XTU Version required for overclocking Z420 on Win 10?

[SDH]

Just a thought... have you tried turning off "Fast Startup" in W10?  This is an unnecessary "feature" in W10 that MS defaulted to be turned on.  That caches some system data during shutdown and uses it to supposedly cold boot faster the next time.  We found it was not loading the cached items in correct order and this resulted in a number of significant issues for us.

You can get to that via Control Panel/ Power Options/ Choose what the power buttons do/ Change settings that are currently unavailable/ I deselect both Fast Startup and Hibernate (and leave Sleep and Lock selected)/ restart.

[rtibby]

SDH : "Just a thought... have you tried turning off "Fast Startup" in W10?"

Followed your advice . Fast Startup was checked indeed.

So , after unchecking - so glad to see this - it's working : after shut down and restart - Windows starts normally , and XTU service is starting OK.

However , being so unsuccesfull starting Windows with XTU overclock profile saved previously and loaded when Windows starts - I do start Windows on the default speeds of the e5-1680v2 , and after 30 seconds of booting Overclock profile is activated.

Managed to do that with two scheduled tasks in Windows 10 : one is applying default speed when shutting down (therefore defaults settings are the ones used at the next startup) , and the second Scheduled Task is a 30 second delayed Overclock Profile apply for XTU when is booting up.

Working all good now , thanks to your tip.

Z420 , e5-1680v2 , 32 Gb RAM, NVMe M.2 boot, 1Tb SSD, GTX 1070

[rtibby]

Just a quick one one testting CPU after overclocking.

Given the fact that XEON's on HP Z series cannot be overclocked through BIOS , it's a known fact that using XTU (the only option) to set multipliers on all cores , doesnt work actually ... Speed of cores is less and less depending on how many cores is using the CPU . For example , the e5-1680v2 , on all cores goes with multiplier 34 (3.4Ghz) -  despite of XTU being set , let's say, to 4.2Ghz. It will go to max of 4.2Ghz only on single core run.

Therefore , when testing with, let's say Prime95, it will run on 3.4Ghz on all cores , so you actually cannot test the single core of 4.2 , or 2 cores on 4.1Ghz set by XTU .

My point is , I did find a particular way to test the overclock done with XTU , which was proven to me (no idea why is that ) the best test of Xeon's overclock on HP platforms: AIDA64 Extreme / Benchmark / FPU Julia.

For some reason , tests passed with any other test software (even Linpack) can fail on FPU Julia .

For example : I just tested my Z420 on 4.2 Ghz with 191mV - failed on Julia (black screen after a few seconds) . On Prime95 , Linpack, you name it, no issue. 

Risen the voltage to +222mV , working fine on Julia

[Kamzeride]

For what it's worth, Im currently using Intel XTU 6.5.1.321 with a Xeon 1650 v2, Windows 10 v2004 (19041.450) and was able to successfully get the CPU to hit 4.3 GHz on all 6 cores by setting the values to 43x in XTU and observed the clock speeds in HWMonitor; also able to use ThrottleStop to allow it to step back down to lower clocks on idle to save on power/heat.

Rtibby, could you kindly post a screenshot of your XTU settings where you've raised the voltage in mV? XTU will not allow me to set a value that low, showing the first step of the Additional Turbo Voltage slider as 3.90625V.

[rtibby]

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@Kamzeride wrote:

Rtibby, could you kindly post a screenshot of your XTU settings where you've raised the voltage in mV? XTU will not allow me to set a value that low, showing the first step of the Additional Turbo Voltage slider as 3.90625V.

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Yes , here it is . I was on a profile max to 4.1Ghz as you can see. But Voltage can be set whatever you like ....

https://ibb.co/Tbb8Bsf

[rtibby]

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@Kamzeride wrote:

For what it's worth, Im currently using Intel XTU 6.5.1.321 with a Xeon 1650 v2, Windows 10 v2004 (19041.450) and was able to successfully get the CPU to hit 4.3 GHz on all 6 cores by setting the values to 43x in XTU and observed the clock speeds in HWMonitor; also able to use ThrottleStop to allow it to step back down to lower clocks on idle to save on power/heat.

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This is a controlversial issue .

Can you please upload a screenshot with HWInfo showing all 6 cores at 4.3 Ghz ??

As far as I know that's impossible on a HP Z420 ... 

(For e.g. with whatever overclock profile on XTU, when I put Prime95 at work , all cores are at 3.4Ghz on my e5-1680v2...)

Due to limitation of the Z420 motherboard / Bios I've just decided to go for a Rampage IV Extreme just to be able to push my e5-1680v2 to ALL cores overclock ...

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UPDATE:

I've just switched to ASUS Rampage IV Extreme,  moved my e5-1680v2 and disks as they were to the new motherboard.

The BIOS of this motherboard gives a ton of settings to play with.

It's a completeley other story now ... I do have a 4.5Ghz all cores overclock. (With CPU air cooled!).  And it's true ALL cores:

Cinebench R15 went up from 1156 to 1550 ....

Later UPDATE:

As user Balthazar showed few posts below, in fact it is possible to overclock Xeons on HP Z420 as long as TDP 130W is not exceeded....

[gumert]

New Z420 user checking in and just wanted to say, "this worked for me". I have an 1680v2, windows 10 10.0.19041 (v2004), and XTU version 6.5.1.321.

This combination allows me to overclock all eight cores. Note that this is a somewhat mild OC (no attempt at changing voltage, only 40x multiplier), but it works!

Mild OC

[rtibby]

"This combination allows me to overclock all eight cores"

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

NO overclock on ALL cores on Z420 !

UPDATE: My e5-1680v2 was not able to go more than 3.4Ghz on all cores .... but as user Balthazar showed few posts down, it is possible , within the 130W TDP limit.

[Balthxzar]

The cores are clocked down to 3.4Ghz because the computer is sitting idle, you can see that the max frequency in hwinfo is shown as 3.9Ghz. 

Stop throwing out inflammatory responses without contributing anything to this thread.

I can achieve 4.3Ghz on all cores on E5-1650v2 in my z420, I usually have it clocked down slightly as my z620 had issues with the VRM burning out.

I'll post an image tomorrow if I remember.

[rtibby]

Ok Balthazar.

All I am saying is that I couldnt see ANY evidence of screenshots with HP Z420 on CPU turboclock maximum speeds on ALL cores on the whole internet. 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.

If you say OC on all cores is possible, please share a screenshot of your system and some knowhow on how that can be achieved.

I did try and I shared screenshots how it DOESNT work;  it's your turn now.

You can see turbo clocks according with no. of cores active : 

3.4 , 3.4 , 3.4 , 3.4 , 3.5 , 3.7 , 3.8 , 3.9