GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS PRO-AX Review

Overclocking

Initially I thought I’d have time to do some basic overclocking with the PRO-AX, but doing so with an early BIOS and on a board with no POST code display is a recipe for frustration. That said, I was able to eek out a quick 6.1GHz validation with the Core i5 10900K using the KPE Gemini container. I would say though that such exercises are better suited to the Master or the Ultra models.

For more regular overclocking, I found that the PRO-AX out the box boosts the Core i5-10600K to 5.1GHz across all cores. Manual overclocking only adds 100MHz to this. Unexpected behavior and certainly not within specification, but well appreciated. The PRO-AX effectively simplifies the process taking your CPU to a comfortable edge. Not sure if this is intended behavior, but I most certainly didn’t mind it.

With such high hopes for DRAM clocking, I have to say I was a little disappointed to only reach 4,266MT/s reliably. While I did manage to pass a number of benchmarks at 4,400MT/s, the system was ultimately unstable. With more time and a new BIOS perhaps I’m confident the motherboard can reach, at the very least 4,600MT/s with the same DRAM kit and with full stability. On the CPU side of things though, the PRO-AX should overclock any CPU just as well as any motherboard money can buy.

You are here: Page 9 – Overclocking

Jump to page…Page 1 – IntroductionPage 2 – PowerPage 3 – Board FeaturesPage 4 – General ImpressionsPage 5 – UEFI & Test methodsPage 6 – BenchmarksPage 7 – Benchmarks IIPage 8 – Benchmarks IIIPage 9 – OverclockingPage 10 – Conclusion