Unlocking AMD 64 X2 7550 to Phenom FX-7750 quad core

[jinpayne]

Hi guys im new to overclocking and by new I mean never done it.. im looking to do it in the next few days with some of the new hardware iv got..
I just bought a bundle from ******.com consisting of an AMD athlon 64 x2 7550 cpu and Asrock AM2+ N68C-S UCC mATX motherboard.

Sooo after looking at the beginner guide to overclocking on the forum (Great guide however lots of mumble jumble for me at the moment) I decided to have a look around online to see what my hardware will be capable of when I stumbled accross a few pages stating that the processor i bought can be unlocked! one page even linked the processor and motherboard/CPU bundle I just bought saying that they unlocked that very set up.. so to the question on my first of many more than likely

Is it worth unlockling my AMD Athlon 64 X2 7550 to an AMD phenom FX-7750 quad core?? (if its possble of course i know not all will unlock)

See my heads screaming YESSSS CHEAP QUAD CORE!! but will there be any issues from doing this? slower speed for gaming, overheating or genral instability?

Any help would be much appreciated cheers jim

 

[mmj_uk]

but will there be any issues from doing this? slower speed for gaming

Not really, you might not be able to overclock a quad as far in terms of overall mhz but the 2 extra cores will more than make up for that.

overheating

It all depends on your cooling, 4 cores is obviously going to be hotter than 2.

genral instability?

This is what you'll have to test for using Prime95 etc. no unlocked chip is guaranteed to operate correctly with disabled parts activated, I'd hazard a guess though that yields are so good nowadays that faulty cores are few and far between.

 

[jinpayne]

Great thanks for the input ill download that prime95 test thing and see what results I get. like i said its all new to me so its going to be a trial and error thing, obviously I dont want to cause any damage to any hardware and if its safe to try ill have a stab at it.

Would i need a larger heatsink than the one provided with the motherboard if I enable the extra cores?
cheers jim

 

[mmj_uk]

Would i need a larger heatsink than the one provided with the motherboard if I enable the extra cores?
cheers jim

What heatsink is it?

EDIT: looking at your motherboard specs it only supports up to 95W CPU's, so if you're going to unlock it then it's probably best not to go mad overclocking it too.