The BIOS:
As far as the BIOS is concerned, if you are not a regular user of the brand, you may be a bit lost and this is normal. We will try to briefly go around, as it is so complete, in order to highlight the different features. Personally, I really like the structure chosen by EVGA, especially the memory section.
As a reminder, you can access the bios by pressing the ” suppr ” key when you start your PC or when you clear CMOS. Sorry, but I can’t take screenshots with the F12 key. It never chooses my USB key to save them. As you can see, we end up with a screen that will offer you four choices:
- Enter Setup (advanced configuration) which allows you to access all the parameters. It is of course in this part that you will spend the most time.
- Default Mode to restore your configuration with the default settings.
- Gamer Mode, which in our case, offers us to overclock our processor to 4.5 GHz.
- EVGA OC ROBOT (auto overclock) which will try to push your processor to the maximum by playing on the voltage and checking the temperature.
We will come back to these different modes in the overclocking section. The BIOS we will use for the test is the 2.05.
The different tabs :
In the upper left corner you will find the tab “EXTRAS”. Here you can check the stability of your overclocking and activate the OC ROBOT. You also have the possibility to use the eight overclocking profiles for the memory. Note that EVGA is the only brand to offer 8000 MT/s profiles for Hynix A-die chips.
Finally, you can update your BIOS by choosing on your USB key the BIOS to flash. A vertical USB port is located directly on the PCB of your Z690 DARK.
The “OC” tab will focus on the different options concerning the processor as well as the voltages. It is also in this section that you can manage the ” Load Line Calibration ” which at EVGA is called ” VCore Vdroop “. It is expressed here in percentage. It is also in this tab that you will find a large part of the settings for the voltages.
Let’s move on to ” Memory “. Here you will be able to activate your XMP profile. As we keep reminding you, it is essential to activate the XMP (Intel) or DOCP (AMD) profile of your memory kit. Of course you have the opportunity to modify the timings and subtimings manually. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice on our forum and discord if you encounter any problems when setting up your BIOS.
Another important element is the regular update of your BIOS in order to avoid incompatibility problems with your memory kit for example. This is the latest BIOS to date that has solved all the problems with the Hynix A-Die.
Finally, saving profiles is highly recommended when testing. It saves time. You can also save them on a USB key and/or share them with another user with the same motherboard.
Now that we’ve had a look at the BIOS, it’s time to get our hands on it and overclock our Intel i9-13900K and our A-Die Teamgroup Delta RGB 7200 MT/s CL34 memory kit.
