Why can I only overclock i5 6500 baseclock from 100 to 102

pythonnn

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Hello,

I have a new build: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming-7, i5 6500 (non-k), Corsair HX620 PSU, 2400 dual channel ram, good cooling system. I followed this guide to overclock the non-k CPU: http://overclocking.guide/gigabyte-z170-non-k-overclocking-guide/

I installed the proper bios, enabled XMP, and was careful to keep my memory frequency under 2400. However, almost every single change to the baseclock or CPU Vcore resulted in a boot failure and kicked me back into Bios. The MOST I could do and get to Windows was raise the base clock from 100 to 102 (3.2GHz to 3.26), and voltage from 1.155 to 1.215. Any higher on the base clock (e.g. 103) or CPU Vcore resulted in a “boot failure” screen. I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong because it seems silly that just a small change would cause boot failure.

I would really appreciate the help if anyone has any ideas!
 

pythonnn

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My Ram is 2400, and I've been careful to keep it under 2400 during each test. For instance, when I tested the base clock at 110, I adjusted the ram multiplier so that it was ~2200.
 

pythonnn

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Very interesting! It appears Intel decided to press the issue after all.

However, it seems that this would only affect people who update/change their bios version (ASrock users and others who have already overclocked should be safe as long as they don't update their bios). I'm still using the particular version of Gigabyte's bios for this board that allows you to make OC changes to non-k boards, and I downloaded it from overclocking.guide, not Gigabyte.
 

pythonnn

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Thanks, I tried that and no change
 

pythonnn

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That was a very good thought. I had noticed 2 links for the same thing (different file names) but didn't think that perhaps one was mislabeled. I just tried the 2nd one, did a very small overclock and had the same issue. But good thought!
 

dylanestrada

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On mine I don't have the XMP profile enabled, I had to manually tweak the RAM speed to a little bit lower than it's XMP profile speed. Mine can run at 3000 mhz, but I run it at 2600 mhz in order to get the CPU to overclock.

Have you tried setting the RAM speed to a lower setting?
 

pythonnn

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Yeah, I tried that. No luck. My power supply should be able to handle a small overclock, right? (Corsair HXC620)
 

pythonnn

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My options are auto (default) and high (recommended by the guide I used). I've tried both with no change.
 

pythonnn

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Well, I figured it out. Neither one of 2 bios files worked for me that were linked on that site. But a newer bios version (still non-k overclocking) that I found on a different site did work. The one on the overclocking site was version 6. The newer bios that worked for me is version 7k.

For those interested, you can find it here: http://forum.hwbot.org/showpost.php?p=429720&postcount=120

Thanks everyone for the help, and especially for all your responses dylanestrada!