Every how-to on the site, collected in one place and sorted by what you are trying to do rather than by socket, plus complete CPU lists by socket. Most of them came out of work on Chinese X99 boards, since that is what this site covers most, and each entry says which platform it applies to.
Table of Contents
Flashing the BIOS: tools and common failures
- Intel FPT error 103FPT refuses to write and reports error 103. What the error means on a Chinese board, and how to get the flash through anyway.
- CH341A voltage problemThe cheap CH341A programmer drives its data lines at a voltage many BIOS chips were never meant to see. What goes wrong, and the fixes people have worked out, from the quick one to the permanent one.
BIOS mods: unlocking CPUs, memory and hidden features
- Coffee ModRun 8th and 9th generation Core CPUs on 100- and 200-series boards that were never meant to take them.
- Unlock CPU and memory overclockingPatch the firmware on an X79 board to get overclocking options the vendor left switched off.
- Add Resizable BAR to the BIOSBring Resizable BAR to a board whose manufacturer never shipped support for it.
- Unlock memory timings on X79Reach the full timing set instead of the handful the stock BIOS exposes.
- Unlock memory timings on X99The same job one generation later, where the procedure and the tools differ.
Overclocking and tuning
- Set the base clock to exactly 100 MHzBoards rarely sit precisely on 100, and every other frequency in the system inherits the error. How to pin it down.
- S3TurboToolThe most convenient way to unlock the turbo boost (TBU) on Haswell-EP CPUs.
- Overclocking through Intel XTUThe short answer on getting XTU to work with an X99 board.
- How to disable CPU coresCut the active core count, either from Windows or through the BIOS.
Windows 11 on Chinese X99: TPM, Secure Boot and UEFI
- TPM 2.0 on Chinese X99 boardsWhat your board can and cannot do about TPM, and how to turn on what is there.
- Secure Boot on Chinese X99 boardsHow to set Secure Boot up, switch it on and check that it is actually working.
- UEFI fix for 5-series X99 boardsThe boot-mode problem specific to these boards, and the fix for it.
Intel CPU lists by socket
- Socket 478 CPU listEvery Pentium 4, Celeron and Celeron D for Socket 478, filterable by core, FSB and TDP, plus what decides whether a chip runs in your board.
- LGA775 CPU listEvery Pentium 4, Pentium D, Core 2, Celeron and Xeon for LGA775, plus the LGA771 Xeons that work after the mod, filterable by FSB, TDP, cores and VT-x.
- LGA1151 CPU listEvery 6th to 9th gen Core, Pentium, Celeron and Xeon E3, E-2100 and E-2200 for LGA1151, plus engineering samples, modified chips and the CC150, with chipset compatibility.
- LGA1200 CPU listEvery 10th and 11th gen Core, Pentium Gold, Celeron and Xeon for LGA1200, filterable by family, cores, TDP and ECC, plus which chipset runs which generation.
- LGA2066 CPU listEvery Core X-series for X299 and Xeon W-2100/W-2200 for C422, filterable by cores, TDP and PCIe lanes, plus which board runs which chip and what to buy.
- LGA3647 CPU listEvery Xeon Scalable of the 1st and 2nd gen, the W-3175X and W-3200, and the OEM cloud chips like the 8259CL, filterable by cores, TDP and socket count, plus which board runs which chip.
AMD CPU lists by socket
- Socket 754 CPU listEvery Athlon 64, Sempron and mobile Turion 64 for Socket 754, filterable by core, revision and TDP, plus how to read the OPN and which chips have SSE3 and AMD64.
- Socket 939 CPU listEvery Athlon 64, X2, FX, Opteron and Sempron for Socket 939, filterable by core, revision and TDP, plus which chips have SSE3 and which run in your board.
- AM2 and AM2+ CPU listEvery Athlon 64, Athlon X2, Phenom, Sempron and Opteron for Socket AM2 and AM2+, filterable by cores and TDP, plus which chips run in which board.
- AM3 and AM3+ CPU listEvery Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron, FX and Opteron for Socket AM3 and AM3+, filterable by cores and TDP, plus which chips run in which board and which can unlock extra cores.
- FM2 and FM2+ CPU listEvery A-Series APU, Athlon and Sempron for Socket FM2 and FM2+, from Trinity to Carrizo, filterable by graphics, cores and TDP, plus which chips run in which board.
- AM4 CPU listEvery Ryzen, Athlon and A-series APU for Socket AM4, from Bristol Ridge to the last Ryzen 5000 and X3D chips, filterable by series, architecture and graphics, plus which chipset runs which generation.
- AM5 CPU listEvery Ryzen 7000, 8000 and 9000, X3D and PRO chip plus the EPYC 4004 and 4005 for Socket AM5, filterable by series, graphics and features, plus BIOS and chipset notes for each generation.
Unusual hardware
- AMD BC-250 as a gaming PCA PS5 chip on an old mining board: power, cooling, BIOS flashing, Linux setup, unlocking 8 cores and 40 CUs, and how it does in games.
Where to go next
Most of these guides lean on the same handful of programs, and all of them are collected with download links and notes in the BIOS tools and tuning software section.