Overclocking Gigabyte Z170-HD3 with Kaby Lake CPU (i5-7600K) on F20 Bios?

saadzaman126

Commendable
Nov 25, 2016
5
0
1,510
Hello,

I recently purchased a i5-6600K but I will be returning this and upgrading to an i5-7600K. I have a Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 motherboard which has a F20 Bios update for Intel 7th Gen processors. I plan to update my BIOS to F20 with my i5-6600K prior to returning it and then using the motherboard with the i5-7600K. I have read that some of the BIOS updates for Kaby Lake don't support overclocking and I can't find info on Gigabyte specifically. I haven't tried it yet but OC'ing is important to me so I wanted to ask the community if anyone has successfully OC'd a Kaby Lake CPU on a Gigabyte Z170 board using the F20 BIOS?

Thanks
 
Solution
The only BIOS updates that have the potential to remove OCing functionality would be on the locked sku's (as you can BCLCK OC on Z boards with locked sku's). There may be voltage concerns or someting similar, requiring that functionality to be removed.

If you're buying an unlocked 7600K and have the appropriate chipset (Z170 or Z270)., you can overclock.

I haven't dealt with the board + CPU pairing specifically, but there is no reason it would remove the functionality - and Gigabyte don't list that as a 'description' of the BIOS update. It enables support for 7th gen chips and prohibits downgrading. That's all.

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
The only BIOS updates that have the potential to remove OCing functionality would be on the locked sku's (as you can BCLCK OC on Z boards with locked sku's). There may be voltage concerns or someting similar, requiring that functionality to be removed.

If you're buying an unlocked 7600K and have the appropriate chipset (Z170 or Z270)., you can overclock.

I haven't dealt with the board + CPU pairing specifically, but there is no reason it would remove the functionality - and Gigabyte don't list that as a 'description' of the BIOS update. It enables support for 7th gen chips and prohibits downgrading. That's all.
 
Solution

Zerk2012

Titan
Ambassador


Their no reason to return the CPU you already have when clocked to the same speed it gives the same performance.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
While true when comparing clock for clock, the starting point of the 7600K is more appealing.
Starting 300MHz higher, in theory, any OCing potential should see the 7600K still ~300MHz ahead since they're very comparable Ocers.

Considering the list prices are very close, the 7600K is the better bet IMO.
 

saadzaman126

Commendable
Nov 25, 2016
5
0
1,510
Yeah it's a very minor price difference and if I'm doing a new build I may as well get the latest tech which give the largest OC potential. If it wasn't for the heat issues when OC'ing a 7700K would've got that instead because it bae clock is so high pushing 5GHz should be easy if not for thermal throttling.