Overclocking

Kaby Lake CPUs tend to run pretty hot, so in order to deal with that, I am running Turbo clocks, varied from 4.7 GHz to 5.0 GHz. My CPU is capable of more, but my cooling is not. This is part of the fun of having a new Intel CPU; you can set the multiplier based on workload in order to optimize temperatures and power consumption.

The Biostar Z270 GT4 had zero problems overclocking the CPU portion to my desired clocks, but memory overclocking was not much fun. My G.Skill 3866 MHz sticks are rated for far higher than the 3200 MHz the Biostar board supports, so that is not surprising to me. Attempts to use the G.Skill sticks at lowered clocks was also problematic. So either buy 2133/2400 MHz DIMMs to match your chosen CPU's default speeds or make sure to get sticks that are on Biostar's QVL list.


For such an affordable motherboard, I was rather impressed to see some overclocking-specific features included on the Biostar Z270GT4, such as a dual BIOS implementation and an LN2 switch (which I assume lowers the CPU multiplier).


There is also a small touch-sensitive panel on the top-right edge of the board that provides a power switch, a reset switch, and two "profile" buttons that should adjust performance settings when the board is in the OS. I did try these buttons but did not see any clock changes, although I didn't focus much time on these features as they almost seem unnecessary on such a board, though they are still nice to have.