Manual Overclocking And AXTU
As shown in our Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 firmware coverage, our highest 1.35 V overclock required this platform's 1.34 V CPU core setting, “Level-1” Load-Line Calibration, a 46x CPU multiplier, and a base clock of 100.9 MHz.
Unfortunately, our memory’s XMP-2200 profile was useless at 100.9 MHz BCLK, due to the board’s 2136 MHz maximum stable memory frequency.
Nicknamed AXTU, ASRock’s Extreme Tuning Utility allows those very same adjustments within Windows. Multiplier, core voltage, and base clock frequencies can be set without rebooting.
Though many users prefer to overclock without rebooting, our maximum overclock using AXTU was around 20 MHz lower compared to adjustments made directly from the Z68 Extreme7 Gen3’s firmware interface. When it comes to locking in settings for good, we still prefer using the BIOS or UEFI whenever possible.