Skylake is the current generation of CPUs for the mainstream platform from Intel. It came out H2 last year. Some unapproved (by Intel) UEFI updates from ASRock allowed base clock overclocking of their non-K skus. For a while there it looked like Intel was OK with it, as other motherboard vendors bring out their own UEFI updates to unlock base clock overclocking for non-K skus.
In the past, base clock overclocking was ignored because it was hard to get anything substantial out of it. To get really good overclocks you had to buy a K-sku processor. That changed with Skylake. The technical reasons are beside the point.
Very recently UEFI updates started pulling this functionality. The obvious reason is because Intel had a word with these companies. Now people are mad, calling Intel "the height of arrogance". Really? Is Intel really at the height of their arrogance? Real overclocking has been blocked on non-K skus since Sandy Bridge era. We're talking Jan 2011 era. The lack of real overclocking tools for non-K skus has been a thing for FIVE YEARS. This is nothing new. Nobody expected for base clock overclocking to be allowed on non-K skus when Skylake came out because to allow it now would be to remove the point of K-skus. If you want to overclock, buy a K-sku processor.
Yeah, patching the loophole is a problematic PR move. But it's only problematic because consumers wouldn't react rationally. Yeah, AMD processors all allow overclocking. And they need it to catch up. They have no choice at this point anyways because they are so behind in single-threaded performance. The premium Intel is charging for K-skus is small, $50 or less. Yes, it's problematic for people who want to overclock on an i3 part. That's life. Intel is in the driver's seat, and all things considered, it could have been much worse. People are mad that they were given the ability to cheat through something they couldn't do before, and that the loophole got patched.
Actually, did the loophole get patched? You can bet that the UEFI versions which allow overclocking on those chips get reuploaded somewhere else. If you want somebody to blame, blame the motherboard vendors for getting your hopes up by cheating. If you really want to blame more people, blame Intel for having the unlocked-sku system, but don't be selective about it, hate all of it. I don't hear outrage about locked processors since probably the initial change with Sandy. People were OK with it. Now they're not. Or maybe these people can blame themselves for being whiny little kids.
Do people complain with the same ferocity when Intel turned tick tock to tick tick tock and then to tick tick tick tock? Intel needs a new clock because their current one is broken, lacking competition, motivation (desktop performance is hardly the bee's knees nowadays), and easy node shrinks/improvements. Oh, but they don't.
Yeah, people just want to whine that their cheat got patched. It seems far more egregious to stop a nifty loophole than to have rules that made such loopholes necessary in the first place. The grand irony is that the rants about Intel fixing a loophole and thus proving themselves to be arrogant actually just demonstrate the arrogance of the people who make such a rant.
