For those with the requisite knowledge on how to overclock, there are free performance gains to be squeezed out of many systems. That includes desktops built around Intel's Kaby Lake processors. To help you get going, Gigabyte has put out a fairly comprehensive overclocking guide with instructions on how to tweak its new Aorus Z270 motherboard line.
Aorus is Gigabyte's gaming brand, which it recently expanded to include motherboards and soon graphics cards. It's first round of motherboards behind the Aorus brand are based on Intel's Z270 chipset for Kaby Lake. While overclocking Intel's newest desktop processors should not be all that different than goosing Skylake chips, the 30-page guide is a nice reference to have on hand, especially if you're relatively new to overclocking.
The guide is broken down into six chapters and covers everything from the basics to using liquid nitrogen to chase overclocking records. Here is a look at the chapter breakdown:
- Intro
- How to overclock your Intel i7/i5/i3 7700K, 7600K, 7350K CPU
- Advanced Guide
- Stability Testing
- Obtaining the 5GHz Overclock
- Break Records with Extreme Cooling (LN2)
Each chapter is broken down into sections. They're fairly detailed and include a bunch of screenshots, both from the BIOS and from certain Windows programs and utilities, such as CPU-Z and Prime95.
Naturally your mileage will vary when it comes to overclocking, though Gigabyte is confident it can help users reach 5GHz on a delidded Core i7-7700K processor using air cooling, or 4.8GHz without prying off the integrated heatspreader (IHS). Our overclocking of Kaby Lake hit 4.9 to 5.0 GHz without delidding, as a point of reference.
You can check it out here, as well as sign up to receive future overclocking guides.
