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Advice on unlocking PII 550

Taziir

Taziir

Taziir

Associate
Joined
11 Dec 2009
Posts
703
Sorry for starting another thread about unlocking, bit late to the party ;).

I'm getting inconsistent results when attempting to unlock additional cores my PII 550BE and I hope you guys can offer some advice as I don't know much about changing bios settings or overclocking beyond what I've read on these boards :)

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-MX790X-UD3P with F5 Bios. EC is set to Hybrid and ACC is auto on all 4 cores. Everything else is set at stock settings, no overclock (yet) and I'm using a stock cooler.

Comp will post successfully and lists the cpu as Phenom II X4 B50 and Windows 7 64bit loads normally.

The weird part is that windows installed drivers for the extra cpu's and they show up in device manager, however CPU-Z and Prime95 only see 2 cores and msconfig only allows 2 cores as well.

I've tried setting ACC to 0% on individual cores but no luck getting CPU-Z to see more than 2.

Any ideas on how to get the 2 other cores recognised? I'd like to run stability tests to know if they can be used or whether I'm best turning my attention to overclocking the 2 cores I've got.
 
For reference, here is device manager, hard drive brought the rating down lol:
DeviceManager.jpg


And CPU-Z:
CPUZ.jpg


I would have thought if the unlocked cores were unusable I wouldn't see them in windows at all?

AMD Cool'n'Quiet or whatever it's called is disabled in bios too.
 
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Have you tried upping the voltage?

Your cores are unstable at the moment. Add some juice to see if they sort themselves out.
 
Tried increasing CPU Volt to 1.425 and NB Volt to 1.35 but no joy in getting cores to show up in CPU-Z.

Also tried increased volts and setting CPU & NB multiplier to lowest possible settings (CPU went down to 1 Ghz !) but no difference there.

Kinda messing around in the dark here, how should I approach this? Read elsewhere that reinstalling Win 7 might help, will give it a go tomorrow..
 
It sounds like youre not going to be able to get the cores stable. But first check you have a fully updated mobo bios.

It seems like you are on the cusp of stability as you are not crashing when booting into windows. Update your bios, reinstall windows, up all the voltages to maximum safe levels and see if they work.

Also check how many cores are running in task manager. Try running prime with 4 threads and see if that causes a crash
 
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18102013

Marvin suggested unchecking the 'Number of Processors' settings box in msconfig boot advanced. I also made sure Cool and Quiet was off in BIOS.

The result? Two unlocked cores :D Colour me happy, it works!

Ran it through Prime95 and got scared when it jumped to 64c in 2 minutes. No errors in that time though LOL. Time to buy a decent cooler and put the chip through it's paces.
4core2.jpg

Screenshot taken after I stopped the test, you can see the temps for TMPIN1 match Everest CPU temp for my mobo.
 
Nice one Taziir.

Going to put my 550 into a GA-MA785GMT-UD2H and have a bash tomorrow..
 
Good luck Atom hope it goes well.

FYI On Snax suggestion I went to a newer version of the bios (F6) for my board that added CPU core control, it's possible the earlier version may work but I'm not setting the bios back when this works heh.
 
Well done Taz. It is looking good.

Can I suggest you run an overnight Prime to test stability as 2 mins is not really long enough. It will also tell you if you need to up the voltage anywhere to increase stability. It will also provide you with a good reference for the settings for your system to be stable with 4 cores unlocked before any overclocking.

When I was fiddling with mine, if OCCT ran for longer than 3 mins without crashing, then the system was stable for the full hour OCCT test and 12hrs prime after that.

Good work!
 
I will do that Snax, you are right about the 2 min test. I stopped at that point as I got worried about temps.

TMPIN1 for me went to 63c in that test and seems to be the hottest of all the read outs, so is most likely to be the CPU. I'm running more thorough tests back in dual core and now see that it's +10c over stated core temps.

If I follow what others have done, assuming a reasonable max core temp of 62c according to AMD, I add 5c for safety, meaning that I could allow TMPIN1 to hit around 66-67c max? Or have I misunderstood the relationship between CPU and that sensor?

I'm going to order a Baram cooler for reassurance as much as the cooling ;) Dual core on stock cooler reaches 54c under stress, I have a baseline for comparison now.

When I have a handle on how far I can push the temps I will take your advice on stabilising the cores. When I've got the hang of that I'll have a go really pushing the chip.
 
For comparision, mine is cooled by a TT120 and maxes out at 30 degrees after running large FFTs for 15 mins. CPU is all stock settings.
 
I am not very clear on how all teh temperature sensors work, other than they dont work properly when unlocked, so I cant really offer any advice on that. There is a rough guide of understanding the cpu temp http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-core-unlocking-guide.html and this has worked fine for me.

On a positive note, I have an akasa nero 967 heatsink and fan and that keeps my dual core at something like 23 - 27 degrees. When unlocked it is sitting at 30 degrees running 3.4ghz on idle. The baram cooler you listed should keep the cpu nice and cool when unlocked

edit- after 5 mins of prime, my temps have plateauxed at 43 degrees unlocked at 3.4ghz
 
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Atom said:
Nice one Taziir.

Going to put my 550 into a GA-MA785GMT-UD2H and have a bash tomorrow..
Click to expand...

Nowt down,

Unlocked the cores and booted into windows succesfully, cpuz showing 4 cores.

However after windows installs the drivers and I reboot, it gets through the bios screen but blue screens as soon as it starts loading windows.
 
Good going Atom :) I think if you follow the advice from Snax posts by increasing CPU Volts and NB volts you should be able to stabalise the cores.

Could always try disabling one core at a time in case just one core is defective. I think your board bios can switch on separate cores in bios version F4 and F5.
 
Well seems stable on 3 cores primed for 90 mins. going to try some overclocking but will test overnight before I am happy with it.
 
Congrats on the Tri-Core. How did the tests go?

Expecting delivery of a Baram tomorrow so I should be able to do some proper testing.

*Edit* Ran Prime for 32 minutes with zero errors, max temp was 67 on the stock cooler, still within the limit I set, but only just. Hoping to see a real improvement in temps with the baram + fan
 
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Atom said:
Ran prime for 10 hours at 3.69 ghz. All stock volts. Passed with flying colours....
Click to expand...

Sweet chip you have right there :cool: How did the temps look?

Got the Baram in with just one fan, core temps maxxed at 35c dual core in Prime, 45c TMPIN1, looks like it's shaved about 10c without any refining. Will post quad prime test later, wife wants me to download her tv show first...
 
Not sure how to measure the temp as unlocking has disabled the temp probe.

Cant understand whats going on, I had It unlocked to a quad and it booted windows, so ran prime for 2 hours all well. Did a restart and now nothing will get it to boot as a quad. Tried at 1.5 volts on cpu and 1.3 volts NB.

Gave up, will do as a tri untill I can get a 965..
 
Tri-core overclocked is impressive. Haven't gone for an overclock yet, but 4 cores @ 3.1 and stock volts passed 7 hour Prime. If this chip can oc even a little it will be a bonus.
 
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