Athlon X3 cache unlocking?

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TheMeanestGuest

TheMeanestGuest

Member
Jan 24, 2009
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Sigh, I wish I had a newer mobo with ACC. I even have a CACYC core Athlon 2 x4, that cache is just waiting.

Maybe I should get one.
 
Cogman

Cogman

Lifer
Sep 19, 2000
10,283
134
106
I really don't know if I would risk a cache unlock, I guess you would have nothing to lose, but a cache problem is going to be hard to pin down, and cause all sorts of havok. There is a reason they lock this stuff down.
 
cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
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Cogman said:
I really don't know if I would risk a cache unlock, I guess you would have nothing to lose, but a cache problem is going to be hard to pin down, and cause all sorts of havok. There is a reason they lock this stuff down.
Click to expand...

Does AMD have so many problems with 45nm that "harvested" cores are really this common?

Or are these legitimately good chips being purposely disabled so AMD has something to meet lowest price points? If this is true it sounds less than ideal (lets put it that way).
 
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cbn

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
12,968
221
106
TheMeanestGuest said:
They do have a different architecture for the Athlon IIs, it's just not on all of them for some reason.
Click to expand...

Oh so some Athlon IIs are native Athlon IIs and some Athlon IIs are really Phenom IIs with the cache disabled?

Or are you saying something different?
 
E

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
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Computer Bottleneck said:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663

I'm suprised to hear Athlon II X3s and X4s are just Phenom IIs with the cache disabled.

According to this Anandtech Article I was thinking these chips had a smaller native die size.
Click to expand...

I think it's a combination of both. The Athlon II X3 and X4 specs provide AMD with a nice "escape route" for those Denebs with any kind of L3 cache failure, or simply a way to fulfill demand, if the demand for these budget chips are really so strong that the Propus chips aren't enough in supply. That would explain why despite not having L3 cache in the Propus design, these Athlon IIs are still rated at 95w TDP.
 
S

soccerballtux

Lifer
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
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I think they're basically all just binned down chips.
My 720BE unlocked the 4th core.
Some people with the dual core chips and 2MB cache were able to unlock cores 3+4 + the full 8MB cache. Fun times.
 
Hyperlite

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
5,664
2
76
TheMeanestGuest said:
Sigh, I wish I had a newer mobo with ACC. I even have a CACYC core Athlon 2 x4, that cache is just waiting.

Maybe I should get one.
Click to expand...

unfortunantly there seems to be a little bit more to it than that. I have a UD2H with ACC, but the method described in the inpai article requires a very specific bios function that it seems only MSI is supporting right now. c'mon gigabyte.....c'mon!!!!!
 
W

wiv1728

Junior Member
Sep 18, 2009
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Just thought i'd quickly reply to the post. I bought a Athlon II X3 425 2.7Ghz in the hope of unlcoking the 4th core for video encoding. To my surprise it unlocked to a full fat Phenom II x 4 B25 (whatever B25 means!?) with the 6mb Cache and 4th core etc etc. Here is the cpu z link to see exactly what in turned into.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=853155

I have run the cpu at 3.2ghz without any increase in stock votage and although the pc sometimes refused to turn on, a couple of attempts and pumping the reset button usually brings it to life. Not bad for a £57 cpu.
 
Hyperlite

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
5,664
2
76
wiv1728 said:
Just thought i'd quickly reply to the post. I bought a Athlon II X3 425 2.7Ghz in the hope of unlcoking the 4th core for video encoding. To my surprise it unlocked to a full fat Phenom II x 4 B25 (whatever B25 means!?) with the 6mb Cache and 4th core etc etc. Here is the cpu z link to see exactly what in turned into.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=853155

I have run the cpu at 3.2ghz without any increase in stock votage and although the pc sometimes refused to turn on, a couple of attempts and pumping the reset button usually brings it to life. Not bad for a £57 cpu.
Click to expand...


odd that it won't start sometimes but is otherwise stable. What % did ACC require to unlock the 4th core? or did you just turn it on and it worked?
 
W

wiv1728

Junior Member
Sep 18, 2009
3
0
0
Hyperlite said:
odd that it won't start sometimes but is otherwise stable. What % did ACC require to unlock the 4th core? or did you just turn it on and it worked?
Click to expand...

I pretty much put the board in acc (on auto) mode as soon as I built the computer. I didn't really mess round with it anymore than that. Great slice of luck I suppose!
 
Hyperlite

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
5,664
2
76
wiv1728 said:
I pretty much put the board in acc (on auto) mode as soon as I built the computer. I didn't really mess round with it anymore than that. Great slice of luck I suppose!
Click to expand...

cool. lucky you! i'd be ecstatic if i could dig a 6mb L3 outta my X4...i just don't think it's there :(
 
Uppsala9496

Uppsala9496

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 2001
5,272
19
81
Asus m4a785g-m motherboard with Athlon II X3 425.

Turned on ACC in the BIOS which resulted in the following:
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B25 Processor
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B25 Processor
serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
slot: AM2
size: 2700MHz
capacity: 2700MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 200MHz
 
J

JustinG

Junior Member
Dec 6, 2009
2
0
0
I bought an Athlon II X3 425 and after reading this thread I tried putting ACC on 'Auto'. Afterwards I ended up with a Phenom II X4 B25 as the previous user has. I put on automatic overclocking conservatively and I think it got me up to around 3.1GHz. Its on my desktop though which is installing about 130+ updates for freshly installed Vista lol. Anyways I can post a pic of the CPUIZ or whatever that program is. It's pretty fast. Coming from a 5 year old Pentium IV 2.8 GHz single core, it's quite the improvement, especially for buying a $79 CPU lol!!!

I haven't a clue how to manually overclock though with all of the FSB settings and the voltage settings and such. Anybody have any advice/tips?

Edit: oh yeah I'm on a Biostar TA785GE 128M mobo.
 
J

JustinG

Junior Member
Dec 6, 2009
2
0
0
Yeah I got 6MB of L3 cache. I can screenshot a CPUID tonight and let you see...

What's funny is, I know relatively nothing about motherboards or CPU's so I guess I don't fully understand what I got lucky and stumbled upon! lol. Must be something nice.

Here's a pic:
 
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