Processor Overclocking

First of all, I would like to remind you that you can check out the basics, terminology and approximate overclocking algorithms in our earlier article called “Guide: Lynnfield Overclocking on Asus P7P55D Deluxe Mainboard”. Of course, we mostly focused on Asus mainboard and Intel Core i7-860 processor, but the basic overclocking principles typical of LGA1156 platform are the same on every mainboard and you will easily find the corresponding equivalents among the parameters of your mainboard and CPU.

Another thing I’d like to say about Biostar TPower I55 is connected with the automatic processor overclocking technology. I personally am very skeptical about mainboards functionality when it comes to automatic processor or memory overclocking. All overclocking modes of this kind on all mainboards are always a compromise between simplicity of use and efficiency that is why they are imperfect right from the start. Biostar mainboard is also no exception. However, I have to admit that I liked the way they addressed the implementation of this feature.

“Our mainboard will allow you to easily overclock your processor to 4.0 GHz without any effort of your part!” – you can often come across slogans like that is reference to other manufacturers’ solutions. I agree, it can overclock, but what will actually happen in this case? Base clock frequency increases to 200 MHz, the clock frequency multiplier locks at 20x, voltages are pushed up, memory frequency is pushed down, the rotation speed of the cooling fans increases to maximum. As a result, it is possible that we will end up with a system working at 4.0 GHz CPU frequency, but it will be noisy, the memory frequency will be lower, its timings will be higher just like the voltages, and all power-saving technologies will not work properly. If I only didn’t know that overclocking can in fact produce completely different results, I would totally hate it after automatic experience like that.

And what do we get from Biostar TPower I55? Yes, “V6-Tech Engine” mode when the base frequency increases from 133 to 135 MHz – is simply ridiculous and can hardly be considered overclocking. As we know from our ASRock P55 Deluxe review, ASRock engineers do not consider even 141 MHz frequency an overclocking. However, the “V8-Tech Engine” or “V12-Tech Engine” are way better in this respect. You will see the performance increase not only in benchmarks. Moreover, you will still have Intel Turbo Boost technology as well as Intel and Biostar proprietary power-saving technologies all available to you. Of course, you can achieve even better results during conventional overclocking: you can raise the processor clock frequency higher as well as the memory frequency, maybe you will even be able to lower the memory timings… But we did warn you that all automatic overclocking algorithms are imperfect to begin with, but we really like the way Biostar implemented their vision of automatic overclocking. The user doesn’t lose anything, he only gains and is rewarded with a noticeably faster working system. It not overclocking at any rate for the sake of record-breaking numbers, but real overclocking, though not very high one. If you want to achieve maximum possible speed in these particular conditions or the most optimal system performance, then you must overclock manually.

This process kicked off to a very cheerful and optimistic start. The mainboard worked fine at base clock frequency increased to 210 MHz with a lower multiplier. And after that everything stalled. I tried to overclock the processor to 3.95 GHz – the result we got for the same processor on Asus and Gigabyte mainboards – but I couldn’t get even close to the desired result. Even with a way lower overclocking without touching the voltage I couldn’t achieve stability, just like I couldn’t during numerous overclocking attempts with significantly increased voltage setting. Finally, I noticed that although the processor Vcore was set higher in the mainboard BIOS, it remained suspiciously low in reality. “CPU Load Line” function preventing the voltage from dropping under heavy load was on, but I decided to undertake a very paradoxical move and disable it. And that solved all the problems. It turned out that there is the gravest but pretty silly typo in the BIOS: Vdroop protection is on when “CPU Load Line” is set to “Disabled” and is off when it is set to “Enabled”. And I was even surprised to see this feature enabled by default. In reality it was disabled all along although it looked just the opposite.

Now that we have disabled “CPU Load Line”, which in fact enabled the Vdroop protection, the board started acting normally. Biostar TPower I55 still couldn’t work stably with the CPU overclocked to 3.95 GHz, but only 50 MHz lower result, 3.9 GHz, is still very good.

The mainboard kept all Intel processor power-saving technologies up and running, even despite overclocking. Both, the CPU multiplier as well as Vcore, were lowered in idle mode.

I would like to point out a few other things connected with “CPU Load Line” function. When it is enabled, “Biostar G.P.U.” power-saving technology dealing with the processor voltage regulator phases partially stops working, although dynamic adjustment of the active phases for the integrated North Bridge stays up and running normally. And one more thing. When this protection is disabled, the mainboard doesn’t increase the multiplier of our Intel Core i7-860 processor to 22x under heavy load leaving it at the nominal 21x. During overclocking we enable this protection that is why this peculiarity doesn’t affect the performance in any way. However, Vdroop protection is disabled by default that is why we noticed that Biostar TPower I55 was falling tangibly behind other mainboards. However, we are going to talk more about performance and power consumption in the next parts of our review.