Der8auer, a YouTuber, has successfully overclocked two Intel Alder Lake non-K series CPUs, the Core i5-12400 and Core i5-12600. On ASUS’s high-end Z690 boards, overclocking was possible. When overclocking a modern CPU, users must consider some things, including the motherboard, the processor’s hybrid configuration, and the fact that the processor will consume more power in the process. Users can now alter the bus speed (BCLK) settings manually with ease thanks to Intel.
This procedure raises the frequency of the CPU to the desired level. The target frequency is no longer connected to other computer components, such as the PCIe interface, with Intel’s Alder Lake processors. In practice, dealing with the PCIe would cause problems and is never suggested. Intel also recently released their non-K Alder Lake lineup, which lacks overclocking capabilities, but as Der8auer revealed, there are a few solutions.
On his YouTube channel, Der8auer discovered that the tested ASUS ROG Maximus APEX motherboard had the option to tweak the bus speed. He also discovered that it applies to all ASUS Z690 motherboards as long as a non-K processor is present.
He investigated B660 motherboards while investigating appropriate Alder Lake motherboards and discovered that none of them supports BCLK overclocking while using a non-K processor. Der8auer confirmed that the Z690 APEX and HERO motherboards with the 0811 BIOS onboard were capable of the same BCLK overclocking compatibility, but not the ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-I.
Der8auer says that premium Z690 motherboards with an external clock generator are the only ones that can overclock non-K Intel Alder Lake CPUs. Specific motherboard versions, such as the ASRock Aqua, ASUS ROG Maximus, and other high-end series, include this capability. At the same time, ASRock offers BFB, which is not to be confused with BCLK OC, as the latter just boosts the base frequency’s power limit to allow for higher base clocks.
Users will need to go through their bios to find the BCLK OC function and unlock it, according to the YouTuber. The user can identify the ASUS model by going to Extreme Tweaker and looking for the Tweaker’s Paradise settings. Users must change the bus clock to 130 MHz or as near to that frequency as possible after enabling the XMP II profile. This method raises the DDR5 memory and cache frequencies, requiring users to manually lower both frequencies to overclock the processor. Der8auer suggests that the XMP maximum speed and cache ratio be reduced to 33 from the baseline 40.
Because the voltage levels must be increased, the voltage levels in the cache and core must also be increased to between 1.35 and 1.37 volts. The settings are entirely dependent on the sample used, and all findings will vary by configuration, particularly with the processor binning, it is noted. Der8auer’s test revealed that when using a stock Intel Laminar CPU cooler, the power usage rises to a maximum of 138W and the cores reach a temperature of 96° C, or 204.8° F.
Using a variety of games to test overclocking performance, the non-K Intel processor comes out on top or is in the middle of the pack when compared to other processors. This is largely dependent on whether the game uses hybrid core architecture or has a large number of cores.
It’s unclear whether any other motherboards, other than the ones tested, support BCLK overclocking. This capability may only be available on premium motherboards that use external clock generations. This demonstrates the Intel Alder Lake Non-K CPU lineup’s high-performance potential. They already have excellent performance out of the box, but with overclocking, they can prove to be worthy mainstream chips. However, Intel is unlikely to want motherboard makers to enable wider support for BCLK overclocking because they want that feature to be limited to their high-end K-series lineup, unlike AMD, which supports overclocking across all Ryzen chips.
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