Overclocking

Generally, to expedite the writing process and give each board as close a test as possible, I manually set a Vcore voltage and then increase the multiplier until the system becomes unstable. I typically use 1.35 V for my tests as that is high enough to put out decent numbers but low enough that the results could still apply to an everyday user. For this CPU sample, I will be using 1.385 V for my manual overclocking results. My i9 booted at up to 5.2 GHz on all cores, but crashed when tested; ultimately, 5.1 GHz was my highest stable clock.


The ASRock Z390 Taichi acquitted itself well when overclocking the i9-9900K, and the BIOS is quite easy to work with. The postcode display is well placed for easy problem diagnosis, on the bottom of the board below the M.2 heatsink. My typical overclocking tests don't even come close to taking advantage of ASRock's built in overclocking hardware "Hyper BCLK".

The Taichi proved just as capable when it came to memory clocking stability, with my G.SKILL 3866 MHz kit not only booting using the XMP profile but also benching stable. Very few boards are capable of running this kit to its full potential, and I am glad ASRock has kept up the tradition of rock solid stability the Taichi family was built around.