HP Z440 w/ 16xx v3 processor overclocked with latest bios - instructions inside.

[Rdgordon]

Hi yall,

Been a long time lurker, and have gotten quite a bit of very useful info from here over the years. So it's time for me to return the favor.

I've got an HP Z440 with an E5-1650v3. Since I had a spare AIO laying around, I figured I'd throw it on and try to solve the "overclocking an HP motherboard" puzzle. Obviously the CPU itself is easily overclocked in an aftermarket board. And rumor and anecdotal evidence of *some* ancient bios versions being capable of turning up the wick. Honestly don't have time to try a dozen different bios, and I'd certainly lose my m.2 boot drive support doing that. So no thanks.

Anyways, the solution isn't elegant, it requires keeping the installation file for the version of XTU someone else had posted somewhere as the one they'd used with some success. So I'll list the versions of everything I'm running. And hopefully everyone who picks up this wonderful black bricks of a computer can enjoy ruining the benchmark standings, and their thermal paste much easier now.

HP Z440
Bios version - M60 v02.54
Bios date - 06/12/2020
Windows 10 21H1
Intel XTU 6.0.2.2
Throttlestop 9.4.2

That's it. That's all you need. We'll, and a much better cooling solution. I've got a 110mm radiator on my cooling loop for the CPU, and it keeps it around 42 degrees at 4ghz under full load. But the stock cooler well, wouldn't do that lmao.

So first off. If you have XTU, Uninstall it. And make sure to click Uninstall options and remove all profiles.

Put computer to sleep. This is *the* most important step. Several reasons why this process may not work (other tuning software running when XTU fires up, maybe a different bios? Idk, didn't try any others) but without putting it to sleep, the code intel had HP put in to lock the processors will be active.

Wake computer up.

Install throttlestop. Go in and unlock overclocking, and move the OC thread/core numbers up as much as you want. Doesn't matter, it's controlled in XTU i got bored of clicking around 65. Again, doesnt matter as long as its higher than the speed you want. I went and unlocked all the voltage controls in FIVR too. Don't bother changing anything. Again, only use XTU to make applicable changes.

Once that's done, close throttlestop, make sure it's not in the tray.

Install XTU. And hey presto, all the sliders are active. (Well enough to dial up the juice and have some fun!)

I've ran mine at 4.3 for a bit, using a CPU crypto miner to load it up, and it ran happy as can be. Then I decided it needed a lot more voltage. Which it disagreed strongly with, and froze. Once you reboot, you gotta Uninstall XTU, and reinstall, to get OC control back.

So now it's just sitting happy as can be at 4ghz, mining away on some coin that I'm sure isn't going to exist in a year, for 45 minutes now. When I get some time I'll start fine tuning and do a benchmark I can link to. But for now, a picture of the OC will have to suffice.

Happy free ghz and enjoy melting your once rather expensive xeon processors!

Cheers,

Robin.

[Rdgordon]

Sorry for some reason I can Divine little gaps in OEM nerfing of their own hardware, but posting a picture to a forum has baffled me. So here's the picture haha. https://imgur.com/gallery/gAk78sB

Hope this helps. And if you're now going to throw away all your threadripper and Epyc cpu's now that you can go from 10% of their performance with a $50 xeon, to 10.25% their performance, I'll happy dispose of them for you. Probably by stuffing way too many watts through them.

[kazmi789]

brother i tried your method but everytime i restart the system values of XTU goes back to normal and XTU get locked so i have to repeat the

 whole process ,  specially uninstalling and reinstalling XTU because after wakeup from sleep the XTU did not show unlocked core so i have to reinstall taht solve the problem.  so kindly tell if there any specific way to save OC setting so i do not have to apply it everytime. and whats your experience did your OC values remained save after reboot.

[KEV]

Has there been any updates to this? For some reason the picture you posted is gone. I would like to speed up the core clocks to max boost speed and undervolt the entire system for max efficiency. Any suggestions?

[systemmow]

If XTU fails to display unlocked cores after waking a computer from sleep mode, uninstall and reinstall it. With the goal of minimizing the system's overall workload and maximizing the performance of the core clocks.

[197]

BE WARNED INCREASING VOLTAGE IN YOUR CPU REDUCES THE LIFE OF YOUR CPU.  THESE XEONS WILL LAST A VERY LONG TIME WITHOUT OVERCLOCKING...BUT WILL NOT BE AS VALUABLE IN THE
 
YOU ARE FOLLOWING THESE DIRECTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK..WHILE I HAVE NOT BURNED UP A CPU OR A MOTHERBOARD YOU MAY.  MAKE SURE YOU GET A PROPER MONITOR.  I USE HWiNFO64.  MAKE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR TEMPERATURE READINGS.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AT LEAST THE Z440 COOLER WITH PART NUMBER 749554-001.  THERE ARE A NUMBER OF CPU COOLERS FROM HP BUT FROM WHAT I HAVE READ THIS IS THE BEST FROM HP (YOU HAVE  OPTIONS FOR AFTERMARKET THAT ARE BETTER), MOST COMMON AND CHEAPEST ON EBAY.  I PAID $20 SHIPPED FOR 2 BUT YOU PROBABLY HAVE THE CORRECT ONE.  I AM NOT NOT BE ABLE TO RUN ALL DAY LONG IN CINEBENCH R23. I THINK THE ISSUE IS TDP and 8 CORES 16 THREADS OF THE E5-1680 v3 I am running...a 1650 v3 may run all day long.  WATCH YOUR THERMALS.
 
I got most of this info from various posts on the HP site and others (Miyconst Hardware on youtube did a good review but it wasn't for a Z440.. look up overclock e5-1660 v3 in his channel) but the best was THIS PAGE
though the instructions were not step by step.  I am giving you step by step instructions below.
I am only posting this to answer questions for people who might happen onto this post.  To solve this issue ghosting out you need to uninstall and reinstall XTU (Extreme Tuning Utility).  Today the protocol I use to get up to 4.2 ghz (I have maxed out at 4.4 ghz but it isn't stable) is to use an older XTU (I am using 6.0.2.2) in conjunction with with an older throttle stop (I am using 9.4.2) and a sleep cycle.  I also have a bios revision from 2020 (I don't remember the version). 
I USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS WITH A E5-1680 v3.  BE CAREFUL AS THEY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOUR CPU.... BUT I HAVE SEEN THEM USED FOR E5-1660 v3.
First time:
1. Install XTU (I don't remember where I got my version from)... do not run.
2. Put your computer to sleep and then wake.
3. Run Throttle Stop (I run it right out of the zip file I got from   Tech Power-up...I don't unzip it)
4. Go into FIVER and in turbo ratio limits set the highest active core to what you want.  I usually set it to 44 (this times 100 is 4.4 ghz... though I never get this).  Then under CPU core voltage you set the voltage to what you want (I usually set this to 1.26v and leave it on adaptive). Then click ok.
5. Then in the main menu in Throttle Stop click set multiplier and then set it to 44t.
6. Then close Throttle Stop.   You do not need hit save or turn on or anything else... in fact I don't think you want to.
7.Then run XTU.
8. In XTU click advanced tuning.
9. Set your core voltage (it may already be set to what you set it at in Throttle Stop).
10.  In multipliers you will need to change  whatever is there even if it is what you set it in Throttle Stop.  I usually go down to 43. Then hit apply.  The reason you need to change it is you need to apply the change in XTU.  IF THE SYSTEM LOCKS UP YOU WILL NEED TO  LOWER THE MULTIPLIER OR INCREASE VOLTAGE.  BE CAREFUL WITH  THE VOLTAGE.   IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING AT SOME POINT IT WILL FRY THE CPU BY INCREASING THE VOLTAGE.  ALSO YOU ARE CAPPED BY WHAT YOU SET IN THROTTLE STOP.
When you reboot (or if you come out of sleep AND THE MULTIPLIER IS RESET so you are not getting the clock speeds you want) you will need to uninstall XTU and then repeat all the steps.
I did a brief study where I set the multiplier to 45 and set the voltage to ~1.260V and slowly dropped the voltage down.  At 1.2607 V I was only hitting 4.190 GHz and an occasional 4.290 GHz (the frequencies are reported from MSI Afterburner but I think MSI Afterburner rounds up between each 0.09 GHz so if you are running at 4.191 GHz it reports 4.290).  The lower I went with voltage the more time the frequency spent in the 4.290 GHz region.  I don’t recall (and I didn’t record in my notes) it ever going above 4.290 GHz .  The system crashed when I set the voltage to 1.23535V.    The only load the system was under was the Fortnite home screen. 

Under Passmark I would get intermittent crashes at 1.25781V.  I found stability at 1.2607 V (CPU Mark 15571 vs 13761 model average.

Another time using static core voltage and while playing with settings I do recall going to 4.490 ghz but being very unstable.

HP Z440
Bios version - M60 v02.56
Bios date - 11/4/2020
Windows 10.0 22h2
Intel XTU 6.0.2.2
Throttlestop 9.4.2

[197]

Hi yall,
HP Z440
Bios version - M60 v02.54
Bios date - 06/12/2020
Windows 10 21H1
Intel XTU 6.0.2.2
Throttlestop 9.4.2

I recently bought a Z440 motherboard that appears to never have had it's BIOS updated.  It is v 1.12.0.0 with a copyright date of 2015.  Anyway you can just use Throttlestop without all the hoops (sleep is necessary).