How to O/C Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac

Hello, I have the 9600k and Z390 Phantom Gaming board as well. I'm also coming over to ASRock after using MSI for years so the UEFI is quite different to understand. I want to accomplish the exact same thing with my overclock, but I am sort of struggling with it. Did you ever figure out your overclock and if so (and if you don't mind sharing), what are all the settings you used?

Kevin82485 wrote: So, I was able to solve my issue with the CPU being pegged at 4.8 GHz. In the UEFI go to Advanced Mode > Advanced > CPU Configuration > Make sure CPU C-states is enabled. I first made the mistake of enabling Intel Speed Shift. With that enabled, I wasn't reaching the 4.8 GHz, but once I disabled it, I did get 4.8 GHz. I have a really basic overclock though. XMP Profile enabled, CPU Ratio for all cores is set at 48, CPU Cache Ratio is 43, and BCLK is 100. Everything else I left alone at default. I tried pushing CPU Ratio to 49 and CPU Cache Ratio to 44, but the system crashed almost immediately after starting Prime95. I'm sure the 9600K could overclocking to 5 GHz, but I just don't know enough to get it there.

Hi, I'm so sorry. I just now got back to seeing this response. I'm glad you figured it out. The one thing I don't like messing with is voltage. I like to O/C as high as a CPU will go without overvolting. I know it has emergency shut down if a CPU should get too hot, but I've found out through reading other people's problems, it almost always has to do with voltage.

Anyway, I do have my CPU Cache Ratio set to 43 as well. For me, that's what stabilized it. I've got a stable O/C at 4.7 GHz. I thought it might be the voltage limiting it, but I've seen other people running it at higher, like 4.8.

I don't know. Is it really worth it to O/C it from 4.7 to 5.0 GHz? I don't think I'd gain that much. I'll try 4.8 GHz though and disabling Intel Speed Step. Everything else is exactly the same, except I have all CPU cores set to 4.7, but I'll try 4.8 and disable Speed Step.

I have a question though. Since you disabled Speed Step, I'm assuming that means your CPU is constantly running at 4.8 GHz whether you're playing a game or browsing the web or is there something else in the UEFI that allows it to lower clock speeds when it doesn't need the power? Or I guess I could do something crazy and say....try it for myself and see.

Seriously though, aside from Speed Step, did you have to raise your voltage at all? If I had a Noctua NH-D15[URL=https://go.shr.lc/2TVTkTY]https://go.shr.lc/2TVTkTY[/URL]
I'd feel MUCH more comfortable pushing it to 5 GHz!!! Speaking of that...if you want to try to get it to 5 GHz, I'd highly recommend you get a good HSF if you don't already have one. Seriously, the Noctua NH-D15 is the best. You might be able to get by with one fan, but if you have the money, get two.

So, assuming you have that, or you can try it without it. You're going to have to raise the voltage to get to 5 GHz I'm pretty sure. BUT, by all means, try to do it without it first. It could work. If you do, just check out how to Overvolt on YouTube. I'd check out Gamers Nexus or Jayz2Cents. Also, check out Hard Forum at Hardocp.com and Tom's Hardware. It's really not difficult, it's just like O/Cing a GPU. You want to raise the voltage in small increments. If it gets too high, the UEFI could forget all your saved settings, so I'd back it up on a USB stick first. Oh and also set a fan curve manually. If you're doing 5 GHz, I'd be aggressive with it, but if you have the Noctua, you could run it a little lower since it's so efficient. At any rate, it will still be at a fairly high rate to cool it properly. Make sure you're using something like Arctic MX-4 thermal paste or something similar. I use Arctic Silver 5. I think Arctic MX-4 is superior. It's just that I already had AS5, so that's why I'm using it. I'm thinking about buying some MX-4 though, but the differences are not that much. Also, if U do that and it's too high and resets, it might not boot up. That is, it might power on and then just shut down. As long as you're moving the voltage up slowly, it's Ok. All you'll need to do is either reset the CMOS by moving the jumper from pins 1-2 to 3-4. Then, turn on the PC. Probably nothing will happen. Then move the jumper back to the old position. If that doesn't work, pop the CMOS battery out of the motherboard for about a minute, then replace it. Then boot it up and it should be fine. Forgive me if you already know all of this.

Ironically, I have an MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Gaming 8G. I had it manually O/Ced, core +180 at highest. Well, Nvidia released an auto O/C on MSI Afterburner and EVGA Precision. I like Afterburner the best. I'm probably gonna get an RTX 2080 Black Edition. I'd like to get the MSI RTX 2080 Ventus 8G, but it's...oh wait...it's on sale right now. It's usually $760 or so. EVGA's is $700. Anyway, the OC scanner automatically will O/C for you. Amazingly enough, it set a higher O/C than what I had. It also automatically overvolted the card, but so far it's stable. I think in the summer, it will be too hot and crash, but we'll see. My son's getting that card.

Sithtiger wrote: Sorry Kevin. I see ASRock has Intel Speed Step and you were talking about Speed Shift. There are two different technologies. Once I went back in, I did remember. So I did have Speed Shift disabled too, so I must have turned that off, but there's a setting you can change so it won't be at 4.8 GHz at all time. You need to go into Advanced Mode, then OC Tweaker (I believe). Then go to CPU Configuration, then click on "Boost Performance Mode". Now, you want to set it to Default (if it's not already there) or change it to 'Max Non-Turbo Performance mode'. This will allow it to only use CPU power that it needs, so it won't stay at 4.8 GHz 24/7. Unless you want it to be that way, but that will shorten the life of your CPU.

I'm not home right now to double check my settings in UEFI, but I'm pretty sure I only had to enable CPU C-States (not sure how or why it was disabled) and then disabled Speed Shift. Doing this stopped the CPU from constantly running at 4.8 GHz. Now when my PC is idling, the CPU clock speed appropriately drops down well below 4.8 GHz as expected.

I have liquid cooling on the 9600K...the Corsair H100i Pro. I've watched a few different videos on overclocking the CPU and the process appears to be quite simple, but my confusion with adjusting voltages is what the setting is called and where it is located in the ASRock UEFI. It just seemed more straightforward to do in the MSI UEFI's that I'm accustomed to.