--AMD Athlon II X4 620--

BigBruiserAl · 2 Oct 2009 at 21:47

Well it arrived at last, just had a very quick play dont forgot the board is a 590i chipset Mobo is older then me so will limit the CPU bargin for a x4

rxmac · 18 Oct 2009 at 17:48

Have to say i have recently had one of these and i am pleasantly surprised by it. At similar speed to a 955, ie overclocked to 3.2 Ghz its, for the most part, similar performance to a stock 955 thanks i suspect to the extra bandwidth afforded to it from the higher FSB and mine went onto 3.7ghz before running out of steam, though i was unsure of what is regarded as "safe" voltage wise so err'd on the side of caution and kept it to 1.45v. I haven't bothered priming it yet but it went through pcmark vantage (takes well over an hour) so its reasonably stable i would have thought) anyway i would recommend one if you can't quite stretch to a Phenom.

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PermaBanned · 18 Oct 2009 at 17:51

Is it true that some of these are just Phenom's with locked L3? IE, you can unlock it?

rxmac · 18 Oct 2009 at 18:03

I have seen evidence around the web that would suggest so, i however tried to unlock mine, and failed. I couldn't connect to Gigabyes websit to update my ancient shipping bios though.

gurusan · 18 Oct 2009 at 18:05

they really are quite good for the price. well done

Mul · 18 Oct 2009 at 18:15

Good work, folks. These are really nice chips for the money

Superewza said:
Is it true that some of these are just Phenom's with locked L3? IE, you can unlock it?

Yes and no. It's luck of the draw really as at least for now, there are both native L3'less Quads in production (These will have AD in their batch codes, such as CADZC AD 0932 DPMW) as well as crippled Denebs (which have AC in their batch codes such as CACZC AC 0932 DPMW) . It's luck of the draw as to which you'll receive but I'd hazard a guess that you're more likely to get a native Propus core (no L3).

McstylisT · 18 Oct 2009 at 18:26

For price they just can not be beat. Great for desktop based work and i am guessing they wont be that bad at gaming.

Cant fault them personally.

McT

rxmac · 18 Oct 2009 at 19:12

Mul said:
Good work, folks. These are really nice chips for the money

Yes and no. It's luck of the draw really as at least for now, there are both native L3'less Quads in production (These will have AD in their batch codes, such as CADZC AD 0932 DPMW) as well as crippled Denebs (which have AC in their batch codes such as CACZC AC 0932 DPMW) . It's luck of the draw as to which you'll receive but I'd hazard a guess that you're more likely to get a native Propus core (no L3).

Looks like i am out of luck then if this is correct, and i have no reason to doubt it, as mine is an AD

ah well you can't win them all, its still a nice cpu for the ££ all the same.

BigBruiserAl · 18 Oct 2009 at 21:07

Have mine Rock solid at 3.5Ghz and have ripped and encoded 700 DVD's on to my HDD (All owned by me legal i might add

) and this chip is awsome. load temps never above 45c but 24/7 Vcore seems to 1.5Max for now

rxmac · 19 Oct 2009 at 07:49

So 1.5v is considered safe for these then?

I did have a quick search but couldn't find anything so assumed a similar "safe" voltage as the 45nm Intel chips ie 1.45v?

gurusan · 19 Oct 2009 at 08:00

safe is 1.5ish....Intel chips are a bit different

BigBruiserAl · 19 Oct 2009 at 09:00

rxmac said:
So 1.5v is considered safe for these then?

I did have a quick search but couldn't find anything so assumed a similar "safe" voltage as the 45nm Intel chips ie 1.45v?

Yes mate so far some i have seen people using 1.55vcore with no problems so most of are calling 1.5max safe for now. mind you to get 3.5 im only using 1.425 so no problems anyway

SMAndy · 19 Oct 2009 at 16:08

I agree with the 1.5v safe point. 1.55v should be ok, but its best to err on the side of caution. From what i've read, that 0.05v difference doesn't add much headroom. Just keep an eye on temps. 55°C is the highest i'd let an AMD chip go, ever. They say its safe to go to 65 ish, but how do you know all the sensors in your PC are accurate?

Can't remember what my vcore is... I'm at work, so my cpuz validator page is currently blocked. I'll see if i remember to edit this post tonight when i get home to add it in.

BigBruiserAl · 19 Oct 2009 at 22:40

SMAndy said:
I agree with the 1.5v safe point. 1.55v should be ok, but its best to err on the side of caution. From what i've read, that 0.05v difference doesn't add much headroom. Just keep an eye on temps. 55°C is the highest i'd let an AMD chip go, ever. They say its safe to go to 65 ish, but how do you know all the sensors in your PC are accurate?

Can't remember what my vcore is... I'm at work, so my cpuz validator page is currently blocked. I'll see if i remember to edit this post tonight when i get home to add it in.

As long as its he propus chip its max temp is 71c i did do stress test at 65c making sure it ok and no problems. your are right though how accurate at the sensors i would say 65 while benching should be ok as daily apps should be no where near