AMD Phenom 555 BE & 560 BE - Unlocking Results - Coincidence?

[hondaf17]

Hi all,

So I have the rig in the sig below.

I bought a 555 BE. Unlocked, but was NOT stable on 4 cores (could boot into windows but not stable). Is stable on 3 cores (core 3 disabled). Can OC to 3.6 with Hyper 212+ HSF.

Am doing a build for a friend and bought a 560 BE. Through it into my rig out of curiousity. Same thing - unlocked but could NOT boot into Windows on 4 cores. Is stable on 3 cores (core 4 disabled). Can OC to 3.8 with Hyper 212+HSF.

So, questions/thoughts on the following:

1) Is it just coincidence, that on my experience with 2 very similar chips in the same system, that a 4th core was detected, but in each case, system not stable with 4 cores, but is stable with 3 cores? Or could this point to another issue I'm overlooking? My gut is telling me it'd be pretty rare to get two chips each stable with 3 cores, but unstable with 4 cores.

2) Should I expect (as I have done) to be able to overclock the 560 BE higher than the 555 BE?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[BD231]

You're lucky you got any of them to unlock in the first place, I'd take it as a win considering you can't even buy a Phenom II x3 with a c3 stepping/memory controller. The only thing you can do to get the fourth core stable is raise the voltage.

No the 560 won't do you any better overclocking unless the unlocked third core on that 560 is a bit more capable than the one on the 555. They're the exact same chips with different multi's.

 

[hondaf17]

Thanks, understood.

This is my first foray into OCing.

Since it can read four cores in both chips, increasing voltage might make the 4th core stable?

Also, to OC all I've been doing so far is increasing the multiplier. If I just increase the multiplier from 16 to 19, my speed will be faster but my temps would likely stay the same, since I haven't increased the voltage, correct?

 

[BD231]

Yeah you usually need to up the voltage on a dual core chip to make up for the added draw of the other cores. 1.4XXv should be enough and perfectly safe as well, of course, always try and keep the voltage low as possible for the sake of lower temps as you stated.

In this case you have no choice but to raise it to x4 voltage levels which are around 1.4XX. AMD states you're safe up to 1.5v and cool & quiet keeps your chip downclocked/undervolted anyway.

Have you overclocked the front side bus or north bridge at all? If you have not then you'll be stuck moving that multi around a bit high like you have been. Much easier to get a stable overclock when you don't OC the north bridge and front side bus so leave that box you're building for your friend at stock FSB/NB and OC only the cores to save yourself some heartache.

You might very well get those fourth cores to work if you're not having issue with the third on either and you have not tried raising the voltage.

 

[hondaf17]

Thanks again.

No, I have not messed with NB or FSB OC at all -those are all left at stock.

On the 560 I tried upping CPU voltage all the way to 1.50v, and it still would not boot into windows (hangs on windows7 loading screen).

My 3 cores are stable at normal voltage (1.36) OC with 19 multiplier to 3800 mhz. Anything else I should try???

Will try dropping in the 555 and upping the voltage, to see if 4th core on that one works. Will report back...

 

[hondaf17]

Results with 555BE:

Unlocked 4 cores, can boot into windows. But then I get the same graphical artifacts I experienced before, posted in this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2062654

Tried upping voltage all the way to 1.50V and still got the graphical artifacts.

Went back to 3 cores and all graphical artifacts went away.

555BE 3 cores stable at 3.6Ghz - has successfully booted into windows as quad, but has graphical artifacts
560BE 3 cores stable at 3.8Ghz - never successfully booted into windows as quad.

 

[Sparky19692]

I have finally upgraded after a 6 year dri spell.. WOW that is bad a busy life. Anyway I went with a BE560 and MSI board. OC is Great but I cannot get the bois to even show more than 2 cores. Maybe I am missing something? anyway OC 3 hours with orthoes at 4ghz maybe I should just be happy with 2 cores? So far only changed the mult. nothing with the FBS I may want to play with that just for the rams sake? Anyway not trying to steal your tread JUST how can I get them to unlock it sounds like most people see them in there bios anyway? HELP!

 

[richierich1212]

If you use core-unlocker and BIOS, then save and exit it should show 4 cores. If not, try for 3 cores.

 

[soccerballtux]

Results with 555BE:

Unlocked 4 cores, can boot into windows. But then I get the same graphical artifacts I experienced before, posted in this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2062654

Tried upping voltage all the way to 1.50V and still got the graphical artifacts.

Went back to 3 cores and all graphical artifacts went away.

555BE 3 cores stable at 3.6Ghz - has successfully booted into windows as quad, but has graphical artifacts
560BE 3 cores stable at 3.8Ghz - never successfully booted into windows as quad.

I'd say it's not coincidence, they bin the worst chips down to a dual core, and the better ones to a triple. I doubt their fabbing process is so bad that they have many CPUs where 2 out of the 4 cores are bad.

 

[Sparky19692]

Updated Bois this morning Runing Prime 95 now 3933 19 x 207 voltage 1.35 looks rock stable for about 2 hours now (will bump speed this afternoon). question is why does AMD OverDrive not show the temps for all four cores? System shows it at 48c but not each core. THinking about putting my old cooler on it any advice

 

[mizzou]

Just ordered a 555 be, hope mine can be unlocked

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I've had good luck with the 740 BEs (all 6 of them)

 

[GaiaHunter]

I got a 555BE today and got the 4 cores to unlock. The Asrock motherboard also oc'ed them to 3.4GHz without any input on my part. Still testing for stability but so far so good.

 

[soccerballtux]

Updated Bois this morning Runing Prime 95 now 3933 19 x 207 voltage 1.35 looks rock stable for about 2 hours now (will bump speed this afternoon). question is why does AMD OverDrive not show the temps for all four cores? System shows it at 48c but not each core. THinking about putting my old cooler on it any advice

Because you unlocked it.
edit: oops I didn't read you original post.

 

[Zensal]

Updated Bois this morning Runing Prime 95 now 3933 19 x 207 voltage 1.35 looks rock stable for about 2 hours now (will bump speed this afternoon). question is why does AMD OverDrive not show the temps for all four cores? System shows it at 48c but not each core. THinking about putting my old cooler on it any advice

I have the same problem with my 555 BE. I can see the temps on 2 cores, but not when I unlock the others.

My guess was that the cores were disabled due to faulty temp sensors.

 

[soccerballtux]

I have the same problem with my 555 BE. I can see the temps on 2 cores, but not when I unlock the others.

My guess was that the cores were disabled due to faulty temp sensors.

no, that's just how ACC mode works. The guy you're quoting didn't unlock anything. I, too, only have 1 CPU temperature now that I've got mine unlocked.

 

[hondaf17]

Correct. Unlocking from dual to quad you won't see the temps on all 4 cores. I have heard that you should find your max overclock with 2 cores, record the temps, and then add about 5 degrees to the max once you unlock and that's what it'd be running at.

 

[exar333]

I will be doing just this with a 545 PhII today/tomorrow; wish me luck.

 

[TekDemon]

If you're having repeated "bad luck" with unlocks it might just be the motherboard you're using, some don't unlock all the CPUs very well. The 560BE that I picked up unlocked great with an MSI board that has a good unlocking reputation, got all 4 cores up to 4Ghz, prime and even linpack stable with good but cheap air cooling ($20 Thermaltake Contac 30) at 1.45V.

 

[hondaf17]

I will be doing just this with a 545 PhII today/tomorrow; wish me luck.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.