XTU Version required for overclocking Z420 on Win 10?

[Balthxzar]

Hi, please see attached screenshot, this is 4.1Ghz on all cores at 100% load, I can achieve higher but I dialed it back for stability as this is my work machine.

Please bare in mind it takes some time for images to be approved on the website. In the meantime please see the link attached to my Reddit post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/hqy919/45ghz_turbo_41ghz_all_cores_e51650v2/?utm_medi...

[Balthxzar]

Also, to address your other comment

"On your comment that cores were on 3.4 because CPU was not on a load, as far I know, on a contrary, the CPU downclock speed when it is all core on a full load. On idle or low load, speed on less cores can go up to the max stock speed or overclocked as it is on XTU."

There are two main reasons the CPU will downclock, throttling or idle states, throttling is what most users run into, the hp z420 board limits the TDP to 130w, so you can overclock as much as you want as long as you don't go other 130w or the 95°c thermal limit of the CPU, after that the CPU will downclock to stay within those limits.

The other reason the CPU will downclock is when it is sitting idle, the increased clockspeed isn't needed so the CPU downclocks to save power, that's what you saw in the other screenshot when only one core was at 4Ghz. My i7 6950x will downclock to 2Ghz from the 4.4Ghz overclock I have in some games because it isn't being fully utilized.

[rtibby]

Yes , that is all correct about how Turbo clock is working.

What I am saying is that indeed because of the 130W limitation (and could be others also due to motherboard and/or Bios), on HP Z420 you cannot have max turbo speed on all cores.

I've seen your screenshot. And yes, seems you have all cores on 4.1Ghz on 100% load.

What I noticed though, you have the multipliers set with XTU on 45 , that's 4.5Ghz. And the result is still that CPU speed is downclocked with 400Mhz .... and you max at 4.1Ghz...

On your screenshot I couldnt see what CPU you have . 

[Balthxzar]

As I said in the post, when it reaches the 130w limit (mine was at 129w) it will downclock slightly, from 4.5Ghz to 4.1Ghz. 

4.1Ghz is still well above the all core turbo for the E5-1650v2 I have, proving that all core overclocking is working.

By lowering the voltage offset to 58mV I can get it to 4.3Ghz on all cores however it isn't 100% stable, but that doesn't mean that it can't be done.

You have been shown countless evidence that all core overclocks are possible on the z420, just because you can't get it working properly doesn't mean it isn't possible.

[rtibby]

My expericence was e5-1650v2 is a better overclocker compared to e5-1680v2 , I had them both.

I still have no idea why my e5-1680v2 was downclocking to 3.4Ghz on all cores on load, but as I've seen on your screenshot it looks like it is indeed possible. So , all my posts stating it is not possible I admit were wrong, but were based on playing with my Z420. (I will try to delete them - if the website allows me 😁)

Further on this, in my pursue of performance, I did change my motherboard with ASUS RIVE and I can enjoy any overclocking I want... For e.g. among voltages, multipliers and a bunch of other bios parameters which can be set , the 130w limit can be modified . As a result, the CPU on all cores 4.5Ghz is drawing soewhere 180w...

[Balthxzar]

Don't worry about deleting your posts, this website is about learning, I've learnt plenty here too.

I'm glad you got something sorted out with your 1680v2, I have since upgraded onto an i7 6950x on an x99 motherboard.

I keep my z420 as a work computer and still use it daily,

If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask me.

Thanks

[gumert]

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@rtibby wrote:

If you look at HWInfo , you have only 1 core at 4Ghz. The rest , as usual, at 3.4 Ghz,.....

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I saw this and immediately thought, "well, it's easy enough to take a screen shot." Then I wasn't able to capture said screen shot, because anytime I did anything with all 8 cores (like Prime95, idling in Borderlands 3) the CPU would revert back to the x34 multiplier for all cores.

Under low usage, a handful of cores will hit the x40 multiplier together, but never under any load. Temperatures were reasonable (3 cores hit 70-72 C, the rest stayed well under 60 C) and HWiNFO reported the max power of the CPU at 114 watts.

Any ideas?

Under load:

No load:

[gumert]

Self reply. It looks like HWiNFO wasn't refreshing fast enough to catch what was going on. Monitoring with Throttle Stop showed the processor exceeding 130 watts and then the multiplier getting walked down until 130 watts was achieved. Undervolting could be a solution to this, but I haven't messed around with it yet.

I suspect this is why rtibby and I were having problems with our 1680s and why Balthxzar was able to achieve their OC.

The following four screen shots tell the story.

First up, 39x multiplier right at the launch of Prime95. Note 100% CPU utilization and PKG Power = 140.6 W.

Throttling in progress as PKG power decreases.

Eventually things stabilized at a 35.37 multiplier. This is probably the best that can be achieved in a HP workstation without undervolting or doing something more radical like swapping the motherboard.

[Kamzeride]

Gumert, which BIOS version do you have installed?

[gumert]

J61 v03.96