Gigabyte H81 Mobo - Will it overclock?

[lennytiger]

Hey Guys,

So I bought a relatively cheap Gigabyte board based on H81 chipset.
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4666#ov

Currently I have options to change BCLK and multiplier and I can set multiplier way up in to the 60x range. Obviously using my locked Celeron G1820 I'm not seeing an OC.

Since it has overclocking options in the BIOS and I would assume it may allow some basic overclocking options. But I'm not 100% sure, I have kept the stock BIOS on it. Does anyone have experience with these boards and a K series/Pentium 20th Anniversary chip?

 

[Woomack]

Overclocking on H81 depends from BIOS support. Some boards will work even on last year BIOS but some need update for K CPU series unlock.
There is FB BIOS from 4 July with info "Improve Intel K-sku CPU performance" so I bet that Pentium works too but I had no chance to test it.

I was checking it only on ASUS H81 board and it was working without any BIOS update.

 

[lennytiger]

I popped it in with the original BIOS and it would not boot. Downloading the updated BIOS now to see if that will help. I hope it isn't a dud CPU.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Actually surprised an H chipset board has OC options.

I was under the impression that they could only OC the on-board GPU.


Hopefully you can crank up that CPU a notch eh?

 

[Woomack]

I couldn't OC on all ASRock H81 boards that I had in my hands but I could on ASUS. ASRock had only that GPU OC options, nothing else.

 

[EarthDog]

That is also a 2+1 phase motherboard with no heatsinks... even though it is Intel not sure I would overclock either... or if I would I would keep an eye on the temps of those things...

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

That is also a 2+1 phase motherboard with no heatsinks... even though it is Intel not sure I would overclock either... or if I would I would keep an eye on the temps of those things...

Only 53 watts, so I can't see it eating up a lot more even with an OC.

 

[EarthDog]

Well aware of that... still...

 

[Woomack]

Without raising voltage much it should be fine. Now I noticed it has 2+1+1 phases. Clearly designed for stock clocks

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Well aware of that... still...

Don't forget undervolting too.

They come actually pretty high. 1.24 Vcore is the default on my i5, but I run it on 1.15 Vcore with my 500Mhz overclock.

Every CPU is different, but still..

 

[EarthDog]

I get it Silver...

2 phases... no heatsinks. If you want to overclock, at MINIMUM, keep an eye on those power bits. If they get hot when overclocking, get a fan on them...

EDIT: Wait, is he overclocking the locked CPU or the unlocked... if its locked... it will likely be fine... but still keep an eye on them... 2 phases, dual core and locked or not they could get warm. My story doesn't change... keep an eye on them.

 

[Woomack]

Question was about new unlocked Pentium. I don't think it will use much more power after some OC and these 2 phases should be probably fine for any 1150 CPU without OC so at least up to ~90W.

Btw. EarthDog, ygpm ( just in case if you missed it )

 

[lennytiger]

It is working but seems to be better if I do from the desktop with the EasyTune app from Gigabyte. The BIOS I think is either buggy or certain features are locked.

Temps across the motherboard seem ok to me. CPU peaked at around 59'C @4.0GHz under load.

 

[lennytiger]

Got it working from the BIOS finally. I can only get my vCore up to 1.2V which could bottleneck any potential overclock. Currently at 3900MHz and stable. Thinking of pushing Vrin up a little higher, what do you guys think?

 

[EarthDog]

I wouldnt touch the Vrin... there isn't a point at this overclock. Also consider you didn't touch the ring speed (right?) so why would you (seemingly) arbitrarily raise that voltage).

 

[lennytiger]

I raised them to:
Vrin 1.6V
Ring Bus: 1.2V
vCore: 1.2V

The system is so far stable at 4.2Ghz but only with these settings. And the motherboard doesn't allow me to push it higher.

 

[EarthDog]

You should not have to touch the Vrin or rung bus at that clockspeed... not at all.

 

[MacClipper]

I couldn't OC on all ASRock H81 boards that I had in my hands but I could on ASUS. ASRock had only that GPU OC options, nothing else.

Tried the latest BIOS yet?
Asrock H81M-HDS on BIOS 1.90

 

[RGone]

From everything I had read about overclocking the non-overclockable cpus by chipset; Asus started it and others did follow. Intel pitched a fit and many of the sites I had seen info about such were betting Intel forced the mobo makers to fix later bioses to close the overclock loophole on non-87 type mobos. So what really happens now months after the loophole was exploited will likely be manufacturer specific; depending on Intel's temperament.
RGone...

 

[lennytiger]

Seems as though most are allowing minor overclocking, but possibly limiting how far the end user can push the OC.