i7 8700K on DDR3 Z170 (revisited)

[u/Separate_Budget5097]

Ive recently been messing about with Coffee Lake 8th and 9th gen CPUs on DDR3 again. I used a CH341A programmer to flash a custom modified version of AsRocks BIOS that has Coffee Lake CPU microcodes onto the BIOS chip and pinmodded the 8700K.

So far ive just booted into Windows and put a mild OC on the 8700K and so far, everything is stable. Ive now proved hyperthreading and overclocking both work with the mod which is a huge plus. Ive also done the same with an Asus Z170P D3 which has much better voltage control and if it cooperates ill be using it instead of the Asrock Z170 Pro4 D3.

I will be picking up an i9 9900K and tuning it to run below 150W in order to not cook my boards VRM, as all DDR3 Z170 boards have weak VRMs other than the Z170 Fatal1ty K4 D3, which if anyone has one im keen to buy it off ya!

As for the memory im rocking a G.Skill Trident X 1600 CL7 16GB kit ive overclocked to 2500 CL10. I am trying to make the fastest documented gaming PC that runs on DDR3 and I dont think DDR3 gaming can get much faster than this!

I will be documenting everything as I go along, id appreciate the support 🙏

If you have any more useful info on this topic, do let me know as this fascinates me 🙏

UPDATE POST: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/s/fzzcUv3UgA

[u/Careless_Cook2978]

I had my 3770K delidded, overclocked to 4.5, switched from 1333Mhz CL9 to 2400Mhz CL11.

But Holy crap. 2500Mhz CL10? Do you want DDR4 to start crying? This clocks and Timing ratio equal to 5000 Mhz CL20 or 6000Mhz CL24. Even that.

I never heared of Z170 Boards with DDR3 support.

Keep us informed please!!

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/Careless_Cook2978]

Will do! And ive even gotten windows to load at 2600 cl10 1.65v but its super unstable haha

[u/Careless_Cook2978 → u/Separate_Budget5097]

Do you need to give the imc a slight voltage plus here? As i can remember i had the vccio increased from 1.0 to 1.1 volts as i can remember. Still Talking about the 3770k here. But maybe newer cpus work the same way.

On my 3770K on steroids i needed to. Even if the internet documentary said that the imc of the 3770k is made for speeds up to 2400Mhz.

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/Careless_Cook2978]

It seems happy at VCCIO 1.2V VCCSA 1.25V. With more than that the cpu imc will degrade over time but im not exactly sure how slow the degradation is, with my voltages it should be fine

[u/Careless_Cook2978 → u/Separate_Budget5097]

[u/RaxisPhasmatis]

That's awesome

[u/PlentyNo → u/RaxisPhasmatis]

my buddy still runs an 8700k on ddr3 lol

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/PlentyNo]

What board does he have?

[u/bigwanggtr]

Please create a blog documenting all of your findings! It would be amazing to read through.

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/bigwanggtr]

For sure! I plan on making a long YouTube documentary style vid on the whole project as well as other stuff I have planned.

[u/bigwanggtr → u/Separate_Budget5097]

Please post a link here when you do!

[u/Elu_Moon]

Oh hey, hello! I did essentially the same thing. QTJ1 (engineering sample of i9-10980HK, which is essentially a laptop version f i9-9900K), Asus Z170-P D3, 32GB DDR3 overclocked from 1600 to 2133MHz (2200MHz is possible but not quite as stable). Can't push the CPU very hard because of the VRMs, but it can do 4.5GHz all-core. I keep it at 4GHz precisely because of the VRMs.

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/Elu_Moon]

That's pretty sick 🤩 Is the 9900K faster than the QTJ1? And I would think the 9900K can be a little more flexible too. But the VRM of the Z170PD3 can supply at least like 130W at 1.25V-ish no?

[u/Elu_Moon → u/Separate_Budget5097]

9900K has better memory support, meaning you can get higher frequency without the CPU causing issues. Not really a big deal with DDR3 unless you get one of those very rare sticks set that can do 3000MHz or more. Otherwise, as far as I'm aware, the performance is pretty much the same with minor variations compared to QTJ1, QTJ0 (same thing as QTJ1 but clocked higher), QQLS (older but based on i9-9900K as well) at the same clocks. Out of the three I listed, QTJ0 can be overclocked the highest. Not very applicable when the motherboard doesn't have great VRMs, though. However, that aside, I have seen people get 5GHz all-core on some of them.

I try not to take the VRMs to 100C, so I keep the settings stock, which I think results in sustained 125W.

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/Elu_Moon]

Have you put fans on your vrm? Im sure that'll help you get some more out of your cpu

[u/Elu_Moon → u/Separate_Budget5097]

I plan to actually figure out a heatsink for the uncovered parts of the VRM (why only like half of them have a heatsink, I have no idea), and then I'll add a fan for sure.

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/Elu_Moon]

On the z170p the heatsink on the left is the one that cools the cpu vcore vrm i think, and the top vrm area I belive is for boring stuff like igpu and vccio/vccsa voltages that dont need cooling. I think just a small fan ziptied is all youd need

[u/Swineservant]

🫡

[u/ProcedureCultural474]

Que massa nao sabia que esse processador funcionava em ddr3. Tenho o QQLS (I9 9900K de notebook adaptado para desktop) rodando em uma z270f Asus 16gb ram 2900mhz.

[u/latrina_demmerda]

Man i was looking at modded laptop cpus for my z170 for fun yesterday, and i am waiting for an h110 d3 to come to upgrade my tv pc.

Does the h110 d3 strictly need ddr3L? I have a kit of off brand 2x8 1866 1.5v so i want to know if it's actually fine or if i actually need to lower voltage and clock. I could put either an i5 6500, 7500 or an i7 7700 but i kinda want to sacrifice the 6500 if it's risky

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/latrina_demmerda]

Not risky at all. Ive left all my bios settings untouched other than VCCIO and VCCSA voltages. If using high voltage ddr3 auto settings might make those voltage higher than safe maximum. Ive neen using vccio 1.2v vccsa 1.25v and that shouldnt damage or degrade anything overtime. All though im not sure what h110 is limited to so be aware it might set risky unchangeable voltages

[u/latrina_demmerda → u/Separate_Budget5097]

So i should leave the ram at 1.5V and those two settings at around 1V? I plan to have basic speeds even 1600 is ok but I've never seen those two settings

[u/Separate_Budget5097 → u/latrina_demmerda]

Yeah you'll have no issues leaving it at that

[u/latrina_demmerda → u/Separate_Budget5097]

Thanks

[u/Separate_Budget5097]

UPDATE: i9 9900K successfully runs! New post: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/s/L0WjPZWvyI

[u/Mallevory]

As someone who's on DDR3, I'd like to see this journey.