AMD Athlon II X4 620 or AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto

[tyler811]

I have been reading about people unlocking two more cores in the Phenom II 550 with the right motherboard.

The Athlon II X4 620 runs @ 2.6 ghz with a L2 of 512KB and the Phenom II X2 550 runs @ 3.1 ghz and it also has a L3 cache of 6MB.

With the right motherboard and two other cores unlocked would the 550 be the better buy? I would be overclocking it also.

 

[Macabre215]

How easy it is to unlock cores has more to do with the processor than the mobo. Some revisions are easier than others, I have a friend who successfully unlocked his x2 550, but went to microcenter and ASKED for the specific number. Check out this post at tom's, it should help you out.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254737-29-unlock-phenom-with-asus-m4a785td

BTW, you need a motherboard with SB 710 or 750 chipset, and more importantly needs ACC to unlock anything.

 

[rivethead]

I thought long and hard about gambling with the 550 x2 (and unlocking cores) vs the 620 x4 that I ended up with.

What it came down to (for me) was this: there were high success rates for people trying to unlock cores on the x2 and x3 phenoms in the early days. I attribute that to AMD just neutering a few cores to keep up with demand for those products. Now that they have matured, I think AMD is doing less neutering and selling more chips that truly don't have stable cores that are just locked. And as such, I'm hearing less and less success stories.

As such, I didn't take the gamble.

 

[Macabre215]

I thought long and hard about gambling with the 550 x2 (and unlocking cores) vs the 620 x4 that I ended up with.

What it came down to (for me) was this: there were high success rates for people trying to unlock cores on the x2 and x3 phenoms in the early days. I attribute that to AMD just neutering a few cores to keep up with demand for those products. Now that they have matured, I think AMD is doing less neutering and selling more chips that truly don't have stable cores that are just locked. And as such, I'm hearing less and less success stories.

As such, I didn't take the gamble.

Pretty much, which is why you can still look and find processors that are from older batches. Doesn't guarantee success, but might be worth the risk. If it wouldn't hurt for you to end up with a dual core or tri core i suppose it doesn't matter. If you need a quad core than it isn't.

 

[douglasb]

I thought long and hard about gambling with the 550 x2 (and unlocking cores) vs the 620 x4 that I ended up with.

What it came down to (for me) was this: there were high success rates for people trying to unlock cores on the x2 and x3 phenoms in the early days. I attribute that to AMD just neutering a few cores to keep up with demand for those products. Now that they have matured, I think AMD is doing less neutering and selling more chips that truly don't have stable cores that are just locked. And as such, I'm hearing less and less success stories.

As such, I didn't take the gamble.

Everything I've seen indicates that the newer batches of 550's are MORE likely to unlock, not less likely. I have an 0940 FPMW that unlocked all 4 cores, and if you look at some of the "unlock threads" floating around the 'net, I think you'll find that people are having a tremendous amount of success lately with these chips. There's always the chance of getting a chip with 2 faulty cores, but usually, the longer a company fabricates chips, the better they get at that particular manufacturing process, and the fewer errors there are. I think this applies to AMD and the 550 as well.

 

[nonameo]

Everything I've seen indicates that the newer batches of 550's are MORE likely to unlock, not less likely. I have an 0940 FPMW that unlocked all 4 cores, and if you look at some of the "unlock threads" floating around the 'net, I think you'll find that people are having a tremendous amount of success lately with these chips. There's always the chance of getting a chip with 2 faulty cores, but usually, the longer a company fabricates chips, the better they get at that particular manufacturing process, and the fewer errors there are. I think this applies to AMD and the 550 as well.

Yeah, I would think that as the process matures and yields improve, you will have more good processors coming out that have to be "neutered" because the demand just isn't there for all the high end parts.

 

[Synaptic71]

I have purchased two in the last 30 days, both unlocked, one to 3.5GHz on air, the other to 3.7 GHz on air, both stable.

 

[Hyperlite]

Yeah, I would think that as the process matures and yields improve, you will have more good processors coming out that have to be "neutered" because the demand just isn't there for all the high end parts.

This. Anand touched on that in last week's writeup on the couple new AMD chips.

 

[nyker96]

simple x4 620.

 

[schneiderguy]

I'd go for the guaranteed 4 cores.

 

[Drakula]

As I replied in another thread, here is a guide about unlocking with more details, might help you decide what to get.

 

[soccerballtux]

if my 720BE burns out I'll either get another 720BE or a 550BE and try unlocking again.

 

[cbn]

I have been reading about people unlocking two more cores in the Phenom II 550 with the right motherboard.

The Athlon II X4 620 runs @ 2.6 ghz with a L2 of 512KB and the Phenom II X2 550 runs @ 3.1 ghz and it also has a L3 cache of 6MB.

With the right motherboard and two other cores unlocked would the 550 be the better buy? I would be overclocking it also.

I think Phenom II x2 would be the better buy provided you have a good way of testing the unlocked cores/cache for data corruption/errors.

P.S. I am not the sort of person to do much testing of overclocked CPUS, but from what I gather there is no such things as one true diagnostic test. In some tests these overclocked CPUs will "pass" but in other tests they will "fail" unless the frequency is lowered.

 

[cbn]

Yeah, I would think that as the process matures and yields improve, you will have more good processors coming out that have to be "neutered" because the demand just isn't there for all the high end parts.

Yep, that makes sense.

 

[Markfw]

I'd go for the guaranteed 4 cores.

Yup. 79% chance and I lost.

Mine 550 BE would not unlock (see my other thread for details)

 

[wwswimming]

I have purchased two in the last 30 days, both unlocked, one to 3.5GHz on air, the other to 3.7 GHz on air, both stable.

you mean you got them both working as quad cores ?

what revisions or chip numbers are they ?

 

[Axon]

No L3 Cache = no thanks

550 v. 620 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=97&p2=106

IMO, depends what you need it for.

 

[cbn]

Instead of trying to "unlock" cores you might want to consider Phenom II x4 940 Black Edition.

Someone pointed out those are going for only $140 @ newegg.

 

[SteelyKen]

Yesterday I was able to unlock my new 550BE with a new Asus M4A785TD-V EVO. It has run prime95 for 12 hours without issue.

My intentions with this build was a simple and economical upgrade of my secondary 939 4400+ system.
Although I was aware of the potential to unlock the chip, it was not something I was counting on.
I have to admit though it was a very pleasant feeling when it was successful. This was for me $250 dollars well spent.