Yes, you can still overclock Intel’s 12th Gen Core non-K processors

Intel's ‘non-K' processors are not supposed to be overclockable. However, enthusiasts have had success in the past when trying to overclock them via the BCLK, significantly improving the performance of such chips. So it was only a matter of time before someone tried it out with Intel's 12th Gen Core processors, and that someone was no other than Der8auer…

The German overclocker posted a video showing how users can use BCLK (base clock) to overclock their Alder Lake CPUs and how far he could push the Core i5-12400 and i5-12600 chips. Der8auer also ran a few benchmarks when running at stock and overclocked settings, allowing us to compare both sets of scores and see how much difference BCLK overclocking can actually make.

You won't be able to do BCLK overclocking on all motherboards, but the Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Apex and Hero are sure to work, at least using the 0811 BIOS. Der8auer also took a look at a B660 motherboard and the Asus ROG Strix Z690-I, but the option wasn't available. Based on his findings, Der8auer believes only high-end Z690 motherboards support BCLK overclocking, as only they feature an external clock generator.

To enable BCLK OC on Asus boards that support it, you'll have to go to the Extreme Tweaker tab and turn the setting on under Tweaker's Paradise. You must also enable the XMP II profile for your memory. After that, you can start tinkering with the BCLK frequency, performance core and all-core ratios, as well as the CPU core voltage. Other settings like DRAM frequency and CPU cache ratios must be adjusted, as changing the BCLK frequency will affect them.

De8auer was able to push his Core i5-12400 up to 5240MHz and the i5-12600 to 5100MHz. We would assume that the i5-12600 would go higher than the i5-12400 due to a supposedly better bin, but that wasn't the case, according to these results. In the i5-12400's case, the operating temperature increased considerably,  with cores hitting 96ºC at 138W.

Comparing the processors' stock and overclocked results on Cinebench R20 and TimeSpy Extreme, the i5-12400 improved by 33% and the i5-12600 by 16%. For gaming, the performance improvements were also noticeable, bumping the Core i5-12400's 1% minimum and average framerate in PUBG (1080p E-sport settings) by 14% and 20%, respectively. Performance in other games also improved, but to a lesser degree, including Far Cry 6 (1080p and 4K at high settings) and Battlefield 2042 (1080p at high settings).

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KitGuru says: If Asus motherboards can enable BCLK overclocking, we'd expect other manufacturers to also support this method. However, compatible boards are likely to be expensive as they need an external clock generator for it to work. If this component finds its way to cheaper boards, BCLK OC might become a viable option to consider for DIY PC builders in the future.

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