Won't overclock despite 6700K

[JimboSmith243]

I have an HP Envy Phoenix 860-090na "performance" desktop. This PC was advertised as being overclockable when I bought it. It has a intel i7 6700k CPU, which is very overclockable yet whenever I try to overclock it, the CPU downclocks and refuses to maintain the clockspeed. This is despite trying to change the voltage and there is absolutely no throttling of any kind. I would like to know why it won't overclock and what can be done about it. Thanks very much for your time.

[Grzwacz]

Hi Jimbo

The only way that I am aware of to overclock this PC is to use Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility.

HP limits BIOS overclocking capabilities to prevent unnecessary warranty claims due to user error.

You could also have thermal throttling happening when using the limited BIOS tweaks HP provides.

Have you checked CPU temps when overclocking?

Grzy

[JimboSmith243]

Hi! Thanks very much for your response. I was originally overclocking using the Extreme Tuning Utility but it still did not work.There was no thermal thorottling as reported by both AIDA64 during stress testing and the XTU software. The temps bweing reached were in the low 70C range. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Jimbo

Okay, sounds good. Low 70's is fine. How about MB temps and graphics card temps? Were they okay?

The only thing I can say is HP designs their motherboards to limit overclocking.

This is a business decision to limit excessive warranty claims.

I have a custom built system with an Asus motherboard, i7-6700k, and an Asus Strix 1080. that I use to game and overclock. I can beat the MB, the processor, and the graphics card into the ground if I want. The system becomes unstable and gets very hot if I push too hard.

So I don't do this. Or be careful when overclocking.

Build your own system using a MB designed for extreme overclocking if you want to do some serious overclocking.

Small system builders won't warranty their builds if the user is going to overclock the PC.

I won't warranty my systems or will not build the system if I know the customer is going to overclock.

Grzy

[JimboSmith243]

Thanks again for your reply. I really appreciate your time. I suspected this might be the case. It is really bad that HP have been falsely advertising their desktops. I will need to replace it with a micro ATX Z170 board as this will be the same form factor as the terrible Pegatron board HP put in this PC. It also means I will have to buy a new OS as the version of windows 10 I am using is OEM. I would also have to replace the RAM so that the RAM I use is on the QVL list . 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Jimbo

Good luck with your build.

Check the proprietary front panel connections HP sometimes uses as they may not play well with the front panel pinouts on industry standard motherboards.

The MB standoff positions in the HP chassis you have may not match an industry standard motherboard.

Check airflow in your HP chassis. Remember, HP designs their cases to provide adequate airflow when using specified components at normal operating conditions.

There is nothing wrong with that. But the cases are not designed for overclocking.

Grzy

[JimboSmith243]

Hi Grzwacz. I have decent computer knowledge but I am still a bit of a noob to be honest. What are telltale signs that the connectors are proprietary? Tomorrow I will hopefully open up the case and check how cramped the case is. I would be wholly disappointed and irritated with HP if the connectors are proprietary. If they are, then I suppose buying an OEM, pre-built PC is  a rather expensive mistake on my part. The PC does contain a 980Ti which I also wanted to watercool in the future by mounting a CPU AIO cooler onto something like a Kraken G12. No doubt I would probably be reusing this even for a new build. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Jimbo

This diagram may take a while to show up. it has to be approved by the forum.

I don't have a diagram of an HP FP connection. You would have to compare this to the FP connections on your existing HP MB.

This is what the industry standard is for ATX motherbords:

Grzy

[JimboSmith243]

Hi Grzy,

I know the spec of the motherboard if that is any help to you. It's a (terrible) Pegatron Thimphu 2B4B. So irritated that HP cut so many corners with this PC. The PSU is only 500W which isn't technically enough to safely run the 980Ti lol. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Jimbo

I have never seen specs on what the front panel connectors on the newer HP cases, such as yours, look like.

I did reverse engineer some older HP cases and found proprietary connectors to the motherboard. The MB pinouts were proprietary to match the FP case connectors.

The MB standoffs on the older cases did not match industry standards.

Your MB tray standoffs and front panel connectors may be okay.

Grzy