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Hello from an increasingly frustrated individual,
At the beginning of the year I purchased a pre built Alienware Aurora R7 containing an i7 8700 cpu which both Intel and Dell state on every mention of the thing that it can be overclocked to 4.6GHz using Intel Turbo Boost Technology. So far the overclocking option within Alienware Control Centre is not available and downloading provides me with a message saying it is incompatible, the Alienware system bios does not allow me to make any changes to clock speed, and Intel Turbo Boost 3.0 does not support my cpu and even when downloaded again provides an incompatibility message.
I have trawled through the internet for information regarding this particular cpu and even that has been a challenge, barely anyone is talking about it and when you do find something that doesn't reference the K model instantly no one seems to mention the same brick wall I seem to be coming up against. Some are saying this cpu is locked and cannot be overclocked but go into very little detail and everyone else asks about performance but no helpful responses come of it.
I am beginning to think I have been misinformed about this product and what it is capable of and will be looking for an exchange to processor for one that can actually do what has been stated to me before I parted with my cash.
So my questions are these:
1) Can an i7 8700 be overclocked or not? (bearing in mind both Intel and Dell tell me it can)
2) Why is the (stated by both Intel and Dell) Turbo Boost Max 3.0 not compatible with my system, and is there another version that is compatible?
3) I've read elsewhere on this forum about someone presumably having a similar issue and was told Turbo Boost 2.0 should be used yet I find no other mention of it on Intels own site, why is this the case?
4) Have I been miss sold a product and what can be done to rectify this?
Thanks in advance
Dean
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Hello SpectreDusk,
I understand that you are looking for ways to overclock the current processor you own.
Regarding this and the questions you have, let me answer them to the best of my knowledge:
1) Can an i7 8700 be overclocked or not? (bearing in mind both Intel and Dell tell me it can).
- No, this unit is not an unlocked processor (K), there is no way to alter the frequency or the voltage in order to overclock.
- Intel ® Turbo Boost 3.0 does not support your processor, this is because it is not an unlocked processor. Your unit by default should have Intel ® Turbo Boost 2.0 which automatically increases the frequency of your processor according to your needs, for more information refer to the link below:
3) I've read elsewhere on this forum about someone presumably having a similar issue and was told Turbo Boost 2.0 should be used yet I find no other mention of it on Intels own site, why is this the case?
- Please refer to the link provided above.
- I am uncertain as to what they told you when you were about to purchase the unit. Overclocking is not necessary to allow the system to perform great, in fact, overclocking is not even recommended by Intel ® because that is to push the processors even over the limit and thus increasing the temperature and the stress on said unit. However, if you would still like to overclock, I would recommend you to look into the "K" processors or our "X" processors. Here is a comparison between two:
I hope you find this answers helpful.
Regards,
David V
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Let me add a comment: The real problem here is a misuse of the word "overclock[ing]"...
Overclocking is the act of increasing the clock frequency, above (or "over") its intended maximum value, in order to get additional performance out of the processor. As has been stated, only the K processors can be overclocked. In the non-K processors, the base clock frequency and its multiplier are locked down and cannot be modified. In all processors, support is provided for a feature called Intel Turbo Boost. When conditions -- type of workload, number of active cores, estimated current consumption, estimated power consumption and processor temperature -- allow, Intel Turbo Boost will boost the clock frequency of one or more processor cores, by increasing their clock multiplier, in order to increase the performance of the processor. In a sense, this boosting of the the Core clock frequencies could be considered a form of overclocking, but we don't usually refer to it that way as this is a built-in feature of the processor and it is really not taking the clock frequency over its intended maximum value (as the intended maximum value is variable in this case).
Bottom line, your processor cannot be overclocked (at least via traditional overclocking methods) -- but no, you were not lied to; they just used the wrong words to describe what is and isn't possible. As David said, you cannot use Intel Turbo Boost 3.0 as this feature is only supported in the (latest) K processors. You do not need any software at all, in fact; once the feature is configured by the BIOS (and you control the configuration of the BIOS), it just works.
Hope this helps,
...S
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