I have now been running an 8700K + Z170 combination for over a month and I can say there is not a single downside of running an unsupported rig like this.
Nick Shih from Asrock published a bios for coffee lake cpus for both Z170 and Z170m OC formula and they work perfectly and formula drive utility to change settings in the os.
I made a video on youtube about the process step by step:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW8e5HThe3w
Long and short the old motherboards pretty much only need a custom bios with coffee lake microcodes to support the new cpus. The 6 core models also need a physical pin mod on the bottomside of the cpus to allow the system to start aka pull the system low.
The best way to short the two pads is to use soft pencil or conductive silver paint. Using soldering iron is not wise as the bottom side easilly becomes uneven and can damage something when you clamp the cpu down.
Link to the original Asrock + Z170 thread at hwbot: https://community.hwbot.org/topic/175489-asrock-z170-mocf-lives-on-coffee-lake-mods/
Bios for Asrock Z170 OC Formula: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z17OCF7.51A_CFL.rar
Bios for Asrock Z170M OC Formula: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z17MOCF7.51D_CFL.rar
Asrock Formula drive: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/AFDSetup(v3.0.209.1).rar
So far overclocking 8700K doesnt differ at all from 7700K and I can reach very good memory speeds and a high cpu overclock. All the PCI-E slots and sata ports work fully and so does the m.2 slot. VRM temperatures are fine so far also as the boards have decent vrm.
5.4/5.0 Cinebench R15 1.3v:
DDR4-4260 16-16-16-28 1T 1.44v:
There is a guide at Win-raid to create your own bios to any Z170/Z270 board as the issue is that vendors will likely not be releasing this for every board out there.
Nick Shih from Asrock published a bios for coffee lake cpus for both Z170 and Z170m OC formula and they work perfectly and formula drive utility to change settings in the os.
I made a video on youtube about the process step by step:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW8e5HThe3w
Long and short the old motherboards pretty much only need a custom bios with coffee lake microcodes to support the new cpus. The 6 core models also need a physical pin mod on the bottomside of the cpus to allow the system to start aka pull the system low.
The best way to short the two pads is to use soft pencil or conductive silver paint. Using soldering iron is not wise as the bottom side easilly becomes uneven and can damage something when you clamp the cpu down.
Link to the original Asrock + Z170 thread at hwbot: https://community.hwbot.org/topic/175489-asrock-z170-mocf-lives-on-coffee-lake-mods/
Bios for Asrock Z170 OC Formula: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z17OCF7.51A_CFL.rar
Bios for Asrock Z170M OC Formula: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z17MOCF7.51D_CFL.rar
Asrock Formula drive: https://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/AFDSetup(v3.0.209.1).rar
So far overclocking 8700K doesnt differ at all from 7700K and I can reach very good memory speeds and a high cpu overclock. All the PCI-E slots and sata ports work fully and so does the m.2 slot. VRM temperatures are fine so far also as the boards have decent vrm.
5.4/5.0 Cinebench R15 1.3v:
DDR4-4260 16-16-16-28 1T 1.44v:
There is a guide at Win-raid to create your own bios to any Z170/Z270 board as the issue is that vendors will likely not be releasing this for every board out there.
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