MSI’s B660M Mortar MAX WIFI Pushes Intel’s Core i5-13600K To An Impressive 5.8 GHz OC With Special BIOS

Intel's 13th Gen CPUs were launched to great reception but just like the previous generation, the Z790 motherboards were the only platform to support overclocking capabilities leaving out B660 owners, however, MSI has a special BIOS which would let users regain the ability to overclock an Intel Raptor Lake unlocked CPU on its B660M Mortar Max WIFI motherboard.

B660 & 13th Gen Overclocking? MSI Makes It Possible With Its B660M Mortar MAX WIFI Motherboard, Up To 5.8 GHz OC Achieved on Intel Core i5-13600K

So let me tell you first why this news is big for existing MSI B660M Mortar MAX WIFI Motherboard owners. When Intel launched its 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs, they were only overclockable on the Z790 or Z690 motherboards. Owners of the mainstream B660 series motherboards, despite having clock-gen support on a few models, weren't able to overclock the latest chips due to a BIOS lock. In the following screenshot that we were able to acquire, you can note that the BCLK can be adjusted up to 125 MHz:

Users could only go as far as 102.9 MHz (BCLK) however MSI has a Special BIOS which will let the user surpass that limit with ease. The Special BIOS is 'E7D97IMS.123U24' and can be downloaded directly from our cloud hosting link below (you can alternatively download it from the Google Drive link here too).

MSI B660M Mortar MAX WIFI Motherboard Special BIOS 'Download' E7D97IMS.123U24

With the default BIOS, the CPU will only support a BCLK of up to 102.9 MHz or a 5.25 GHz clock frequency so if you use anything above that BCLK, the motherboard will simply revert to the older version of the CPU microcode (that doesn't support 13th Gen CPUs).

MSI MAG B660M Mortar Max WIFI + Intel Core i5-13600K BIOS Stock (Image Credits: HKEPC):

MSI MAG B660M Mortar Max WIFI + Intel Core i5-13600K BIOS OC (Image Credits: HKEPC):

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With the Special BIOS, however, the MSI B660M Mortar MAX WIFI motherboard can hit a maximum of 113 MHz BCLK with auto voltage, allowing for a 5.76 GHz P-Core and 4.40 GHz E-Core frequency on Intel's Core i5-13600K CPU. That's a +660 MHz P-Core and a +500 MHz E-Core clock bump with 1.25 Volts.

With slightly higher voltage, users can even surpass 5.8 GHz P-Core & 4.44 GHz E-Core clocks which are truly impressive. Only at 115 MHz did the performance start to deteriorate since the CPU was hitting its TjMax but it did post 5.86 GHz P-Core and 4.48 GHz E-Core clocks.

MSI MAG B660M Mortar Max WIFI + Intel Core i5-13600K Frequencies (Image Credits: HKEPC):

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HKEPC provides the following guide if you want to plan an Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPU such as the Core i5-13600K on the MSI B660M Mortar MAX WIFI motherboard:

1. B-CLK overclocking will not affect DMI and PCIe, so it will not pose a problem to system stability, but the memory will be affected. If you enable the memory XMP Profile, remember to lower the memory multiplier.
2. The physique of each Core i5-13600K / KF is also different. You can slowly test its limit. If you plan to travel 24 X 7 for a long time, it is of course best to run stably without adding voltage. Too much, everything is too much fate is bound to die early.
3. This BIOS is not officially provided. MicroCode has not added the 13th generation Non-K model, and can only support the 13th generation K model CPU.
4. Core i7-13700K / Core i9-13900K has a higher clock speed, and the B-CLK overclocking space is limited, so if I want to play B660 B-CLK OC, I will choose Core i5-13600K, which is more cost-effective and has a larger range.

We can already understand why overclocking is locked for Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs on the older B660 motherboards. Having OC enabled on the previous-gen mainstream products will give users no reason to invest in a higher-end and more expensive Z790 or Z690 motherboard. They'll get the same overclocking capabilities and performance out of their existing and cheaper boards. The only downside is that the MSI MAG B660M Mortar MAX WIFI is limited to DDR4 at the moment and we have really started to see the benefits of DDR5 in the 13th Gen lineup. Maybe we'll see MSI launch a successor to the B660M Mortar MAX WIFI based on the B760 chipset early next year with similar overclocking support at a fantastic price? Who knows?