

 

It seems the setting for "Extra Turbo Core Voltage" in the bios does not behave as expected. I would like to point out that in both Intel XTU and Throttlestop when adjusting the above setting in bios both applications are reporting that it is changing the CPU Core Voltage setting while maintaining "Adaptive". It does however affect the voltage offset when raising the so called "Core Voltage" above a setting of 1200 in bios or manually adjusting core voltage in XTU or Throttlestop above 1.20v.

@unclewebb can you chime in on how to Adaptive Core Voltage being changed affects how much voltage is raised and also why does'nt the setting in bios for extra turbo core voltage correlate to that same setting in Throttlestop?

 

I want to ask you, what temps do you have playing at 4Ghz stable

 

I want to ask you, what temps do you have playing at 4Ghz stable

 

I haven't really looked recently but after re-pasting with Conductonaut and playing GTAV and Dragon Age: Inquisition for a few hours I didn't break 70c on the CPU and the GPU sat around 60c. I'll run some up to date tests for you when I get home later

 

Ah...thanks for pointing that out. I'll update the OP.

Thanks mate!

 

* Repasted w/ Grizzly Conductonaut.

Here are my temps after playing KF2 (fps game) for an hour at 4.0.



Below are my BEFORE and AFTER Temps when running some benches and playing GTA for hours and hours...(Drop in 18C from stock to Grizzly Conductonaut.)



My daily driver perferred settings are 3.8, which I get even lower temps after gaming: KF2, GTA and BF4. If I'm only gaming my temps stay in the high 50's ~ low 60's all day. See below.,,



Hope this helps....If you want more info., click on blue letters (cpu info.) on my signature and it'll link you to the Grizzly Conductonaut thread.

Cheers.

 

thanks ... really interesting, i see the same temps at 3,7 and 4ghz ... i like the rounded numbers .. so 4ghz look so good to me ...
but man, you live in russia ??? LOL 23°C is impossible to me if the daily temperature is 35°C-40°C lol my pc will condensate water if i be able to reach these temperatures

 

Oh nice! To be able to achieve the same temps at 3.7 and 4.0 is great.

No not Russia haha....Antarctica jk... surprisingly though my ambient temp isn't that cool...

What settings do you use in bios for your core voltage and power limits? I keep my voltage at 0 and power limits to 100,000 and 100,000.

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¬_¬ i dont have the gold i7 6820hk i have the i7 4710hq little cheap brother hahahahaha

 

Oh OK. That makes sense. You have the big block V8

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Does the aw17 r2 have secure flash?
If not you can take it to 4.5ghz like @Dufus with some tweaking.

 

i formated at all my my 2 SSD and make a clean install of windows 10 and my underclock and undervolt is still working without any program.

 

@iunlock you don't think is weird ? Is supposed to need intel XTU, to maintain the settings working :S and is all the same after a full format using CMD in the boot manager for both drives

 

If the settings were applied in BIOS then it'll stick, which is why you're experiencing the underclock and overvolt after the clean install.

 

The aw 15 r1 don't have unlocked Bios like the R2. You just can't move anything, that is why I am surprised

 

Oh that's right. Yea that is strange. Apparently the settings stored, likely in the CMOS chip, but who knows...

 

Settings are stored in the CMOS. So updating BIOS won't change settings..

 

Ah true...we knew that haha...it was late. Thanks for clarifying.

 

When i overclock in the BIOS to 4.1 following your instructions I always get a BSOD. I can go to 4.0 with no issues. Just hotter.
Is the BSOD purely down to the silicone and possibly spiking temp up past a safe limit? Or could it be something else?

Many thanks

 

It's likely the effect of the silicon lottery. However, do fiddle with the core voltage and see if that helps, because every silicon is different. Some need more fuel than others and some less.

It's a lot of trial and error.

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The answers are EC/ME/NVRAM.

 

Ok thanks.

What do you mean?

 

Power handling isn't done by bios!

 

Could you elaborate? I would like to solve this.

 

A new bios with same Ec will never fix the problem. Regardless. A fix will mostly never come!!

 

Do you overclock the cache the same as the core? I have managed 4.1 so far which is an improvement. Still waiting on my new paste to arrive.

 

There is an Extra Turbo Voltage adjuster in ThrottleStop but I think that is only for the 3rd and maybe 2nd Gen CPUs. Does ThrottleStop show anything on your 6th Gen CPU? Intel doesn't send me any relevant documentation so I am in the dark about this one. When I don't know if something works or not, I usually try to leave it disabled.

The amount of Adaptive voltage seems to vary depending on what type of CPU instructions are being run. As far as I know, more of the heavy duty AVX instructions will result in more Adaptive voltage being applied. I haven't played too much with this. I prefer desktops and running a fixed voltage so I don't have to worry about the voltage going way too high.

 

That makes sense the Extra Turbo Voltage adjuster slide is greyed out for me on my 6th gen CPU. Unfortunately I am unable to set a static voltage on my CPU it remains Adaptive despite setting it to Static in either thortlestop 8.10 beta or Intel XTU.

I did have another question. For some reason when I undervolt with core voltage offset using throttlestop it does not take effect to the CPU when applied. I have to open up Intel XTU and adjust core voltage offset from there. Any ideas why it doesn't work in throttlestop?

 

Try clicking in FIVR -> Check, OK - Save voltages immediately.

 

So I did my re-paste following iunlocks guide (very good I must add!). Now I have overclocked to 4.3 and staying nicely below 85 degrees. I'm not going to use this overclock. I just like to know its there if needed.

 

Can you run a few Cinebench R11.5 +R15 and Wprime 1024M stress test with Hwinfo in background so we can see your clock speed stick? Put high performance and not balanced mode in Windows power plan so we can see 4.3 GHz stick all time in the screenshot and not clock down!! If temp is good why not run 4.3 GHz 24/7?

 

.

 

As you wish.....

Note wPrime 1024 benchmark quickly disappears when its finished so a grabbed a screen shot just before. If you know where I can find a log for it then I can share that.

I have used my dropbox as any other way they come out blurry.
Link is below......

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fqcg8bjxhl2sfgl/AAD1FxZl4Ow-9y5RHccKOh8aa?dl=0

 

Processor clock speed in Wprime 1024M clocked down to 4.1 GHz with a score of 261.500 sec. You need to select 8 threads in Wprime. The score is Crippled. Lower than a stock 6820Hk

Spoiler: Your Wprime 1024M bench

Spoiler: 6820Hk tested by Notebookcheck.net

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i7-6820HK-Notebook-Processor.149418.0.html

 

6820HK is able to achieve 137.6sec. Record to date, at least what we know of...there could very well be others.

 

On 6th Gen processors, make sure that you adjust the CPU Core and CPU Cache voltage equally in ThrottleStop. The next version of ThrottleStop will force this to make sure the CPU is set correctly. If you do not adjust these equally, the voltage change will not be applied.

 

Oh wow...thanks for the info. @unclewebb.

At the moment with the help of @Mobius 1, I've kept my CPU Cache voltage (-64mv) much lower than my CPU Core (-200mv).

Just to be clear, are you saying to keep those two equal?

Thanks.

 

wow this is good to know no wonder it wasnt updating. Thank you @unclewebb !

 

I didn't do this with the 6700HQ and it worked tho

 

When you are using Intel XTU, can you adjust the Core and Cache voltages independently to different values? At the moment, ThrottleStop lets you do this but I think the CPU is ignoring this setting internally. As an example, I think if you set the core to -50 mV and the Cache to -150 mV, the CPU will set them both to -50 mV and the extra -100 mV will be ignored.

I don't have access to a mobile Skylake CPU to play with. On my desktop Core i3 Skylake, XTU has one voltage adjustment and changing this sets the Core and Cache to the same values so I assumed that this is how it is with Skylake. @Mr. Fox and @Papusan are having good success with ThrottleStop on their Skylake so maybe they could share their experience with this.

Easiest way to test this out is to set the Core to something conservative like -50 mV and then adjust the Cache to something ridiculous like -500 mV. If the Cache is only getting that little voltage, it should crash or BSOD immediately. If it doesn't crash then that should prove that the -500 mV setting is being ignored by the CPU.

When I get some free time I will try to prove this but it would be better if someone with a mobile Skylake could do some testing.

 

XTU will not allow that. We are able to set them (voltage and offset) independently to different values with the amazing @Prema BIOS and ThrottleStop or XTU will reflect those settings. However, using XTU if you change either one they will be synchronized at the same value.