We overclock the Core Ultra 9 285K up to 5716 MHz in 5 minutes or less using the ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Apex motherboard and custom loop cooling.

I’ll speedrun you through the BIOS settings and provide some notes and tips along the way. Please note that this is for entertainment purposes only and not the whole picture. Please don’t copy these settings and apply them to your system. If you want to learn how to overclock this system, please check out the longer SkatterBencher guide.

All right, let’s do this.

5 Minute Speedrun

When you’ve entered the BIOS, go to the Extreme Tweaker menu.

Set Performance Preferences to ASUS Advanced OC Profile. This sets a number of BIOS options that help with overclocking, including some that override Intel’s default parameters.

Set Ai Overclock Tuner to XMP I. This lets us rely on the Intel Extreme Memory Profile 3.0 technology and will make our memory run at its rated speed of DDR5-8400. Selecting “XMP I” means the motherboard will load the XMP profile’s primary timings, frequency, and voltage. However, we let the motherboard tune the secondary timings.

Set ASUS MultiCore Enhancement to Enabled – Remove All Limits. This unleashes the Turbo Boost 2.0 power limits and lets the CPU run at unlimited power indefinitely.

Set Performance Core Ratio to By Core Usage. This enables us to configure a dynamic P-core overclock as we can define the maximum allowed P-core ratio for a specified number of active P-cores.

• Set 1-Core to 6-Core Ratio Limit to 58
• Set 7-Core and 8-Core Ratio Limit to 56

Enter the Specific Performance Core submenu. Here we can define a maximum allowed ratio for each P-core individually.

• Set Performance Core0 to Core5 Specific Ratio Limit to 56.83
• Set Performance Core6 and Core7 Specific Ratio Limit to 57.16

Leave the Specific Performance Core submenu

Set Efficient Core Ratio to By Core Usage. This enables us to configure a dynamic E-core overclock as we can define the maximum allowed E-core ratio for a specified number of active E-cores.

Enter the By E-Core Usage submenu.

• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Limit 1 to 53
• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Cores 1 to 4
• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Limit 2 to 52
• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Cores 2 to 12
• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Limit 3 to 50
• Set Efficient Turbo Ratio Cores 3 to 16

Leave the By E-Core Usage submenu.

Enter the Specific Efficient Core submenu. Here we can define a maximum allowed ratio for each E-core cluster, individually.

• Set Efficient Core Group0, Group1, and Group3 Specific Ratio Limit to 53
• Set Efficient Core Group2 Specific Ratio Limit to 54

Leave the Specific Efficient Core submenu

Set DRAM Frequency to DDR5-8000. I had to do this because this particular kit was not stable at the rated XMP-8400 frequency. Note that we still rely on the XMP timings and voltages even though we’ve reduced the frequency by a couple of steps.

Enter the Thermal Velocity Boost submenu

Set TVB Voltage Optimizations to Disabled. This prevents the CPU from automatically reducing the operating voltage when the CPU is operating at a lower temperature.

Set Overclocking TVB to Enabled. This allows us to restrict the P-core and E-core Turbo Ratio depending on the CPU operating temperature. In our case, we want to restrict the P-cores to 55X when 7 or 8 P-cores are active and the temperature exceeds 70 degrees Celsius.

Set OC TVB Configuration Limit to Per P-core Group

Set OC TVB Ratio Item Mode to Per Core Mode

• Set 7- and 8-Core Active to Enabled
• For 7- and 8-Core Active, set Temperature A to 70
• For 7- and 8-Core Active, set Negative Ratio Offset A to 1

Leave the Thermal Velocity Boost submenu

Enter the Max Voltage Limits submenu. Intel has imposed strict voltage limits for their CPUs for the first time. By default, the voltage limit is +200mV over the default maximum VID. We can increase this to +300 mV.

Set E-Core Max Voltage Limits to 1.361

Leave the Max Voltage Limits submenu

Enter the Performance Core V/F Point Offset submenu. Here we want to undervolt all P-cores at V/F Point 5 and 6 which are mapped to ratios 53X and 55X respectively. Furthermore, we increase the voltage for the non-favored P-cores at V/F Point 8 which maps to 57X.

Set V/F Point Present Mode to Per Core Mode

For Performance Core 0 to 5 V/F Point Offset,

• Set V/F Point Voltage Control Mode to Manual Mode
• Set V/F Point 5 Offset to -50
• Set V/F Point 6 Offset to -15
• Set V/F Point 8 Offset to +50

For Performance Core 6 and 7 V/F Point Offset,

• Set V/F Point Voltage Control Mode to Manual Mode
• Set V/F Point 5 Offset to -50
• Set V/F Point 6 Offset to -15

Leave the Performance Core V/F Point Offset submenu

Enter the Efficient Core V/F Point Offset submenu. Here we want to undervolt the E-cores at V/F Point 6 which maps to 46X.

• Set V/F Point Present Mode to All Core Mode
• Set V/F Point Voltage Control Mode to Manual Mode
• Set V/F Point 6 Offset to -75

Leave the Efficient Core V/F Point Offset submenu

Enter the Tweaker’s Paradise submenu

Set High d2d cold boot workaround to Enabled. This helps fix some booting issues when the CPU-D2D is overclocked.

Leave the Tweaker’s Paradise submenu

Set Max. CPU Cache Ratio to 42. That increases the Ring frequency by 300 MHz from the default 3.9 GHz.

Set NGU Ratio to 34. That increases the NGU frequency by 800 MHz from the default 2.6 GHz.

Set CPU D2D Ratio to 38. That increases the CPU D2D frequency by 1.7 GHz from the default 2.1 GHz.

Set Performance Core DLVR Voltage to Adaptive Mode. That enables us to set an adaptive voltage mapped to each P-core’s “OC Ratio” which is defined by Per Core Ratio Limit.

Set Additional Turbo mode Voltage to 0.600. That avoids any auto-rules overriding our wish to rely on the factory-fused V/F curve and V/F Point undervolt.

Set Efficient Core DLVR Voltage to Adaptive Mode. That enables us to set an adaptive voltage mapped to each E-core cluster’s “OC Ratio” which is defined by Per Core Ratio Limit.

Set Additional Turbo mode Voltage to 1.250.

Set Ring DLVR Voltage to Adaptive Mode. That enables us to set an adaptive voltage mapped to the Ring’s “OC Ratio” which is defined by the Ring ratio. That means the Ring has an adjusted V/F curve that goes up to the set adaptive voltage and specified Ring ratio.

Set Additional Turbo mode Voltage to 1.200.

Set CPU System Agent Voltage to Manual Mode. This dynamic voltage rail powers several parts of the SOC dielet, including the NGU, IMC, and NPU. By setting it to manual mode, we can set a static output voltage from the voltage regulator.

Set CPU System Agent Voltage Override to 1.300.

Set VNNAON 0.77v Voltage to Manual Mode. This static voltage rail powers several internal voltages, including the D2D interfaces. The VnnAON voltage is pretty important for Arrow Lake CPUs as it is part of the voltage multiplexer for many IP blocks, including the cores and ring, typically serving as the floor voltage in power-saving scenarios.

Set VNNAON Voltage Override to 1.000.

Then save and exit the BIOS.

Core Ultra 9 285K Overclock Performance Improvement

We re-run some benchmarks to ensure everything works as intended and check the performance increase compared to the default settings. Higher is better, and all are higher.

The highest Core Clock reported in the operating system is 5716 MHz.

When running the OCCT CPU SSE Stability Test, the average CPU P-core effective clock is 5419 MHz with 1.218 volts and the average CPU E-core effective clock is 5000 MHz with 1.219 volts. The average CPU temperature is 103.0 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 365.3 watts.

And that’s it. Thank you for reading, the patrons and YouTube members for their support, and see you next time!