i5 7400 overclocking possible on Maximus VIII Ranger?

itsakjt · Jan 18, 2021

Hello all. This is for my old system which used to have an i5 7600K and an ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (Z170) - BIOS updated for Kaby Lake chips. The i5 7600K has a faulty memory controller and none of the slots of channel A work. I have tested the board with my friend's 6600K and all the slots work perfectly.
I am planning to buy an used i5 7400 for a pretty decent price of 6000 INR and have been wondering whether it will be possible to overclock that using the BCLK. Any help is appreciated.

Flaky · Jan 18, 2021

Overclocking locked cpus was a thing, but only on skylake chips. With this one you won't get past 103MHz bclk.
But, you can still OC the memory.

itsakjt · Jan 18, 2021

Flaky said:
Overclocking locked cpus was a thing, but only on skylake chips. With this one you won't get past 103MHz bclk.
But, you can still OC the memory.

Thanks for the input. Now here's the thing. To simulate a i5 7400, I fixed the multiplier of my 7600K to 35 and tried overclocking using the BCLK. It has been an excellent chip and I know it goes up to 5.2 GHz with the multiplier. And I was able to overclock the BCLK to as high as 145.5 MHz (didn't go higher). Screenshot below:

CPU-Z Validation:

Intel Core i5 7600 @ 5093.62 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR (x86.fr)

The reason for this as far as I know is the Maximus VIII Ranger has a separate clock which allows overclocking even up to 450 MHz.
Now I am not sure if an i5 7400 is any different but I think they are basically the same chip having exactly the same architecture.
Correct me if I am wrong.

Flaky · Jan 18, 2021

The non-K cpus have a "kill-switch" that activates when the bclk is above 103MHz.
K cpus do not have that, and allow legitimate overclock via BCLK.

A workaround has been found for this "feature", but only on skylake cpus, and required modified bioses. No such thing has been found for kaby lake, tho. It has been patched by intel for good.

itsakjt · Jan 18, 2021

Flaky said:
The non-K cpus have a "kill-switch" that activates when the bclk is above 103MHz.
K cpus do not have that, and allow legitimate overclock via BCLK.

A workaround has been found for this "feature", but only on skylake cpus, and required modified bioses. No such thing has been found for kaby lake, tho. It has been patched by intel for good.

Okay. My bad. I guess I will then have to stick with stock clocks with overclocked memory.
Nevertheless, what do you suggest?
Faulty i5 7600K with all cores at 5.0 GHz with single channel memory
vs
Good i5 7400 at stock with dual channel memory?
Just wanted to have a backup gaming system since I got the motherboard as prize from ASUS from ASUS OC India tour.

P4-630 · Jan 18, 2021

Can't you get a used i7 6700K or i7 7700K?

itsakjt · Jan 18, 2021

P4-630 said:
Can't you get a used i7 6700K or i7 7700K?

Not getting for a good price. People are selling them for like 13000 to 14000 INR used which is the cost for a Ryzen 5 3500 or 3500X.

System Name	Ryzen \| Kaby
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.6 GHz \| Intel Core i5 7600K @ 4.9 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS B550 ROG Strix F Gaming \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger
Cooling	Cooler Master ML120L RGB \| Cooler Master Seidon 120V
Memory	48 GB (32 GB) Kingston HyperX Fury @3266 MHz 16-16-16-35 2T \| 28 GB DDR4 @ 3100 MHz
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB \| Zotac GTX 1660Ti AMP 6 GB
Storage	Kingston A2000 500 GB. HyperX 3K 240 GB, WD10EARS, ST2000DM006 \| HyperX Fury 240 GB + 500 GB HDD
Display(s)	Dell S2418H, 1080p 75 Hz, HDR \| Samsung FHD TV
Case	Lianli Lancool 215 \| Corsair 100R
Audio Device(s)	Realtek S1220 (Supreme FX) \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	Corsair CS750M \| Dead PSU (replacement on the way)
Mouse	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Keyboard	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \|Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT - 4200, ST 537 \| R20 MT - 1979, ST - 516

System Name	Ryzen \| Kaby
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.6 GHz \| Intel Core i5 7600K @ 4.9 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS B550 ROG Strix F Gaming \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger
Cooling	Cooler Master ML120L RGB \| Cooler Master Seidon 120V
Memory	48 GB (32 GB) Kingston HyperX Fury @3266 MHz 16-16-16-35 2T \| 28 GB DDR4 @ 3100 MHz
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB \| Zotac GTX 1660Ti AMP 6 GB
Storage	Kingston A2000 500 GB. HyperX 3K 240 GB, WD10EARS, ST2000DM006 \| HyperX Fury 240 GB + 500 GB HDD
Display(s)	Dell S2418H, 1080p 75 Hz, HDR \| Samsung FHD TV
Case	Lianli Lancool 215 \| Corsair 100R
Audio Device(s)	Realtek S1220 (Supreme FX) \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	Corsair CS750M \| Dead PSU (replacement on the way)
Mouse	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Keyboard	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \|Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT - 4200, ST 537 \| R20 MT - 1979, ST - 516

System Name	Ryzen \| Kaby
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.6 GHz \| Intel Core i5 7600K @ 4.9 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS B550 ROG Strix F Gaming \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger
Cooling	Cooler Master ML120L RGB \| Cooler Master Seidon 120V
Memory	48 GB (32 GB) Kingston HyperX Fury @3266 MHz 16-16-16-35 2T \| 28 GB DDR4 @ 3100 MHz
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB \| Zotac GTX 1660Ti AMP 6 GB
Storage	Kingston A2000 500 GB. HyperX 3K 240 GB, WD10EARS, ST2000DM006 \| HyperX Fury 240 GB + 500 GB HDD
Display(s)	Dell S2418H, 1080p 75 Hz, HDR \| Samsung FHD TV
Case	Lianli Lancool 215 \| Corsair 100R
Audio Device(s)	Realtek S1220 (Supreme FX) \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	Corsair CS750M \| Dead PSU (replacement on the way)
Mouse	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Keyboard	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \|Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT - 4200, ST 537 \| R20 MT - 1979, ST - 516

System Name	Desktop / Laptop
Processor	Intel i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz (1.270 V) / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard	Asus Z170 Pro Gaming / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory	16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz CL15 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 500GB + Samsung 850 Pro 512GB + Samsung 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s)	23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p + 21.5" LG 22MP67VQ IPS 60Hz 1080p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case	Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s)	SupremeFX Onboard / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse	Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard	RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software	Windows 10 / Windows 10

System Name	Ryzen \| Kaby
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.6 GHz \| Intel Core i5 7600K @ 4.9 GHz
Motherboard	ASUS B550 ROG Strix F Gaming \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger
Cooling	Cooler Master ML120L RGB \| Cooler Master Seidon 120V
Memory	48 GB (32 GB) Kingston HyperX Fury @3266 MHz 16-16-16-35 2T \| 28 GB DDR4 @ 3100 MHz
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB \| Zotac GTX 1660Ti AMP 6 GB
Storage	Kingston A2000 500 GB. HyperX 3K 240 GB, WD10EARS, ST2000DM006 \| HyperX Fury 240 GB + 500 GB HDD
Display(s)	Dell S2418H, 1080p 75 Hz, HDR \| Samsung FHD TV
Case	Lianli Lancool 215 \| Corsair 100R
Audio Device(s)	Realtek S1220 (Supreme FX) \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	Corsair CS750M \| Dead PSU (replacement on the way)
Mouse	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Keyboard	Cooler Master Storm Devastator
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \|Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT - 4200, ST 537 \| R20 MT - 1979, ST - 516

i5 7400 overclocking possible on Maximus VIII Ranger?

itsakjt

Flaky

itsakjt

Flaky

itsakjt

P4-630

itsakjt