x99 Extreme4 Overclocking,is Bios Update necessary

thetoons wrote: Hi There, thanks for reading my question: I have x99 Extreme4 usb3.1 type motherboard. I am planning to run it on 4.0 Mhz. (right now being at 3.0Mhz) - I do have Kraken liquid cooling on 5960x CPU working smoothly. and extra fans in the case. - current uefi version I have working is 1.20 - I wanted to learn if there is a way to save my current adjustments on this UEFI Bios to load if something goes wrong (One question here: Even is I update the UEFI to a newer Version, Can I still load up those settings from my 1.20?) -Should I update UEFI? - I have read this CPU can be overclocked beyond 4.2-4.3, but I would be very much happy with 4.0 Mhz, as long as it is stable, which should be with the current setup I have.  - I have Kingston HyperX Savage 64gb DDR4-2400, however they show up running on 2133 at the moment. - I know my current UEFI version 1.20 has OC Tweaker Section, but I wanted to double check if I should just try to apply There are 2 choices already one is Load 4 Ghz and XMP OC setting and the other Load Optimized CPU OC setting, I don't know what are the differences of those options. Let me know if you have experience with this Board, and point me to the right direction to OC at 4.0

I'm not sure I understand your question about saving your current "adjustments" (option settings in the UEFI?)

Your board's UEFI has the capability of saving several UEFI option Profiles, of the option settings you have selected or set in the UEFI. The Profile Save, Load and Profile Name List is at the bottom of the OC Tweaker screen. Just scroll down in the OC Tweaker screen if you can't see it.

When a UEFI/BIOS update is done, all the saved Profiles will be removed. That is done because the previous UEFI's option settings or options themselves may not match those of the new version.

There is also the situation of updating to a UEFI version that is several versions beyond what the current version in the board is. That situation is even more likely to have mismatches between the old and much newer version.

So the Profiles from one UEFI version are not allowed to be used with any newer UEFI version. That may seem unnecessary, but believe me, there are many different scenarios that would need to be dealt with that makes saving previously saved profiles for use with new/different UEFI versions such a difficult task, it is simply not worth the effort.

Once you become more accustomed to the various options in your board's UEFI, you will be able to restore most if not all of them just from your memory. I do that all the time.

After a UEFI update, the first thing I do is go into the UEFI and set (adjust) my most basic, required options. Those include everything that does NOT include any over clocking of the CPU and memory. For example, that includes setting the SATA mode to RAID, setting the Drive type to SSD or HDD, creating or selecting pre-defined fan speed profiles. That becomes my Basic profile, with all Stock CPU and Memory settings.

Beyond that, I then use the Basic profile, but change CPU OC settings for example. Those changes are saved in a profile named to identify it is a CPU over clock. Same thing goes for a memory OC.

Your memory, and almost all DDR4 memory will default to a speed of 2133, regardless of its maximum advertised speed. 2133 is the maximum memory speed that Intel guarantees for your processor, and the other Haswell-E HEDT processors. Any speed above 2133 is a memory over clock. 2133 is used since that speed is almost 100% guaranteed to work with any CPU and board.

Your memory probably has an XMP profile, which is a pre-defined set of memory settings that will set it to operate at 2400. The XMP profile is unrelated to the UEFI profile.

Your board will have an option in the DRAM Configuration screen to load the XMP profile if you choose to run your memory at 2400. The XMP profile is really a convenience, since all the settings can be done manually, if you have the experience to do so.

The 4GHz and XMP option is a built in profile for a 4GHz OC that also applies the XMP profile.

The Optimized CPU OC Settings are several built in CPU OC profiles are various speeds, but do not also apply the memory XMP profile.

"Should" is not really the word to describe what to do with these options. One or the other is not right or wrong. You can click on one of them and it will populate all its settings, but until you click Save and Exit in the Exit screen, none of them will be applied.

Given your questions, I would wait to update the UEFI.

The reason I ask where should I start, is because I have the manual open in front of me, but I don't know where to start in terms of OC tweaker settings on UEFI? the manual doesn't explain what each setting does depending on what I want to achieve, Does AsRock have any guides for this type of x99 motherboard UEFIs online?