Test Setup
For our tests, we used a test rig which includes the ASRock X299 Taichi motherboard, along with an Intel Core i5-7640X (Kaby Lake-X) at default clock speed of 4.0GHz (turbo boost 4.2GHz), as well as 8GB of G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4-3200 ram in dual channel mode.
All tests were conducted at turbo clock speeds of 4.2GHz at a resolution of 1920×1080. High or Ultra settings enabled.
| CPU | Intel Core i5-7640X (Kaby Lake-X) @ 4.0GHz / Turbo @ 4.2GHz |
| Overclock | All cores at x51, vCore at 1.35V – Result: 5.1GHz |
| Cooling | Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 240 |
| Motherboard | ASRock X299 Taichi |
| Ram | 2 x 4GB G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4-3200 |
| XMP 2.0 profiles | Memory timings : 15-15-15-35 @1.2v |
| SSD/HDD | Patriot Hellfire PCIE M.2 256GB SSD |
| PSU | Thermaltake Toughpower RGB 750W |
| VGA card | Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 |
| Nvidia Drivers | Latest GeForce Drivers v.385.28 – WHQL |
| OS | Windows 10 |
Load Temperatures
During our stress test, the load temperatures reached a high of 91 degrees Celsius. Needless to say, I was extremely concerned … a very good CPU cooler is highly recommended. In this case we suggest using custom water cooling or a AIO unit.
Passmark 9
Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing and benchmarking. PassMark PerformanceTest allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.
Cinebench R15
CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software Cinema 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and many more. CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and OS X).
HyperPi 32M
PCMark 10
PCMark 10 is the latest in our series of industry standard PC benchmarks. Updated for Windows 10 with new and improved workloads, PCMark 10 is also faster and easier to use. PCMark 10 features a comprehensive set of tests that cover the wide variety of tasks performed in the modern workplace. With express, extended, and custom run options to suit your needs, PCMark 10 is the complete PC benchmark for the modern office and an ideal choice for organizations that buy PCs in high volumes.
TimeSpy
3DMark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built “the right way” from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards.
FireStrike
Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it. How to achieve a 5.1GHz overclock on an Intel Core i5-7640X (Kaby Lake-X) by simply changing 3 BIOS options on the ASRock X299 Taichi motherboard. There is NO guarantee that you’ll get 5.1GHz or higher, as it all depends on various factors such as your power supply, cooling solution and correct BIOS settings. In any case, you should play around with it until you hit a sweet spot.
Happy overclocking …
Related articles
- ASRock X299 Taichi Motherboard Review
- Buy the ASRock X299 Taichi
motherboard from Amazon or Newegg
- Buy the Core i5-7640X
(Kaby Lake-X) processor from from Amazon or Newegg
- Buy the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro
240 AIO from Amazon
