Did my E6500 Wolfdale come from China?

[kanako0727]

So I "upgraded" my Pentium D 2.8GHz and Asus P5LD2 to a Wolfdale 2.93GHz and a Gigabyte GA-EP45-U3DL. I don't know if it's much of an upgrade. It seems more responsive in Windows 7, and I'm happy to be able to use all of my 5GB of RAM as opposed to the 2.9GB that my old motherboard limited me to.

My RAM is rated for 666MHz so I wanted to run the FSB and memory at 1:1. Maybe I'm slightly OCD, but I don't like the FSB and memory running at different frequencies. After unsuccessfully trying to run this chip at 333x11 all the way up to 1.4V, I - just for shiggles - tried dropping the multiplier to 9. I saved and exited the BIOS, and to my amazement the computer posted successfully.

Now, I can't remember having a CPU with an unlocked multiplier since a Pentium 166 with MMX around 10 years ago (I tried connecting the dots to unlock an Athlon XP, but I wasn't successful at that), so I'm a little bit surprised to see that this is working at the moment. I did a Google search, but I couldn't really find anybody confirming that the E6500 comes multiplier unlocked except in China, so I want to know what's going on.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1209327 is a picture of my CPU-Z validation. I don't know if that means anything, but it ended up being a place where I could post a picture without having to sign up for some new account. The voltage is reporting high in that picture, but I'm running small FFT's in Prime95 at the moment at the same speed at 1.152V.

Can anybody else with this chip or experience with confirm an unlocked multilpier? This probably isn't really a big deal to anybody since this chip is like 4-or-so-years old now, but like I said, this is surprising to me, as it's been a really long time for me to be in contact with a processor that has an unlocked multiplier.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Intel reportedly launched some unlocked Wolfdales in China not long ago. As a followup to that, they will be (or already are) releasing some unlocked Clarkdales there as well.

 

[NumericalMethods]

Dropping the multiplier from the stock maximum of 11 to 9 does not indicate that you have an unlocked chip. Being able to set your multiplier to a value higher than 11 does. On all core 2 chips you can set the multiplier to anything you wish between 6 and the maximum multiplier of a given chip

 

[Borealis7]

so you overclocked from 2.93GHz to 3GHz? thats not very surprising that it posted...haha.
and the unlocked pentiums are called E6500K (K - meaning black)

 

[kanako0727]

so you overclocked from 2.93GHz to 3GHz? thats not very surprising that it posted...haha.
and the unlocked pentiums are called E6500K (K - meaning black)

I guess that, in an attempt to make me feel like a fool, you replied to the small percentage of my post that didn't need answering while totally ignoring the other 95% that did. Thanks so much for your help .

Dropping the multiplier from the stock maximum of 11 to 9 does not indicate that you have an unlocked chip. Being able to set your multiplier to a value higher than 11 does. On all core 2 chips you can set the multiplier to anything you wish between 6 and the maximum multiplier of a given chip

This is what I was looking to find out. Thanks.

 

[0roo0roo]

pentium d was so slow it would choke on portal...
i'm serious..portal.
an e2200 which is about 2.2ghz kicked any pentium d's ass and then some. so i'm not sure what core 2 rating would really be equivalent, 1.x something..maybe 1.5ghz or so

 

[DrMrLordX]

Looks like Intel is releasing K-class Clarksdales and Lynnfields in the US as well. Anandtech just tested some. Very interesting . . .

 

[adlep]

So I "upgraded" my Pentium D 2.8GHz and Asus P5LD2 to a Wolfdale 2.93GHz and a Gigabyte GA-EP45-U3DL. I don't know if it's much of an upgrade. It seems more responsive in Windows 7, and I'm happy to be able to use all of my 5GB of RAM as opposed to the 2.9GB that my old motherboard limited me to.

In any C2D you can adjust multiplier down, I can do it on mine for example. I you will try to go x12, it will not post.

Pentium D is like 3 times slower in benchmarks than any C2D anyone knows this. Even at 1.8 GHZ C2D is way faster. At 3GHZ, there is no comparison. I encourage you to visit anandtech.com and go over to the CPU bench tool. It will make you feel much better about the "upgrade".

 

[kanako0727]

A couple people here mentioned core 2 or C2D. I'm confused, as I thought I purchased an Intel Dual Core chip, not a Core 2 Duo. Is it the same chip aside from the cache?

 

[Markfw]

A couple people here mentioned core 2 or C2D. I'm confused, as I thought I purchased an Intel Dual Core chip, not a Core 2 Duo. Is it the same chip aside from the cache?

Terminology...An Intel dual core chips includes any cpu that has 2 cores, the Pentium D, the C2D, The I3, Celerons', and probably some I forgot.

Core 2 Duo is just one of the list, and also slang for that is C2D.

 

[zagood]

While the Wolfdale e6500, e5300 and other "Pentium Dual Core" chips aren't officially named Core 2 Duo, their architecture and family ties are close enough that nobody gets offended when they're called that.