Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Enhanced Turbo Question

[sapped]

Hey guys,

Just a question regarding the enhanced turbo feature of Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H.
I've read on Tom's review that the UD5H have this "forced" enhanced turbo overclocking feature
which cannot be turned off.

www.tomshardware.com/reviews/enthusiast-z97-motherboard-overclock,3893-18.html

I'm wondering does it lock all the cpu core frequencies to the same ratio?
The thing is I'm running a lot of unoptimized single-threaded/single-core games that only utilize one cpu core
of my quad core 4790k.

So do I get lower performance this way when only one core are stressed to the max?
When compared to manual overclocking on other motherboard that is.

I'm currently deciding which motherboard to buy for my new rig, so this will decide whether
I buy the UD5H or not.

Appreciate any comments.

[boondocks]

Re: Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Enhanced Turbo Question

Hey guys,

Just a question regarding the enhanced turbo feature of Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H.
I've read on Tom's review that the UD5H have this "forced" enhanced turbo overclocking feature
which cannot be turned off.

www.tomshardware.com/reviews/enthusiast-z97-motherboard-overclock,3893-18.html

I'm wondering does it lock all the cpu core frequencies to the same ratio?
The thing is I'm running a lot of unoptimized single-threaded/single-core games that only utilize one cpu core
of my quad core 4790k.

So do I get lower performance this way when only one core are stressed to the max?
When compared to manual overclocking on other motherboard that is.

I'm currently deciding which motherboard to buy for my new rig, so this will decide whether
I buy the UD5H or not.

Appreciate any comments.

It's not unusual for a manufacturer to set all cores to the same turbo frequency, e.g. 4.4GHz for the 4970K.
But offhand I can't see how that could hurt single core performance. I haven't had any need to try setting different frequencies for each core but you should be able to.
I can't test that right now as my Z97 rig is torn apart, however.

[parsec]

Re: Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Enhanced Turbo Question

Hey guys,

Just a question regarding the enhanced turbo feature of Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H.
I've read on Tom's review that the UD5H have this "forced" enhanced turbo overclocking feature
which cannot be turned off.

www.tomshardware.com/reviews/enthusiast-z97-motherboard-overclock,3893-18.html

I'm wondering does it lock all the cpu core frequencies to the same ratio?
The thing is I'm running a lot of unoptimized single-threaded/single-core games that only utilize one cpu core
of my quad core 4790k.

So do I get lower performance this way when only one core are stressed to the max?
When compared to manual overclocking on other motherboard that is.

I'm currently deciding which motherboard to buy for my new rig, so this will decide whether
I buy the UD5H or not.

Appreciate any comments.

Yes, the automatic and apparently locked on all core Turbo setting runs all cores at the same speed/multiplier.

But your second question does not matter, because as said in the review on the next page:

this very same overclock is available on most boards, that it is often tied to XMP memory mode, and that we specifically chose not to use XMP mode in order to make this contest fair.

My ASRock Z97 Extreme 6 has two ways to set all cores at the same speed/frequency/multiplier, and they are options you choose to use or not. So you can get the same result on the ASRock board if you want to, and most likely the ASUS and MSI boards too. Tom's took exception to the fact it was forced upon the user of the Gigabyte board. They also had this to say about that:



As can be seen in the review, the differences between the performance of the boards is small unless you have a built in always on option to cheat the results. Does Gigabyte really think a pro reviewer would miss that and proclaim the board superior? I know of some reviews that mention the forced multiplier setting (which other manufactures have done in the past) but then later fail to mention it again and depend on the reader to remember that and also read the entire review so they don't miss it.

Personally, I would reject the Gigabyte board for forcing the setting and not making it optional. Or is that just another example of Gigabyte's flaky BIOS implementations?

[boondocks]

Re: Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Enhanced Turbo Question

I fail to see what difference it makes, and I respect parsec's point of view but still reject the reasoning . You buy a 4790K to overclock, else there is no need to buy a "K" model cpu. I overclock my 4790K to 4.8GHz on all cores, that is what I bought it for else I could have saved money and bought a different cpu.

Your choice, though, these days everyone pretty much makes a comparable motherboard.
I have stuck with the UD5H series for a while now as they have had the features I like.