Phenom X2 unlocking?

[rswhelan1976]

Hi, this is my first post so please be understanding.
Tried unlocking new phenom x2 550 BE with no success on ASUS M4A785D-M Pro which I bought to act as an HTPC in bedroom. Noticed clicking sound from PSU ( Vantec 550W ) so swapped it out as short term thing with newer OCZ modXstream 780W. The strange thing is the extra 2 cores now unlock and is now 1 and a half hour prime 95 stable.

Old PSU showed no signs of being a problem so what is going on??

Didnt know if anybody else who has tried unlocking extra cores may find this useful as my PSU has definitley caused me issues with this.

Next question, what is going to be better for mainly gaming, E8200 from downstairs PC or new unlocked Phenom??

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Perhaps the 550W PSU is going kaput?? It is hard to say unless you were to measure the various lines under load with a voltmeter. However the clicking sound seems a bit ominous though!

If the CPUs are both at their default clockspeeds the unlocked Phenom II would be a better choice for gaming IMHO!

Here is a comparison of a 3GHZ Phenom II X4 940 and an E8200:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/80?vs=58

 

[rswhelan1976]

The clicking only seemed to happen after I tried to unlock the extra. The system would reboot, try to re-start and then hang with no post. Anyway, now at 2 hours prime95 with max temp being reprted by Asus PC Probe and spped fan as 42 degrees. Next stop to see how much I can get out of this chip.