ASRock A-tuning application for overclocking

[sirrah]

Any of you folks familiar with the A-tuning application from ASRock?

 

I'm totally new to overclocking and trying to find out where to start. Reading through my motherboard manual (ASRock Z370 Extreme4), I read about this A-tuning tool.

 

This looks like a very accessible way for a beginner like me, to overclock my 8700K. However before I throw myself further into this, I've read some contradicting reports/reviews. Some are very positive and some really negative (the latter ones mainly on Reddit).

 

So any experience here with the A-tuning tool?

Do or don't?

[The_Nephilim]

well while it may work these programs havr a tendency to overvolt. I would find a guide on overclockers.net or similar,,

[CL30]

I take it this is overclocking software? I'll share with you the adventures this noob experienced with software OC'ing, and how I learned that it is never advisable to OC with software, lol. :D

 

I found some Intel overclock app and thought, "wow, if Intel made an overclock app for their own chips, then it must be good, right?!" Wrong, lol. Somehow, my PC did not like the OC it applied, so it crashed, as would be expected. Well, once I was able to boot back to the desktop, as soon as the software applied the OC, crash. Rinse, and repeat. I had roughly 4-5 seconds of time at the desktop before there was a crash, and there was nothing I could do about it except delete the software.

 

Now, the problem should have ended right there. Boot to Safe Mode, delete the app, and go on with life. This part probably wouldn't apply to you, but for some reason, Windows stopped recognizing my password as well, and I could not get into Safe Mode no matter what I tried. I couldn't use ANY repair tools, for that matter, either. Ended up getting a guy I fly with, who is really good with PCs, to help. We essentially hacked my computer and got me into Safe Mode, where I deleted the app and went on with life.

 

I have since learned how to OC within the BIOS, and now I completely understand why people say to avoid software overclocking tools. I would really, really avoid those, lol.

 

Again, I'm a noob to this stuff, and learning how to do it in the BIOS was actually pretty easy. Lots of guides and YouTube tutorials around to help. :thumbup:

 

 

ETA: I have not watched this, but I just typed your MoBo and "overclock" into YouTube search, and found this:

[sirrah]

I indeed read about this overvolting issue somewhere else as well Nephilin.

 

Thanks for sharing you experience CL30. That decides it for me then. Don't use OC tools

I also found that, and many other videos, but most of them are pretty fast and assume I already have some knowledge about this stuff, which I really don't :P

 

I did find a nice beginner's guide in my own native language, which is very helpful

 

It also made me doub't again, if my CPU is in fact bottlenecking my performance in DCS... I don't want to unnecessary take OC risks unless it would actually help performance.. so back to some more testing first

[panton41]

My motherboard (Asus B450-I Strix) has a built-in tool that automatically tunes OC settings and it seems to work fairly well. I think it's more of a look-up table based on your installed CPU and cooling solution, but it's something to look into if your mobo supports something similar.

[mcnabb100]

A-tune works ok, it's a bit funky, but all asrock software is like that. You can tune your voltage manually which is the way to go. I have my i5 8600k at a stable 4.9 with a-tuning. I dont remember the voltage, but it's nothing extreme.

[sirrah]

Ok, thanks for all the advise guys

 

One more question:

 

I just checked my BIOS version (P3.10) and, when looking at ASRock's support page, it seems to be a really old version.

 

My first thought would be to update my BIOS to the most recent available version, before starting to try with some overclocking. However, all the warnings on ASRock's support website are kind of holding me back. What do you guys advise. My system is currently running fine, so best not to do a BIOS update then?

 

 

 

 

(about 20 years orso ago, I almost destroyed my pc, after trying to run a BIOS update while Windows was running. I didn't know that wasn't the way to do it :P. Luckily, briefly removing the small motherboard battery reset my BIOS and I was able to use it again. So, I'll have to first study on how to properly do a BIOS update. If you guys say, it's not needed, it'll save me some time :))