Adventure: Running 8/9th gen Coffee Lake CPUs on Z170 motherboard (ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger)

[tabascosauz]

This guy on this video timestamp

talks about the capacitors but he is not good at explaining anything concisely, and unfortunately comes off as pretentious in his videos (it is very tedious for me to listen to him talk ). It is actually not clear to me whether he actually knows what he is talking about. He appears to call these flat capacitors "SMD aluminum polymer capacitors", but I think the correct name is actually more along the lines of POSCAP (electrolytic) (with aluminum instead of tantalum perhaps?), as you suggest (not sure). The guy in this video appears to suggest that the POSCAPs are better which is why I had this question. Anyway thanks for the info I will try to look into this on Wikipedia maybe or something, next weekend.

I found this explanation https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-electrolytic-tantalum-and-ceramic-capacitors, which appears to be more reliable information. As of now, I am just learning here and there, and hoping for the best. Perhaps it is best to take some type of electrical engineering online course or something.

buildzoid is right here on TPU too, if you have concerns/gripes you want to take up with him. Impact was an old video, he had a newer video explaining the difference between POSCAP and SP-CAP. Can't fault you for not wanting to listen to his long-winded rants, it's an acquired taste and tedious..............and the Impact isn't really that good at any type of OC like he made it out to be...................

POSCAP is not a type of cap, it's a Panasonic trademark specifically for their flat package tantalum polymers. There is no aluminium polymer POSCAP because it doesn't exist......you can go on any electronic parts supplier website or Panasonic themselves and check for yourself.

POSCAPs are pretty easy to identify (iirc) - at least for the 470µF versions that are common on high end/ITX motherboards, the grey stripe on them is always of a very bright colour, light grey or almost white. The Impact only has them on the back of the board (memory VRM or something). I have another board, B550I Aorus Pro AX, and it has a couple of POSCAPs on output filter, easy to spot.

Amongst caps, MLCCs are probably at the top of the list for performance, followed by some mix of SPCAP and POSCAP depending on what you're using them for. But there's a ton of different flat polymers of various manufacturers with various materials and specs, and some of them are better than others, and depends on which rated spec you care about for the specific application.

Regular cylindrical through-hole polymers are really not very special compared to any of the other caps, it's really not close. The all the Z590/Z690 2DIMM boards' choice of caps should tell you all you need to know about that. But at the same time, caps really don't come into play for most regular users of motherboards; a dozen other VRM design/performance issues will rear their head before caps are really a consideration. Unless Board 1 and Board 2 are of identical design except for their caps, you can't just say that Board 1 is better because it uses SMD polymers while Board 2 uses through-hole polymers. When OCers are talking about cap choice they're just making sure caps aren't going to hold them back and prevent them from beating the next dude on the leaderboards by a hair's width

 

[dumaster]

Hello @dumaster, great news on modifying the BIOS.
As I can see from your BIOS file, you have a Maximus VIII Hero which has the exact same Super IO chip (Nuvoton NCT6793D). Based on the datasheet, SKTOCC needs to be pulled to ground for making the board power on. As for the resistor, I did think about that but the measured resistance was quite a bit and I was doubtful whether it would actually work and hence I bypassed the resistor. My system has been running from July 2021 without any issues and hence I believe this modification is perfectly safe both from knowledge and from information given on the datasheet. I have been using this system as my primary gaming and entertainment PC now (performs better on games than my Ryzen 5 3600 PC as on specs).
But either way of SKTOCC mod (both mine and the method you showed) should work and hence you can do whichever you are comfortable with. To be honest, I went with the method I did because I was not comfortable removing and reorienting the resistor in the risk of losing it.
Pro tip: You can use kapton tape surrounding the section around the area where you need to solder to be on the safe side. Once you are finished with the soldering, clean the section of solder flux with some isopropyl alcohol.

All the best and let us know once you have this system running.
Cheers.

Hello great friend itsakjt,

I come through this post to thank you for the tips and your time spent on this topic, it was through him that I created the courage to buy my 9700K and make all the modifications to the motherboard so that it worked perfectly !!!

A few weeks ago I had already made a post informing that the BIOS update had gone well and I just needed to disassemble the PC and modify the motherboard to install the 9700K !!!

I got some free time a few days ago and disassembled everything , did a thorough cleaning of everything and went to my rework table to proceed with the modification , below are some photos !!!

Checking pins :

Before Mod :

Zoom mod region:

After mod :

Zoom region after mod :

In this image above I would like to comment that after taking several measurements, with the CPU installed and without, I came to the conclusion that the SKTOCC pin on the socket is connected directly to the corresponding pin on the Super IO , which led me to think that the resistor connected to SKTOCC track near the Super IO is a Pull Up so that there is no CPU absent, the pin is not floating and with that it could cause the motherboard to start without having the CPU installed just because of some electrical noise, I then opted for your mod by turning on the GND next to the resistor on the side that is connected to the Super IO, your mod is the CORRECT mod, and that image where another person made the mod using the resistor as a jumper does not seem correct to me because the resistance that I measured in this resistor was from the house of mega omhs which would possibly leave the SKTOCC susceptible to interference !!!

Here my CPU 9700K installed :

CPU recognized correctly by BIOS :

Here in Windows 10 :

To start my tests I left the Core All Sync option and the multiplier set to 47x in the BIOS, so I have all the cores at 4.7GHz when the % load on the CPU triggers Turbo Boost.

I also left the AVX Ratio at ZERO, as I know there are benchmarks that use AVX and I want to see real stability at 4.7GHz.

In Cine R15 that I like to use as one of my tests, the CPU almost reached 160 watts (HWInfo Report), stable temperatures and with values that I liked because it peaked at 71 degrees, Vcore peak reported by Super IO was 1.408v !!!

I want to test like this for a few days and I should try later 4.8... then 4.9... and finally I will try and if I can run all the cores at 5.0GHz with acceptable and safe Temperatures and Vcores I will be very happy !!!

Below are the latest images, and finally I want to thank you * itsakjt * again for creating this topic and making yourself available to help other people on this journey of installing 8xxx and 9xxx processors on these older Z170 / Z270 platforms, my journey so far, everything went well, I didn't have any setbacks during the modifications, and on the first turn on the motherboard it already gave an image and recognized the 9700K perfectly, Best of luck and success to you my friend itsakjt !!!!

View attachment 235376
View attachment 235377

do you happen to know what the cache ratio speed is supposed to be? I will set cpu to 5.0. I dont want to overclock though, I just want it to run like it is supposed to run on a normal 300 series motherboard

I brought the clockspeed up to 5 ghz, and the computer froze so then I changed the vccio and vccsa from 1.18 to 1.22, and it it has not crashed yet. it seems stable now
My cache ratio speed is still 4300, is that the correct speed? 4.3ghz?

Hello friend,

I think you had a lot of problems to get to the point of having stable windows, I would do it differently, I would use the clocks for a few weeks in Stock and only after that I would start thinking about overclocking, I think you are very desperate , speed is the enemy of perfection !!!

About running it as original all cores at 5.0GHz is an incorrect statement, it's sad that the manufacturers (Intel / Amd) don't make it very explicit that this maximum clock is only for one core and that each core has its independent temperature sensor, so even if one core reaches 5.0GHz if the temperature exceeds the limits to protect the cpu throttle will occur, and this is talking for a single core, you were wanting to sync all 8 cores to 5.0 and that would probably demand an increase in Vcore and also increase drastically the power dissipated and consequently you would have to have a very good cooling system to dissipate all that heat generated !!!

Do things calmly, slowly, thinking about every detail so you don't go through some disappointment of damaging something there in your system!!!

Big hug and success in your mod !!!

Dumaster.

Referência:

 

[BobbyBoyGaming]

@dumaster My build is finished and completely stable now!
I am running 4.9 Ghz boost clock, 4.6 GHz cache frequency, 64GB DDR4 3600 CL18 at 1.35V, Vcore +35millivolts, VCCIO 1.25V, VCCSA 1.25V, there are a few other tricky setting I had to change as well. one is called DLL bandwidth to the values: 0,1,2,3, another one was RAM baseclock 133mhz, and Fclock to 1Ghz.

I will not try setting it to 5.0Ghz cpu clock and 4.7 cache frequency. I am very, VERY happy with these settings, rock solid, stability. More than I could ever have asked for in terms of upgrading this older platform, and all of this is running on a Black-Ridge cooler with two slim fans.

I agree! HUGE thanks to @itsakjt !! Super friendly, super fast responses, and very patient with all us big noobs!

 

[rio]

Glad to see this getting some more attention, I've been doing this for a couple years across a few boards now, if you want to go to another level theres also some converted mobile engineering samples on aliexpress for cheap that're a bit higher effort but super well priced, but also have some issues (mine has an uneven die, although afaik thats relatively uncommon and doesnt happen with the newer chips)

 

[dumaster]

@dumaster My build is finished and completely stable now!
I am running 4.9 Ghz boost clock, 4.6 GHz cache frequency, 64GB DDR4 3600 CL18 at 1.35V, Vcore +35millivolts, VCCIO 1.25V, VCCSA 1.25V, there are a few other tricky setting I had to change as well. one is called DLL bandwidth to the values: 0,1,2,3, another one was RAM baseclock 133mhz, and Fclock to 1Ghz.

I will not try setting it to 5.0Ghz cpu clock and 4.7 cache frequency. I am very, VERY happy with these settings, rock solid, stability. More than I could ever have asked for in terms of upgrading this older platform, and all of this is running on a Black-Ridge cooler with two slim fans.

I agree! HUGE thanks to @itsakjt !! Super friendly, super fast responses, and very patient with all us big noobs!

Congratulations friend for the results!!!

I'm still not sure what the gain in the real world is with regard to overclocks, but I also like to do them, my experiences with extreme overclocks have been stable only when I leave speedstep off, practically all the parameters in the bios related to both Core voltages , as for the other secondary voltages such as the System Agent , CPU IO voltage ( VCCSA VCCIO ) everything has to be put in the manual , and spend days testing step by step to find the lowest possible voltages without having instabilities such as BSODs , alas lately I have preferred lighter OCs where I can leave the speedstep active, so I know that when I'm in 2D, for example watching videos on YouTube, the CPU clocks lower and consequently the Vcore is much lower, unlike when you keep the clocks for example all the time at 5.0GHz , the CPU does not know when it will receive a load surge , so the Vcore has to stay high even if the CPU is idle , you could even work r in LLC but the reduction is minimal, and I have seen that in the end the gain you have is not worth it!!!

If you can run Cine R15 I would like to know the results of your system , I know that R15 runs AVX , it is a good test to see the stability , but be careful , because I saw you mention temperatures of 100 degrees when you ran R23 , I think at this level the CPU is already slowing down to protect itself, I don't like to see the CPU beyond 75 degrees, here I ran R15 and even the HWInfo indicating a peak of 157 Watts on the CPU the peak temperature was 71 degrees !!!

I know yours is the 9900K and it has the HT feature with that it has 16 threads and mine only has 8 threads, it's ok that both have 8 cores, but HT gives an advantage when using idle registers inside the cores, I'm curious to see how many percent above yours will be from my 9700K that is running at a modest 4.7GHz and only with 8 threads

Big hugs

Dumaster

Glad to see this getting some more attention, I've been doing this for a couple years across a few boards now, if you want to go to another level theres also some converted mobile engineering samples on aliexpress for cheap that're a bit higher effort but super well priced, but also have some issues (mine has an uneven die, although afaik thats relatively uncommon and doesnt happen with the newer chips)

I've seen tests with these modified mobile CPUs, but I believe they don't like OC very much since they are CPUs with very low TDP and also because they have this interposer that ends up being halfway between the CPU and the socket, possibly raising the clocks interference and noise could be the villains of stability !!!

But for a system running in the original parameters I believe it is a great option with a low cost and very good !!!

Congrats on the work!!!

 

[itsakjt]

Hello great friend itsakjt,

I come through this post to thank you for the tips and your time spent on this topic, it was through him that I created the courage to buy my 9700K and make all the modifications to the motherboard so that it worked perfectly !!!

A few weeks ago I had already made a post informing that the BIOS update had gone well and I just needed to disassemble the PC and modify the motherboard to install the 9700K !!!

I got some free time a few days ago and disassembled everything , did a thorough cleaning of everything and went to my rework table to proceed with the modification , below are some photos !!!

View attachment 235964

Checking pins :

View attachment 235965

Before Mod :

View attachment 235967

Zoom mod region:

View attachment 235968

After mod :

View attachment 235969

Zoom region after mod :

View attachment 235971

In this image above I would like to comment that after taking several measurements, with the CPU installed and without, I came to the conclusion that the SKTOCC pin on the socket is connected directly to the corresponding pin on the Super IO , which led me to think that the resistor connected to SKTOCC track near the Super IO is a Pull Up so that there is no CPU absent, the pin is not floating and with that it could cause the motherboard to start without having the CPU installed just because of some electrical noise, I then opted for your mod by turning on the GND next to the resistor on the side that is connected to the Super IO, your mod is the CORRECT mod, and that image where another person made the mod using the resistor as a jumper does not seem correct to me because the resistance that I measured in this resistor was from the house of mega omhs which would possibly leave the SKTOCC susceptible to interference !!!

Here my CPU 9700K installed :

View attachment 235979

CPU recognized correctly by BIOS :

View attachment 235982

Here in Windows 10 :

View attachment 235983

To start my tests I left the Core All Sync option and the multiplier set to 47x in the BIOS, so I have all the cores at 4.7GHz when the % load on the CPU triggers Turbo Boost.

I also left the AVX Ratio at ZERO, as I know there are benchmarks that use AVX and I want to see real stability at 4.7GHz.

In Cine R15 that I like to use as one of my tests, the CPU almost reached 160 watts (HWInfo Report), stable temperatures and with values that I liked because it peaked at 71 degrees, Vcore peak reported by Super IO was 1.408v !!!

I want to test like this for a few days and I should try later 4.8... then 4.9... and finally I will try and if I can run all the cores at 5.0GHz with acceptable and safe Temperatures and Vcores I will be very happy !!!

Below are the latest images, and finally I want to thank you * itsakjt * again for creating this topic and making yourself available to help other people on this journey of installing 8xxx and 9xxx processors on these older Z170 / Z270 platforms, my journey so far, everything went well, I didn't have any setbacks during the modifications, and on the first turn on the motherboard it already gave an image and recognized the 9700K perfectly, Best of luck and success to you my friend itsakjt !!!!

View attachment 235992

View attachment 235996



Hello friend,

I think you had a lot of problems to get to the point of having stable windows, I would do it differently, I would use the clocks for a few weeks in Stock and only after that I would start thinking about overclocking, I think you are very desperate , speed is the enemy of perfection !!!

About running it as original all cores at 5.0GHz is an incorrect statement, it's sad that the manufacturers (Intel / Amd) don't make it very explicit that this maximum clock is only for one core and that each core has its independent temperature sensor, so even if one core reaches 5.0GHz if the temperature exceeds the limits to protect the cpu throttle will occur, and this is talking for a single core, you were wanting to sync all 8 cores to 5.0 and that would probably demand an increase in Vcore and also increase drastically the power dissipated and consequently you would have to have a very good cooling system to dissipate all that heat generated !!!

Do things calmly, slowly, thinking about every detail so you don't go through some disappointment of damaging something there in your system!!!

Big hug and success in your mod !!!

Dumaster.

Referência:

View attachment 236002

Congratulations @dumaster. I am so glad that you had a great experience. My experience was very similar to you. When I put the 9th gen CPU and started the system, it was as if the motherboard was made for this CPU. Do make sure that your RAMs are running at XMP as well.
Also, your SKT_OCC mod explanation was spot on and that resistor was the exact same reason I resorted to connecting a wire to the nearest ground pad. Maximus VIII Hero and Ranger are very similar in terms of board and components layout. Thanks for the explanation regarding the use of that resistor.

@dumaster My build is finished and completely stable now!
I am running 4.9 Ghz boost clock, 4.6 GHz cache frequency, 64GB DDR4 3600 CL18 at 1.35V, Vcore +35millivolts, VCCIO 1.25V, VCCSA 1.25V, there are a few other tricky setting I had to change as well. one is called DLL bandwidth to the values: 0,1,2,3, another one was RAM baseclock 133mhz, and Fclock to 1Ghz.

I will not try setting it to 5.0Ghz cpu clock and 4.7 cache frequency. I am very, VERY happy with these settings, rock solid, stability. More than I could ever have asked for in terms of upgrading this older platform, and all of this is running on a Black-Ridge cooler with two slim fans.

I agree! HUGE thanks to @itsakjt !! Super friendly, super fast responses, and very patient with all us big noobs!

Awesome. I am so glad you are sorted and 4.9 GHz is a great clock speed to settle for the 9900K. And those 3600 MHz RAMs are an icing on the cake.
On my motherboard, I cannot do anything more than 3266 MHz with two slots populated and 3100 MHz with all four slots populated. I have dual ranked memory also. Have heard that Maximus VIII Ranger likes single rank memory in terms of overclocking. But it is what it is.

These are my daily clocks : 5.1 GHz core with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache, 3100 MHz RAMs at 14-15-15-35 2T
Here are some benchmarks. I think I managed quite well for an i5 9600KF.

I have all power saving features turned on as well and idle power draw for the CPU package is around 20 Watts.
Also, update about resizable bar:
I checked similar ASUS motherboards and found that the Maximus X Hero is very similar to the ranger. Hence I replaced some of the BIOS modules manually usimg UEFI tool. After flashing it, I was able to get the board to complete CPU initialization as well as complete memory training but board gets stuck after that with q code 3b (Post memory PCH initialization) which makes sense since the PCH is different. I am not sure which modules, sub modules are responsible for the PCH init but I will do some more digging when I can find some more time.

 

[BobbyBoyGaming]

Glad to see this getting some more attention, I've been doing this for a couple years across a few boards now, if you want to go to another level theres also some converted mobile engineering samples on aliexpress for cheap that're a bit higher effort but super well priced, but also have some issues (mine has an uneven die, although afaik thats relatively uncommon and doesnt happen with the newer chips)

Oh nice, me and you have the same motherboard, I might have to message you in the near future about some questions about this board.

How did you mod the socket occupied pin, with motherboard mod or with cpu pin shorting?

 

[itsakjt]

Oh nice, me and you have the same motherboard, I might have to message you in the near future about some questions about this board.

How did you mod the socket occupied pin, with motherboard mod or with cpu pin shorting?

He did it with the motherboard mod same as me. His board is very similar to mine. Maximus VIII Ranger and Hero are very similar with respect to component layout. The Hero offers a slightly better VRM, better RAM OC and some RGB.

 

[BobbyBoyGaming]

@itsakjt Fxckrio showed a screenshot of the asrock itx/ac, and that is what im talking about, not about the hero or ranger. he seems to have several computers though.

This one, if it is called Fatal1ty itx/ac on the box then it is the same one as mine.

@fxckrio can you confirm if you have the asrock z170 fatality itx/ac? If so, can you please send me a photo of the ground pinyou used to solder the socket occupied to your board?

Was it this one?

the soldering joints are extremely small, I dont think I can solder those two points safely, I may try using the conductive pen on top lol.

 

[dumaster]

Congratulations !!!!

Your results are very good, I'm surprised how close it was to my result on R15, I believe it's because of the clocks at 5.1, the memories at 3200 and the cache at 4.8, my system is all in the default and I just synced them all 8 cores for 4.7 but I left the speedstep active to leave the system consuming very little when I am in very light or idle activities.

About XMP I haven't activated it yet, but soon I will activate XMP and do more tests, as I said I'm testing the whole system because I have to remember that this motherboard already has its 5 to 6 years of use and that means that its VRM it has the same usage time, I can't go out abusing it all at once, I want to go step by step checking the stability of everything!!!

I'll try to test these next few weeks to test how far my system allows to increase the clocks without losing the excellent stability that I have today!!!

If I have news I'll come here to tell you!!!

Big hug to all.

Dumaster

 

[rio]

@itsakjt Fxckrio showed a screenshot of the asrock itx/ac, and that is what im talking about, not about the hero or ranger. he seems to have several computers though.

This one, if it is called Fatal1ty itx/ac on the box then it is the same one as mine.
View attachment 236066
@fxckrio can you confirm if you have the asrock z170 fatality itx/ac? If so, can you please send me a photo of the ground pinyou used to solder the socket occupied to your board?

Was it this one?
View attachment 236067

the soldering joints are extremely small, I dont think I can solder those two points safely, I may try using the conductive pen on top lol.

I do have the same board yeah, but in the case of these converted mobile chips those pins are shorted as a part of the interposer, in the past when I did it with a 9400F I just used a graphite pencil on the pins, you can use tape around the two pins to prevent overshoot too, but in the case of a graphite pencil you'll need a pretty heavy coat

Congratulations friend for the results!!!

I'm still not sure what the gain in the real world is with regard to overclocks, but I also like to do them, my experiences with extreme overclocks have been stable only when I leave speedstep off, practically all the parameters in the bios related to both Core voltages , as for the other secondary voltages such as the System Agent , CPU IO voltage ( VCCSA VCCIO ) everything has to be put in the manual , and spend days testing step by step to find the lowest possible voltages without having instabilities such as BSODs , alas lately I have preferred lighter OCs where I can leave the speedstep active, so I know that when I'm in 2D, for example watching videos on YouTube, the CPU clocks lower and consequently the Vcore is much lower, unlike when you keep the clocks for example all the time at 5.0GHz , the CPU does not know when it will receive a load surge , so the Vcore has to stay high even if the CPU is idle , you could even work r in LLC but the reduction is minimal, and I have seen that in the end the gain you have is not worth it!!!

If you can run Cine R15 I would like to know the results of your system , I know that R15 runs AVX , it is a good test to see the stability , but be careful , because I saw you mention temperatures of 100 degrees when you ran R23 , I think at this level the CPU is already slowing down to protect itself, I don't like to see the CPU beyond 75 degrees, here I ran R15 and even the HWInfo indicating a peak of 157 Watts on the CPU the peak temperature was 71 degrees !!!

I know yours is the 9900K and it has the HT feature with that it has 16 threads and mine only has 8 threads, it's ok that both have 8 cores, but HT gives an advantage when using idle registers inside the cores, I'm curious to see how many percent above yours will be from my 9700K that is running at a modest 4.7GHz and only with 8 threads

Big hugs

Dumaster



I've seen tests with these modified mobile CPUs, but I believe they don't like OC very much since they are CPUs with very low TDP and also because they have this interposer that ends up being halfway between the CPU and the socket, possibly raising the clocks interference and noise could be the villains of stability !!!

But for a system running in the original parameters I believe it is a great option with a low cost and very good !!!

Congrats on the work!!!

Also for me, mine runs clocks alright but unfortunately either the die or my cooler is uneven, so despite the chip posting 4.8 I've no way to tell if its actually stable or saving itself by throttling lol

 

[dumaster]

@itsakjt Fxckrio showed a screenshot of the asrock itx/ac, and that is what im talking about, not about the hero or ranger. he seems to have several computers though.

This one, if it is called Fatal1ty itx/ac on the box then it is the same one as mine.
View attachment 236066
@fxckrio can you confirm if you have the asrock z170 fatality itx/ac? If so, can you please send me a photo of the ground pinyou used to solder the socket occupied to your board?

Was it this one?
View attachment 236067

the soldering joints are extremely small, I dont think I can solder those two points safely, I may try using the conductive pen on top lol.

Hi Bobby,

Check if the PAD that you indicated with a question mark is really connected to ground, for that use the multimeter on the diode/beep scale and test this PAD in relation to some point that is ground!!!

In case this PAD is ground, just make a jumper between this PAD and the right side of the resistor as you already drew, to know if it worked, start the motherboard without a processor, if the mod has worked, the motherboard has to turn on and if you have a post code display it should indicate 00 , if the mod is not correct the motherboard will not connect !!!

Good luck buddy !!!

 

[CleenGreeny]

I have an Asrock Z170M Pro4S, and I was wondering if it might be a good idea to upgrade it to a Core i5 9400 using the mod. My main concern, is that since it's not a K series CPU, would it have any stability problems? would I have to spring for an 8600K/9600K?

 

[Nike_486DX]

Congratulations @dumaster. I am so glad that you had a great experience. My experience was very similar to you. When I put the 9th gen CPU and started the system, it was as if the motherboard was made for this CPU. Do make sure that your RAMs are running at XMP as well.
Also, your SKT_OCC mod explanation was spot on and that resistor was the exact same reason I resorted to connecting a wire to the nearest ground pad. Maximus VIII Hero and Ranger are very similar in terms of board and components layout. Thanks for the explanation regarding the use of that resistor.


Awesome. I am so glad you are sorted and 4.9 GHz is a great clock speed to settle for the 9900K. And those 3600 MHz RAMs are an icing on the cake.
On my motherboard, I cannot do anything more than 3266 MHz with two slots populated and 3100 MHz with all four slots populated. I have dual ranked memory also. Have heard that Maximus VIII Ranger likes single rank memory in terms of overclocking. But it is what it is.

These are my daily clocks : 5.1 GHz core with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache, 3100 MHz RAMs at 14-15-15-35 2T
Here are some benchmarks. I think I managed quite well for an i5 9600KF.

View attachment 236037
View attachment 236038
View attachment 236036
I have all power saving features turned on as well and idle power draw for the CPU package is around 20 Watts.
Also, update about resizable bar:
I checked similar ASUS motherboards and found that the Maximus X Hero is very similar to the ranger. Hence I replaced some of the BIOS modules manually usimg UEFI tool. After flashing it, I was able to get the board to complete CPU initialization as well as complete memory training but board gets stuck after that with q code 3b (Post memory PCH initialization) which makes sense since the PCH is different. I am not sure which modules, sub modules are responsible for the PCH init but I will do some more digging when I can find some more time.

1.4v core are you serious?

 

[dumaster]

I have an Asrock Z170M Pro4S, and I was wondering if it might be a good idea to upgrade it to a Core i5 9400 using the mod. My main concern, is that since it's not a K series CPU, would it have any stability problems? would I have to spring for an 8600K/9600K?

My Friend,

This modification makes cards with PCH Chipset Z170 accept all eighth and ninth generation processors, if you do everything correctly I believe the 9400 will work correctly, I just think it's a waste to use a Z170 with a 9400, I would try to find an non K series i7 or a i5 or i7 of K series !!!

Mine here is a Z170 system with a 9700K and it's working perfectly

Hugs

1.4v core are you serious?

For 5.1 GHz in all cores 1.4v is totally normal !!!

But I wouldn't want to keep that 1.4v all the time on the CPU, so I'm currently using throttlestop to manage my overclocks, so I get a consistent and stable overclock when the CPU is under load but when I'm using light or moderate loads the clocks and vcores do not go up as much, saving the cores from being exposed all the time to high voltages!!!

Hugs

 

[itsakjt]

1.4v core are you serious?

Intel Coffee Lake datasheet states voltage tolerance upto 1.52V (that too without LLC). With 5.1 GHz, I have managed to keep all power saving features active and hence when the system is lightly loaded, the voltage is only around 1V. When gaming, it goes to 1.4V but that is still okay and much less than the Intel recommended max of 1.52V. My temperatures while gaming stay under 70 degree C all the time.

 

[CleenGreeny]

My Friend,

This modification makes cards with PCH Chipset Z170 accept all eighth and ninth generation processors, if you do everything correctly I believe the 9400 will work correctly, I just think it's a waste to use a Z170 with a 9400, I would try to find an non K series i7 or a i5 or i7 of K series !!!

Mine here is a Z170 system with a 9700K and it's working perfectly

Hugs

For the 9600K, the lowest price I can find on it is ~$140, whereas the 9400 is ~$80, and I can't really afford the 9600K, especially since I have my current i5 6500 paired with a Radeon RX460 2GB.

Also, has anyone had problems with z170 and rx 460? Mine doesn’t give a signal in the top pcie slot, but it does in the bottom slot that is x4 bandwidth.

 

[AusWolf]

Very nice guide! I'm happy that you succeeded in your adventure.

On the other hand, it shows how little effort Intel would have had to make to support Coffee Lake on 100 and 200 series boards, and that they only released a new chipset out of greed, and not because they had to.

 

[itsakjt]

Took my CPU out of the socket for the first time for a deep clean of the board since writing this article and confirming there is no damage to the socket and/or the CPU pads. Did not skip anything this time. Took out all the heatsinks from the board and cleaned everything. Also replaced the thermal pad for the chipset which was in bad shape.
Also, I am looking for a cheap 240mm AIO to replace this 8 years old Cooler Master 120V AIO. Is the Silverstone PF240 worth it? Reviews are good.

 

[AusWolf]

Took my CPU out of the socket for the first time for a deep clean of the board since writing this article and confirming there is no damage to the socket and/or the CPU pads. Did not skip anything this time. Took out all the heatsinks from the board and cleaned everything. Also replaced the thermal pad for the chipset which was in bad shape.
Also, I am looking for a cheap 240mm AIO to replace this 8 years old Cooler Master 120V AIO. Is the Silverstone PF240 worth it? Reviews are good.

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IMO, you can't go wrong with any AIO. With that said, I absolutely love my be quiet! unit. Pump and fan speed controlled through PWM and RGB through a 3-pin ARGB port. Not many AIOs can say the same, unfortunately.

 

[itsakjt]

Update:
I got an i7 9700K. Presently running at 4.9 GHz all cores with AVX on at 1.33V. Stable so far but didn't do much testing. Ordered a Silverstone PF240 ARGB AIO. It should arrive tomorrow. After that, will try 5.0 GHz and up!

@dumaster -We have twins now. And now that I see it, even our CPU batch is about the same.

 

[dumaster]

@dumaster -We have twins now. And now that I see it, even our CPU batch is about the same.

I'm super happy for your new acquisition, I hope everything goes well and when I can show you the new OC and performance results, if you can detail the parameters used so I will have a path to use as a guide for my next steps on my OCs!!!

Congratulations on the New CPU !!!!

 

[itsakjt]

Well, all I can say is I am incredibly happy! Got the Silverstone PF240 ARGB AIO delivered yesterday! Installed it and managed a solid OC of 5.1 GHz (with AVX on) along with cache clock of 4.7 GHz. And the best part: all power management features are active. Memory is at 3100 MHz @14-15-15-35 2T. RAMs are 4*8 GB and dual ranked.

The system looks dope for a 5+ years old build. The fans and AIO ar ARGB. 3x Silverstone AB120AR fans (2 included with AIO, bought an additional one). These fans have excellent airflow (94 CFM). The motherboard does not have ARGB but I used a Jonsbo ARGB controller and hooked it up with one of the 3 buttons in the chassis which was originally for the Corsair RGB system. I have removed all the Corsair modules since I am no longer using those fans.

@dumaster - Here are the settings I used:
CPU core: 5.1 GHz (no AVX offset), cache: 4.7 GHz
Core voltage: Offset +0.140V
VCCIO: 1.1375V
System Agent voltage (VCCSA): 1.1000V
CPU Standby voltage: 1.0000 V

Under Digi+VRM:
Load-line calibration: Level 5
CPU current capability: 120%
VRM Switching Frequency: 350 kHz
CPU Power Phase control: Extreme

Under Internal CPU Power Management (very important):
IA DC Loadline: 0.08
IA AC Loadline: 0.08

Under Tweaker's paradise:
Core PLL Voltage: 0.900V
Internal PLL Voltage: 0.900V
Eventual CPU Standby voltage: 1.0000 V

With these settings, the clocks are rock stable across any benchmark. Max temp is 76 degree C on the CPU package while Prime95 small FFT test with AVX. The max measured voltage with multimeter as well as SuperIO reported voltage while running the Prime95 small FFT test is 1.504V. While that may seem high, it is perfectly fine since Prime95 small FFT test puts an incredible amount of load on the CPU and such kind of load are never encountered even during benchmarks. While benchmarking on Cinebench R20 or R23, the voltage is 1.45-1.46 V. While gaming, the voltage is 1.392 - 1.44V.

Idle voltage is at 1.31-1.32 V.

@dumaster - Your board (Maximus VIII Hero) has a slightly better VRM than my board (Maximus VIII Ranger) and I think you will be able to achieve the same clocks as mine with a bit lower voltage as well.

Also, please note that I have spent an extensive amount of time in tuning this system and your system might vary as well with regards to CPU clocks and required voltages.

 

[dumaster]

Well, all I can say is I am incredibly happy! Got the Silverstone PF240 ARGB AIO delivered yesterday! Installed it and managed a solid OC of 5.1 GHz (with AVX on) along with cache clock of 4.7 GHz. And the best part: all power management features are active. Memory is at 3100 MHz @14-15-15-35 2T. RAMs are 4*8 GB and dual ranked.

My dear friend, excellent results, seeing your success I am now more courageous and willing to raise my clocks!!!

The system looks dope for a 5+ years old build.

I'm just a little worried about my cooling, which is an old Corsair H90 but I like it a lot, it's been a few years but I always keep it very clean and occasionally I disassemble the block I do a general cleaning and change the fluid, it may be because of your age and size can't keep temperatures as good as yours, but I'll try to see how far I can go with so clocks!!!

@dumaster - Your board (Maximus VIII Hero) has a slightly better VRM than my board (Maximus VIII Ranger) and I think you will be able to achieve the same clocks as mine with a bit lower voltage as well.

I sincerely appreciate you sharing your settings with me, I know that no system is the same but your help will make it easier and guide my adjustments, thank you very much friend and success

Big Hug

Dumaster

 

[chrcoluk]

Hey guys nice work, it does make me wonder if Intel could have made this work officially.

Just a little comment to bobbyboygaming

As I noticed you set a very high SA and IO voltages, on my own 9900k system (z370) I discovered silent corruption on some SATA/NVME devices which was eventually discovered to be because of the VCCSA voltage too high. So I do suggest you monitor the SMART stats of your IO devices.