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Phenom II X1 570 4.2GHz single-core, good idea? So far, so good....

W

waltchan

Senior member
I have one Phenom II X2 570 with a very powerful first-core, but a weaker and slightly defective 2nd core. If going dual-core, I can only get up to 3.6GHz. But if I disable the 2nd core, I'm able to go up to 4.2Ghz on stock voltage. I figure losing 600 MHz of single-thread frequency speed isn't worth it.

So far, I'm at single-core 4.2GHz with 8GB RAM, and it runs pretty good with Windows 10, not as bad as I thought. This single-core benefits with 6MB L3 cache. Estimated single-thread score is closer to 1425, identical to FX-4300 with one module disabled.

Good or bad idea?
 
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I like it. I could definitely get by with 1 decently fast core for basic tasks. I wouldn't do much else with it other than unitasking though.
 
Depends on what you're using it for. Even web browsing is pretty well threaded these days, and a 4.2ghz single core would be little more than half as fast as a 3.6ghz dual. I find that once you're up to 4 hardware threads, it's another matter.
 
SlowSpyder said:
couldn't imagine using a single core with Win10. 🙂
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Actually, single-core works faster with Windows 10 than 8 or 7. I would say it's tiny-bit faster than Celeron G470 I'm using.

Trying to calculate it's actual TDP. Since it's rated 80W TDP at dual-core, is it 45W-55W TDP at single-core? I'm not sure if single-core always has lower power consumption, even up to 4.2GHz.

Most of Phenom quad-cores can only go up to 3.5GHz on average, so I'm 700MHz ahead of time. 🙂
 
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Nice overclock, but I question the utility of a single-threaded CPU, given modern OS and app workloads. Just think, you don't have a spare core to handle interrupt loads.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Nice overclock, but I question the utility of a single-threaded CPU, given modern OS and app workloads. Just think, you don't have a spare core to handle interrupt loads.
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If comparing this Phenom 4.2GHz single-core vs. Celeron G470 2.00GHz single-core w/ hyperthreading, I would say performance is nearly the same, or, if not little better than G470 with Windows 10, UEFI, and AHCI. Phenom's 1.5 times faster in single-thread catches up with G470's locked 2.00GHz speed if I'm multitasking. Sure, there's some hiccups like all single-core CPUs, but not too noticeable that much. Web-browsing is a fast-breeze.

At least this Phenom X1 puts Pentium 4 to shame along with lower power consumption. Windows Experience Index rates it at 5.4 vs. 4.1 with Pentium 4.
 
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With my FX I can overclock the modules separately... I don't suppose the Phenom's can do that? I never tried when I had one, not sure if they allow for that. No reason not to have a 4GHz+ core if you can, plus a second core even if its a little slower.

Its kind of crazy how well old CPU's can still work these days for general tasks, even gaming in some cases.
 
SlowSpyder said:
With my FX I can overclock the modules separately... I don't suppose the Phenom's can do that? I never tried when I had one, not sure if they allow for that. No reason not to have a 4GHz+ core if you can, plus a second core even if its a little slower.

Its kind of crazy how well old CPU's can still work these days for general tasks, even gaming in some cases.
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Phenom II X2 570 has an unlocked multiplier, and it was marketed as a cheaper solution to FX-4100 and FX-4300. Production ended on January 2014, little longer than expected.
 
I'm able to achieve up to 4.3GHz at 1.48V with dual-core on Phenom 570. What's the max number of stable voltage I should go so I don't go too far. Trying to get 4.4GHz, but it requires more than 1.55V. Is it safe?

At single-core mode, it works fine at 4.4GHz.
 
kwalkingcraze said:
I'm able to achieve up to 4.3GHz at 1.48V with dual-core on Phenom 570. What's the max number of stable voltage I should go so I don't go too far. Trying to get 4.4GHz, but it requires more than 1.55V. Is it safe?

At single-core mode, it works fine at 4.4GHz.
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I'd stick to 1.55v. Maybe 1.575v max, with good cooling.
 
What speed of RAM are you using? Did you overclock the CPU-NB? Those Phenom parts respond well to overclocking the uncore, helps keep them fed.
 
kwalkingcraze said:
I'm able to achieve up to 4.3GHz at 1.48V with dual-core on Phenom 570. What's the max number of stable voltage I should go so I don't go too far. Trying to get 4.4GHz, but it requires more than 1.55V. Is it safe?
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If you can do 4.3GHz @ 1.48v stable, I'd set it there and leave it there. Sounds like going higher is starting to take more effort than its worth in any practical sense. You'll never notice the difference in speed between 4.3GHz and 4.4GHz. But you may notice a stability difference, especially when it gets warm and that thing is pumping out heat with more voltage. 4.3GHz @ 1.48v is really pretty good for the Phenom. I had a Thuban @ almost 4.1GHz (2.6GHz NB if I remember right) and it served me well.


NTMBK said:
What speed of RAM are you using? Did you overclock the CPU-NB? Those Phenom parts respond well to overclocking the uncore, helps keep them fed.
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Have to agree here. A lot of people go for a big core overclock and neglect the NB/L3. There is a fair amount of performance to be had there once you get your cores up in the 4GHz range, they need to be fed.
 
NTMBK said:
What speed of RAM are you using? Did you overclock the CPU-NB? Those Phenom parts respond well to overclocking the uncore, helps keep them fed.
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8GB 1600MHz RAM the maximum speed allowed by 970 chipset. Phenom 570 has unlocked multiplier, so I don't need to overclock RAM. I use Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 board with Asus HD6450 graphics card. I only increase the CPU voltage, NB still in auto mode.
 
kwalkingcraze said:
8GB 1600MHz RAM the maximum speed allowed by 970 chipset. I use Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 board with Asus HD6450 graphics card. I only increase the CPU voltage, NB still in auto mode.
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By increasing FSB to around 225, up to ~1800 MHz should be possible. I have more experience with the AM3 ecosystem than any other platform.
If you have 4.3 GHz stable, it might be time to explore overclocking the CPUNB to 2.6-3.0 GHz, just keep CPUNB voltage around 1.3-1.35v max. Heat will rise considerably at those kinds of voltages, though.

Try:
220x19.5 = ~4290 MHz CPU, 12x CPUNB multiplier = ~2640 CPUNB and 1760 MHz DRAM. CPU-NB voltage can be set to about 1.25v, most of the later Phenom II chips should be able to hit 2600+ at that voltage.

Have you tried any core unlocking? You might be surprised and get a 4 GHz quad core out of it or something.
 
I did windows 7 with only one module running of my FX8350 at 4.5Ghz. It worked but was far less responsive that even two modules. Seemingly the the OS overhead made it less than half as responsive.
 
If it was a single haswell or skylake core at 5.2GHz it might be somewhat useful. But phenom just doesn't have the IPC. There are many celerons that beat a 4.5 GHz phenom.
 
Get a Phenom II x2 on ebay for $20 that unlocks to a quad, as long as your motherboard VRM supports 125W TDP you'll be good.
 
I just bought a lot of 2 Phenom II X2's for 18.00 on ebay. No guarantee they will unlock the 4 cores but I'm using them to replace single core Semprons in old HP workstations so it doesn't really matter. They are really cheap if you have old systems to play around with.
 
Doom2pro said:
...that unlocks to a quad, as long as your motherboard VRM supports 125W TDP you'll be good.
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Be careful what you wish for....I wish people don't put out false statement like this. This is Asus, everyone, where they're known in cutting a lot of corners for low-end models that I'm seeing. I've never been impressed with Asus at all since the last 7 years, despite I'm forced to use one. High-end models are different story, everyone loves them, but I can't afford them.

To answer your question, no, this Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 board doesn't offer core-unlocking feature because I didn't pay more enough. Asus make everything optional. This board also doesn't support 8-pin power supply, you can see how cheap Asus is. Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 mATX board I wanted in first place doesn't support UEFI installation, so Asus made me fork out the extra $50 for nothing, plus $30 AR for Asus HD6450 graphics card vs. $9 AR for MSI R7-240 from Black Friday. Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 has them all standard.
 
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kwalkingcraze said:
Be careful what you wish for....I wish people don't put out false statement like this. This is Asus, everyone, where they're known in cutting a lot of corners for low-end models that I'm seeing. I've never been impressed with Asus at all since the last 7 years, despite I'm forced to use one. High-end models are different story, everyone loves them, but I can't afford them.

To answer your question, no, this Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 board doesn't offer core-unlocking feature because I didn't pay more enough. Asus make everything optional. This board also doesn't support 8-pin power supply, you can see how cheap Asus is. Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 mATX board I wanted in first place doesn't support UEFI installation, so Asus made me to fork out extra $50 for nothing, plus $30 AR for Asus HD6450 graphics card vs. $9 AR for MSI R7-240 from Black Friday. Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 has them all standard.
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Advanced > Core ON/OFF function > Set to manual, reboot?

You bought a board advertised with 4+2 phase power, 8 pin EPS is really not necessary since the board is not designed for excessive overclocking / high load. This board goes for $75, the M5A78L-M was $25?

When you start getting into the $140-150 range, the boards improve tremendously. The M5A99FX Pro R2.0 is considerably better, which is standard - you can't really expect much from ANY of the 970 chipset boards from any manufacturer.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Nice overclock, but I question the utility of a single-threaded CPU, given modern OS and app workloads. Just think, you don't have a spare core to handle interrupt loads.
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Yea, I dont get this obsession with purchasing ancient hardware. Even the cheapest big core celeron or even a single module AMD apu, hell, probably even a cat core 5300 would be faster than a single core phenom. Just buy a modern cpu.
 
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