Unlocking Quad Core? Phenom II x2 550 3.1GHz

Congratulations Borgia, I to was very curious to see if I could unlock my 550BE. Fortunately I was very lucky, all four cores became active for me but I'm now wondering what cooler I should invest in ?

Does anyone have any suggestions ? By the way I'm using a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P AMD 790X and Coolermaster Elite 335 Case.
 
If you check the cpu's spec on the amd site the max temp of that chip is actually 72c.

That's for the 550 which the chip no longer is, it's now got a extra cores and some extra L2 cache which makes it more like the 955 (max temp 62).

It's your chip but I'd be very cautious running it that high.
 
Thanks guys, I'm really chuffed with it!

I think I'll probably invest in a better heat sink and fan, but also chuck a couple more case fans in (only got the one). As I'd like to have a pop at overclocking this chip. What heatsink and fan have you got on yours reiyushin, and what temps are you getting?

Oh, and because this chip is more like the 955, I was just wondering what sort of temps do they usually run at stock?
 
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18094552

I've gone to 3.6Ghz which with a Titan fenrir gave me temps of 62 (ouchy) in my old 334 case. I got a nice 902 for christmas and that shaved 13 degrees off my temps so it maxes out about 49 now :)

In that thread someone also suggested replacing the Stock Fenrir fan with a 2000 RMP - Scythe Typhoon. It knocked 6-7 degrees off his OC'd i7 temps :O I'll probably do that in my next batch of tweaks/upgrades :)

Good job on the unlock :) Really good feeling, nothing like buying a dual and getting a quad ;)
 
Hi guys,

I am trying to do just this but although the motherboard (m4a785td-v evo) startup screen says that the 4 cores are activated the computer will not start up completely. It gets to the starting windows screen and stays there. Is this a normal way that the disabled cores might fail? Might this be to do with using windows 7 64 bit?

The 4 cores seemed to work when I booted into a XP disk (although not really tested properly). Any ideas?
 
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Hi guys,

I am trying to do just this but although the motherboard (m4a785td-v evo) startup screen says that the 4 cores are activated the computer will not start up completely. It gets to the starting windows screen and stays there. Might this be to do with using windows 7 64 bit?

The 4 cores seemed to work when I booted into a XP disk (although not really tested properly). Any ideas?

One of the cores is under spec so needs more voltage, try upping the voltage a tad to see if you can get into windows.
 
My board is SB710. Never managed to unlock my chip, I tried loads of things. Fast enough as it is though so I'm not bothered anyway. Would have been a nice bonus. :)
 
One of the cores is under spec so needs more voltage, try upping the voltage a tad to see if you can get into windows.

Tried this already sadly. For both vcore and vcpu-nb (followed this guide).

Does anyone know why it would be that it would boot into xp fine but not 7?

Someone on overclock.net seems to have the same problem as me (motherboard will POST and announces all cores active but windows 7 freezes on windows starting screen). Someone said that their 450W PSU might not have enough power. I have a Corsair CX 400W. Do you guys think that might be the problem?
 
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Tried this already sadly. For both vcore and vcpu-nb (followed this guide).

Does anyone know why it would be that it would boot into xp fine but not 7?

Someone on overclock.net seems to have the same problem as me (motherboard will POST and announces all cores active but windows 7 freezes on windows starting screen). Someone said that their 450W PSU might not have enough power. I have a Corsair CX 400W. Do you guys think that might be the problem?

personally, i think its the chip, i bet the CPU2 core is weak (0,1,2,3), can you disable individual cores in your bios or set certain sets to run, ie my bios has a option to set 0,1,3 or 0,1,2 to run to see which core is the very weak one.

I have tried 2 of these chips now, 1 has no problems getting into windows, the other has the exact same issue as yours. What vcore did you put through the chip? To get my ''bad one'' prime stable @ 3.1Ghz quad core i had to push 1.5v through the chip.
 
btw, do you know what date your chip is ie 0950 or something like that, i bet yours is a new one ie over 50. There has been talk that the latest chips released have really weak core's, perhaps bad silicon or something when being made, they are suggesting that 0922 is quite a good week if you can find one, probably second hand as these had disabled cores rather then weak cores.

It is luck of the draw and i think perhaps yurs will work but depending on how high you want to push that core voltage.
 
personally, i think its the chip, i bet the CPU2 core is weak (0,1,2,3), can you disable individual cores in your bios or set certain sets to run, ie my bios has a option to set 0,1,3 or 0,1,2 to run to see which core is the very weak one.

I have tried 2 of these chips now, 1 has no problems getting into windows, the other has the exact same issue as yours. What vcore did you put through the chip? To get my ''bad one'' prime stable @ 3.1Ghz quad core i had to push 1.5v through the chip.

I think I do have the option to try for an x3 but have not started fiddling with that yet. Wanted to be sure that x4 was not an option before moving on. I actually only got up to 1.4 vcore and 1.35v-cpu-nb so maybe I will try for a little higher.

What are the dangers of going that high with voltage? Am I likely to bust the chip?

Not sure about batch date etc. I dont have it to hand, will have a look when I get home and post it up. Is it printed on the chip itself/on packaging?

Thanks for all the help.:)
 
take it in small steps if you have only tried up to 1.4

try 1.425 first, that is the max recommended from AMD at the moment, above that AMD do not recommend however, if you have the right cooling etc it should not be a problem for 1.5v. So try it in a increment at a time and boot, see how far in the boot process you get.

1.5 should not do any harm to your chip long term if you have good cooling, stock cooling might be another matter as i know for a fact if i had stock cooling and @ 1.5v the chip would overheat as it gets pritty toasty with my mugen2.

The batch data is on the chip so dont worry about it to much.
 
take it in small steps if you have only tried up to 1.4

try 1.425 first, that is the max recommended from AMD at the moment, above that AMD do not recommend however, if you have the right cooling etc it should not be a problem for 1.5v. So try it in a increment at a time and boot, see how far in the boot process you get.

1.5 should not do any harm to your chip long term if you have good cooling, stock cooling might be another matter as i know for a fact if i had stock cooling and @ 1.5v the chip would overheat as it gets pritty toasty with my mugen2.

The batch data is on the chip so dont worry about it to much.

I have a coolermaster hyper TX3 (with only the standard 1 fan). Do you think this is decent enough? I guess the easiest way of improving would be to get another 92mm fan. Would rather not if not necessary though as the whole build is already pretty loud!

Will do it in small increments. Do you think I should increase vcpu-nb as well as vcore?

Thanks
 
Will do it in small increments. Do you think I should increase vcpu-nb as well as vcore?
Thanks

Yes the cpu-nb voltage is for the IMC on the CPU.. although typically at sub 1.7v most of the new AMD CPU scale very similar for vcore vs frequency there does seem to be some difference in the strength of the IMC's
 
all we want to do is get you to boot so i would up the cpu-nb to 1.35 and up the vcore until you can actually get into windows. The cooling should be okay for everything but will have to see what its like once you wan tto start stress testing that unlock.

I am sure you will get your cores unlocked but any overclocking might be a problem as if you cannot get it to work at 1.425 you going to have to go higher and that is going to cause more heat and not leave you much headroom for anymore voltage for overlcocking but lets get to windows desktop first :)
 
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Great, thanks so much for this guys! :)

I will try as soon as I get home and post results. I guess I will have to decide whether I prefer a 3.1ghz quad or an overclocked dual. Will have a play with both and see.
 
Yes, let us know i will be around tonight on and off between COD :D so will check up on the thread. Im sure you will see as you go higher and higher on the vcore you will get a little bit closer to getting into windows, i just think you have one really under spec core hence it being locked but a quad core 3.1Ghz cannot be laughed at, its only 300Mhz off a 965 stock preformance which will only be a few percentage difference.
 
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