MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) Motherboard Review - PAGE 4

Overclocking the Intel K series Sandy Bridge chips is an easier task than it was with previous Intel Core CPUs, because relying on a motherboard to have a high bclock ceiling is no longer a concern. With the K series, the overclocking is done via the unlocked multiplier; adjustments to the bclock are now just a means to fine tune the final clock speed. In Neoseeker's Sandy Bridge review, the 2600K was able to achieve nearly a 4600MHz clock speed on the Intel P67 Express reference motherboard. However, stock motherboards usually don't have the same overclocking potential, so it will be interesting to see how high the MSI Z68A-GD80 can push the 2600K.

For overclocking I will be using a XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 water-cooling setup to cool the processor, and increase the voltage as necessary until the maximum bclock is reached. I will also be testing the overclocking button that is included on the motherboard's control panel.

MSI Z67A-GD80

Intel Core i7-2600K

• Baseclock : 100 MHz
• Clock multiplier : 49x
• Processor clock : 4900 MHz
• Memory clock : 1600 MHz
• Processor voltage : 1.45V

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During testing the MSI Z68A-GD80 was able to achieve a stable CPU clock speed of 4900MHz. This clock speed was easily achieved by adjusting the mulitper to 49x and keeping the base clock at 100MHz. This chip has been overclocked in muitple test systems and it tends to max out between 4700MHz and 4900MHz, so the MSI board was able to push it to its threshold without issue. This is a clock speed increase of roughly 30%, which is impressive considering this speed was reached without having to increase the supplied voltage beyond 1.45V.