Z170 Gaming K6+ OC doesn't work after BIOS 1.70

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   I've got an ASRock Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard that I've been pretty happy with until the release of BIOS 1.80 and above. With Bios 1.80, 1.90, and 2.00, I have been unable to manually apply any kind of overclocking or XMP profiles to the CPU/memory and I'm not sure why.
The BIOS appears to accept my modified CPU multiplier of 44x and the XMP profile, but when then computer boots CPU-Z reports that the processor is running with a multiplier of 42x and isn't reporting the DRAM frequency related to the XMP profile but is instead running at stock speed. If I downgrade the BIOS back to 1.70 I'm able to apply manual OC without issue.

Is there a new setting in the BIOS overriding my manual OC that I'm not seeing somewhere? Forgive me if there's a critical piece of data I'm not providing. I'm rather new to overclocking so if there's some piece of information needed to figure this out let me know and I'll happily provide it.

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gilias Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2016 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote gilias Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Z170 Gaming K6+ OC doesn't work after BIOS 1.70 Posted: 30 Jan 2016 at 11:22am
	I've got an ASRock Z170 Gaming K6+ motherboard that I've been pretty happy with until the release of BIOS 1.80 and above. With Bios 1.80, 1.90, and 2.00, I have been unable to manually apply any kind of overclocking or XMP profiles to the CPU/memory and I'm not sure why. The BIOS appears to accept my modified CPU multiplier of 44x and the XMP profile, but when then computer boots CPU-Z reports that the processor is running with a multiplier of 42x and isn't reporting the DRAM frequency related to the XMP profile but is instead running at stock speed. If I downgrade the BIOS back to 1.70 I'm able to apply manual OC without issue. Is there a new setting in the BIOS overriding my manual OC that I'm not seeing somewhere? Forgive me if there's a critical piece of data I'm not providing. I'm rather new to overclocking so if there's some piece of information needed to figure this out let me know and I'll happily provide it.

wardog Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 15 Jul 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6447	Post Options Post Reply Quote wardog Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jan 2016 at 4:56pm
	What CPU, and what make and model of memory? This is sometimes an issue that, while not ASRocks intentional doing, is sometimes reflected in BIOS update and is nothing new. One User may be able to OC his system better using these same BIOS revisions that are instead causing you grief. My advice? If you have a strong running system with a particular BIOS revision and your own particular components, stick with it. Again, as long as you and your system is not affected by what later BIOS revisions provide/account for, there's really no need in chasing the latest revision and hoping for a miracle 20fps increase from your current hardware.

gilias Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2016 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote gilias Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jan 2016 at 11:10pm
	CPU: Skylake i7-6700K Memory: 4x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3000, 1.35V, 15-15-15-35 timing While normally I'd be fine leaving the BIOS alone, I'm keeping it up to date for now because of this bug related to Skylake BIOS: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/intel-skylake-bug-causes-pcs-to-freeze-during-complex-workloads/

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25073	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jan 2016 at 1:25am
	Unless you are actually using the system for complex workloads that utilize AVX instructions you will not encounter the issue. The only way I could trigger the bug on my 6600k was to run prime 95 with AVX forced enabled as described in the numerous articles on the issue.


wardog Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 15 Jul 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6447	Post Options Post Reply Quote wardog Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jan 2016 at 5:03am
	As Xaltar said above, unless you ARE in fact encountering the complex number/AVX issue I wouldn't worry about it too awful much. The press again has self-created a mountain where a mole hill should be. Whipping up frenzy earns them page hits, and thus cash and User emails to sell to the highest bidder. I'm not discounting the AVX issue, yet there will be very very few that will encounter it in their work-a-day lives.

gilias Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2016 Status: Offline Points: 5	Post Options Post Reply Quote gilias Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 01 Feb 2016 at 4:42am
	Fair enough. Sounds like I'll be downgrading back to 1.70 then. If Asrock's team reads this, it might help to look into it. :) Thanks for the advice fellas. Edited by gilias - 01 Feb 2016 at 4:43am

GripS Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 23 Jan 2016 Status: Offline Points: 21	Post Options Post Reply Quote GripS Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Feb 2016 at 10:24am
	Did you try this? Shut down system, switch to backup BIOS via jumper on the motberboard Enter BIOS, under advanced select the Secure UEFI Backup (A->B) option (this will flash back to the original BIOS) Power off system, switch BIOS jumper back to primary Boot into UEFI, perform internet flash option in BIOS (This will flash 2.00 as of today) See if you're OC settings stick after trying the above. Oh yeah, and make sure you are running default UEFI settings whenever you are flashing the BIOS. Edited by GripS - 03 Feb 2016 at 10:28am

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Feb 2016 at 12:14pm
	It is possible that a new UEFI version can break something that worked with earlier versions. Or as you said a new option was added that changes the behavior of other options. Does your board's UEFI have an option called, Boot Performance Mode? That option can apparently shut off the ability to OC. Please feel free to change to UEFI 1.70, you can do that with Instant Flash. The only other thing I can suggest is even after a UEFI update, go into the Exit screen and click Load UEFI defaults several times. I'm having a problem with a memory OC that I could do easily with an earlier UEFI version, but with the 0x74 microcode UEFI version for my board, it seems to not work any more. I don't know yet if that is the problem or something else, but I'm looking into it.