New to overclocking? Find the idea intimidating? One of these motherboards will get you started
It doesn’t matter how many times it’s discussed or explained, overclocking PC hardware is a topic that always scares some. The idea of tinkering with your PC’s internal hardware, messing with timings, voltages and other settings is something that easily scares many less-technical users off, and it’s not difficult to understand why. How many people out there are scared of messing around with their cars, even the basics? There’s just something about tinkering with something you don’t fully understand, and the technical side of PCs is a world that simply appears far too complex for some.
Years ago, overclocking felt like something reserved for advanced users and those who were more than happy to rummage inside their system. This feeling was totally justified; people who routinely upgraded their own systems to keep on the cutting edge of the then-rapidly advancing technology were far less daunted by the idea of tweaking settings and pushing a system’s performance, and far more adept at navigating the expert forums and magazines that focused on what was almost considered a ‘black art’. This left many newcomers in the dark, though. Fortunately, that’s simply not the case these days.
Eventually, hardware manufacturers, who didn’t initially appreciate or support after-market alterations to their products, started to realise there was a healthy market for user-customised hardware, and overclocking became a common sight among the features lists emblazoned across boxes. The methods of overclocking became easier, and what once required the use of invasive methods and hands-on tinkering (even the use of pencil lead to unlock early AMD CPUs) eventually appeared on the radar of users with little to no technical ability.
It’s this more user-friendly kind of overclocking we want to focus on here. First, however, we’re going to take a brief look at what overclocking is, in case you’ve never attempted it before. Once we’ve covered the basics, we’re going to have a gander at a few motherboards on the market that should provide ample overclocking abilities for everyone, including newcomers.
Isn’t It Dangerous?
Users who have never attempted overclocking are often scared by the prospect of messing around with the hardware they’ve paid good money for. As PCs and components can be expensive, it’s not all that surprising many are reluctant, and the very term ‘overclocking’ sounds bad if you think about it. We’re not clocking a component just enough, so that it can comfortably operate, we’re ‘over’ clocking it, which conjures up images of something working too hard and even suffering damage.
If we’re overworked, we rarely end up feeling great, and a long day at work can just end up with you being left tired and irritable. So why would anyone, or anything want to be overworked? Well, the term overclocking, although accurate, isn’t all that much of a worry, as long as you know what you’re doing. It could potentially be dangerous in terms of hardware stability and even damage, but it’s rarely an issue if you’re careful.
Overclocking a system, be it a CPU, GPU, or anything else is the art of pushing your hardware past the default factory settings by altering a few important hardware options. It’s become so prevalent because, more often than not, PC hardware is somewhat throttled out of the box because it’s configured to work at the speeds the hardware vendors have tested and found to be the optimal mix of performance and stability for a various hardware setups. Any higher performance, and the company can’t provide that promise – or it would need to increase the price to use better materials or processes to do be confident doing so.
However, by tinkering with various hardware settings, chiefly speed and voltages (the two cornerstones of overclocking), you can actually improve the performance hardware in spite of these manufacturer-imposed limitations, thus unleashing its full capabilities. Advanced users can push hardware well past the envelope, but this often requires specialised equipment and physical modifications, especially in terms of cooling.
Rising Temperatures
The most common cause of problems when overclocking is overheating. All PC hardware generates heat when in operation, but if this heat becomes excessive things can start to go wrong. It’s why all PCs have vents and cooling fans on the case, and why CPUs, GPUs and memory, are fitted with cooling methods – such as heat sinks, cooling pipes and mounted fans that are thermodynamically designed to funnel heat out of and away, from the component in question. Generally, this hot air is then vented out of the PC via the cooling fans on the case.
This is what’s known as airflow, and having a PC with good internal airflow, as well space around the exterior to vent this air, is paramount. In terms of overclocking, it’s one of the most important aspects you need to consider.
Pushing a component harder than the vendor intended will almost always mean it runs hotter, so there’s more heat to deal with. As most components like CPUs come with either a pre-fitted cooling device, or require one (if you bought a standalone chip, for example), when overclocking you have to be aware of this and be ready to upgrade your system’s cooling to deal with the increased temperatures. Not doing so can cause problems.
However, we’re focusing on motherboards that allow overclocking and are suitable for beginners, so the kind of overclocking that would require heavy-duty cooling, such as liquid cooling setups, won’t be too much of a concern initially. If you decide to take overclocking further, though, keep them in mind.
We’re going to be looking at motherboards that already include some scope for overclocking in the form of built-in options for changing the basics settings needed to ramp up the performance. Much of this can be done safely enough without the need for any extra cooling (although temperature is always something that needs to be monitored). So, if you want to dabble in overclocking, these should get you going and lead you to more manual, hands-on tinkering.
On Board
Model Asus Maximus VIII Formula
Price £280
We’ll begin with a fairly expensive, but very highly recommended board for overclocking: the Asus Maximus VIII Formula. This Skylake board is a rock solid option for almost anything you can throw at it, and its overclocking performance is excellent, be it for the beginner or advanced user.
Although a little more complex than other boards featured here, which may be easier to overclock, the reason the Maximus is here is due to its stability, which stands alongside the best we’ve seen. Rarely will you encounter instability due to overclocking (as long as you’re conservative in your changes and take your time, of course), and it can yield some impressive results. For a motherboard, it also looks pretty nifty too.
Because of the wider scope of overclocking, it’s also a board that’ll stick with you as you improve your overclocking skills, something other boards may not manage as you outgrow them. This ensures you’ll get your money’s worth. Highly recommended.
Model MSI Gaming Intel Z97
Price £140
A gaming motherboard through-and-through, the MSI Gaming Intel Z97 is a strong board for the price and one that features simple but effective overclocking in the form of the OC genie button. A single press of this gives what MSI claims is an instant 20% boost in performance, no hands-on knowledge required.
The overclocked performance is stable too, which is an important consideration or those getting started with ramping up their system’s power and who may not know the best methods to slowly overclock in stages to prevent any instabilities. It’s a good entry and one that allows more speed with minimal risk. A good board.
Model MSI Z97I AC
Price £85
You may think overclocking is limited to full-size PCs that utilise the standard ATX form factor, but you’d be wrong. This budget offering from MSI is actually a Mini-ITX board and so is suitable for small form factor systems. However, despite its small size, it packs in some overclocking functions that, although these fall short of most higher priced, larger boards, should easily suffice for this kind of system. After all, if you’re running a Mini-ITX system, you’re not likely to be running cutting edge gaming hardware.
For the low price and fairly good overclocking, this is a very good option to get into the world of taxing your PC with greater speeds, and you can earn your stripes here and then move on to full-sized systems with more powerful hardware.
Model Asrock 990FX Killer/3.1 Fatal1ty
Price £140
Although a lot of the general focus these days centres around Intel when it comes to gaming and things like overclocking, AMDs CPUs are not to be sniffed at and can produce some impressive performance. ASRock doesn’t just make Intel boards, and there are AMD options with plenty of overclocking promise for users on a budget.
The Asrock Fat 990FX Killer/3.1 Fatal1ty is one such board, and although it’s cheap, costing far less than £200, it possesses a good level of overclocking, plenty for a newcomer who may not want to spend too much in order to get their feet wet, but needs some power to play with.
The BIOS is functional and easy enough to use, offering some decent overclocking performance that beats a lot of similarly priced boards. The build quality doesn’t measure up to others, a common trait of ASRock’s cheaper hardware, but the performance is where it counts in terms of overclocking, and this board is a good jumping-off point before you spend too much money.
Model Asus Z170 Pro
Price £130
Asus is a very popular maker of PCs and components, and its name brings with it a strong pedigree with general consumers and enthusiasts alike. Asus boards generally feature very solid build quality along with a healthy dose of overclocking capabilities, which are also easy to use. The Asus Z170 Pro is no exception, and it’s a perfectly suitable mid-range board for overclocking newcomers. It’s also just a great all-round motherboard, for users of any type really.
An LGA1151 board, it features Asus’ rock solid BIOS and overclocking tools, which arguably offer some of the most potential in terms of overclocking, and it manages to deliver this package without too much fuss or styling histrionics. It does come with a collection of nice features, though, like coloured LEDs that can change in response to sound input or to indicate heat levels and serving as a warning system. ALC 1150 Audio, USB 3.1, full speed, four lane M.2 slot and support for up to 64GB DDR4 RAM are also on board too.
Although Asus’ Republic of Gamers (RoG) boards steal a lot of the gaming limelight, this board, which isn’t really aimed towards gaming as such, can even outperform them, making it a very good choice for the mid-range gamer looking to get some more power via overclocking.
Model MSI Z170A Gaming PRO
Price £120
This is without a doubt one of the best options in terms of midrange boards out there for the learner overclocker. In fact, it’s almost a budget board in terms of price, but has the performance that doesn’t place it much lower than far more expensive models.
Although there’s not quite as much scope in terms of levels of overclocking you may find in some other models, MSI’s overclocking tools are easy to use, and the top speeds easily compete with boards in higher price brackets. Temperatures can rest a little higher than some, though, so better cooling is more of a concern.
It supports Intel’s 6th generation CPUs and up to 64GB RAM and has a rather nifty lighting system called Mystic Lights along the right-hand side, which makes it easy to match with various other mods and cases, if that’s your thing.
Model Gigabyte GA-Z170X-SOC Force
Price £380
Gigabyte has a whole range dedicated to overclocking, and although this may be a board out of the reasonable price range or needs of many who simply want to delve into overclocking, it’s nonetheless a high quality option, so we’re including it here.
One of the main reasons for this is the easy-as-pie inclusion of the ‘OC Ignition’ control panel that’s mounted on the actual board itself. This panel, which features an array of buttons, allows the user to alter the board’s performance in numerous ways. There’s a one touch instant overclock that loads up an optimum performance configuration, and the option to supply continuous power to all components to ensure uninterrupted supply. You can load up customised settings with a single button press, and the board also allows these and many more features to be used when the system isn’t even powered up. This means you can test out airflow performance without the PC being in operation and, for those days when you’re overclocking and technical know-how have advanced, even test water cooling. Using the HW OC app, which can be installed on your mobile phone, you can even overclock the system remotely.
The board supports Intel’s 6th generation CPUs and can handle up to 64GB DDR4 RAM. There’s integrated Intel HD graphics, and it can take four GPUs using SLI or CrossFire. It also uses Gigabyte’s exclusive Intel USB 3.1 variant, which boasts up to 16Gb/s data transfer speeds. These ports include USB Type C.
All of this, and more, makes the GA-Z170X-SOC Force a beast of a motherboard in general terms, and for overclocking it’s a board that can be useful for the newcomer and will stay with you as you improve your tweaking abilities.
Model Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC
Price £150
Sticking with the Gigabyte range of overclocking-friendly boards, the GA-Z87X-OC is a cheaper option than the Z170X, desoite the fact that it possesses a host of the same features. For a start, it has the a similar, highly durable, design featuring solid capacitors, memory safe functions and Gigabyte’s OC Ignition feature that allows the system to be partly powered down, shunting off power to the CPU, but keeping the motherboard and other devices powered.
It features what Gigabyte calls improved overclocking software, which features easy to use tools and offer the kind of flexibility that the company claims has been designed to break speed records. That’s a bold statement, but one that the board certainly attempts to live up to.
Like the Z170X, the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC has the OC Touch panel, as well as other useful additions found on the more expensive boards. This includes features such as external switches and a well designed UEFI GUI and dashboard.
In terms of specifications, the board supports Intel’s 4th generation CPUs and can handle up to 32GB of RAM. The staple Intel HD graphics are integrated, and it supports four-way SLI and CrossFire cards.
Which Board?
How do you know, as a beginner, which motherboards support overclocking? Well, the simple answer is that most boards these days support some form of overclocking, but to be sure, you can check for Intel boards that are designated with a Z, such as Intel Zxxx, as these all feature overclocking support by design. AMD boards will usually support it generally.
For CPU’s, which will be the focus of much of your overclocking, look for Intel CPUs with a K in the name, and AMD CPUs need to be in the FX or Black families.
These are guidelines, of course, and the best way to check is to simply ask the retailer or double-check the documentation/box.
Out Of Phase?
When looking at motherboards, especially if you’re looking within overclocking circles, you may come across something called power phase. This is a specification you’ll constantly see in motherboard details and in discussions, and it can be a little confusing, often meaning nothing at all to newcomers. Is it important, and should you care? Yes, you should.
In simple terms, the power phase setup of a motherboard deals with the constant and dependable supply of power to the system, and can lead to better power efficiency and less of a workload, also resulting in less heat.
Power phases are measured in numbers, such as 4+2, 6+2, and 8+2. These numbers correspond to the circuits powering the system, and how they’re split between the CPU and other parts of the board, with the CPU usually getting the lion’s share.
So, for example, a motherboard with a 4+2 power phase would have four circuits for the CPU, and two for everything else. These separate circuits take it in turns to supply power. So, out of the four CPU circuits, only one is ever on at a time, with each sharing ¼ of the workload. This is meant to cause less strain on the board and components, prolonging the lifetime of your hardware. With each circuit working less, there’s also not as much heat build-up, at least theoretically.
For most users, power phases aren’t all that important. Indeed, some would argue they’re little more than marketing speak and methods to make a product sound better and command better prices. In truth, if you’re planning on overclocking, it is important, as you’re pushing more power through the system, and so need to look after your components more than usual.
Many overclockers will drift towards boards with a eight-step power phase, but even a 4+2 model will be decent for most, especially those getting started.
Important Overclocking Terms
As a newcomer to overclocking, you’ll need to know some of the basic terms to properly understand and get used to the concepts at work. Here as some of the basics.
FSB (Front Side Bus) / Multiplier
This is the data bus that’s responsible for carrying data from the CPU to the rest of the system and the RAM. The speed of the of CPU’s can be worked out by applying a multiplier to the FSB. Because of this, overclocking by tweaking the speed of a system’s FSB was, and still is an effective way to speed up a PC. Your BIOS or software may not refer to the FSB, a lot of modern versions don’t, but you’ll still be playing around with multipliers, and increasing these is how the overclocking is handled.
Some more recent chips, such as Intel’s Core i7 work differently, using QPI (Quick Path Interconnect), and some AMD feature built-in memory controllers. However, the FSB and multipliers remain an important consideration for many. Some CPUs will simply have a CPU speed, so you may not need to worry about this term, but it’s good to know.
Turbo (various names)
Many CPUs have a Turbo mode of some description, and this is often a simple on and off option. It’s an easy, hassle free way to get more from a CPU, but many CPUs (motherboard permitting), can be pushed even more by manually overclocking.
Internal Multiplier
This is simply the internal multiplier of a CPU. This is the multiplier used on the FSB to determine the system’s overall speed.
Voltages
There are different voltages within a system overclockers need to be aware of, and these relate to various components on the motherboard, including the Core voltage (Vcore), the voltage for the chipset, and the memory voltage. As a lot of overclocking involves the need for more power to accommodate the greater speeds, these voltages are very important, not only to increase, but to be aware of in terms of maximum, safe levels. Too much voltage to a component that can’t handle it isn’t a good idea.
Precautions
Before you overclock your system, even using a motherboard’s built-in software, there are some things you need to do to prepare, as overclocking can lead to system instability or even damage (albeit rarely). So, don’t rush in and make sure you’re ready.
Always backup data
It’s a commonly advised precaution, and one that’s always important. You’re unlikely to lose any data when overclocking, but as you’re playing around with the system, it’s best to be sure.
Check your system is clear of dust and debris
Overclocking will almost always produce more heat, which is bad for a PC’s internal components. To ensure the best performance, and minimal problems caused by heat, ensure your PC’s insides are clean and clear of dust and other dirt. Check that fans are spinning properly and aren’t clogged, and make sure vents are clear. This will produce the best possible airflow using your existing hardware, and is very important.
Thermal paste is all-important
You may find this recommendation a little scary, but it’s essential to make sure the thermal paste (also called thermal grease) that sits between your CPU and the cooler on top of it is in good condition. Thermal paste is the main conduit that channels the heat from the CPU to the heat sink, and if this is old, and/or not properly applied, it can lead to problems with heat dissipation, and will undermine your cooling hardware’s effectiveness.
Overclockers often replace this paste regularly to ensure the best possible heat conduction, and using higher quality paste is very important when you embark on high-level overclocks.
Consider better cooling
Although you’ll likely not need to worry about this at first, as you won’t be making huge changes to a PC’s performance, better cooling is always something to consider, and investing in a better CPU cooler, larger/more case fans, or even water cooling when you’re up to it is a good idea if you plan to push your system harder and harder.
Check your waranty
Although a lot of hardware features built-in overclocking capabilities, some warranties may be voided by using them. If you perform manual overclocking with third party software, crack open the case to add new cooling hardware, or any other form of customisation, you may also void this. So, if your PC is still under warranty, doublecheck what you can safely do without losing your support.