Phenom II X3 720: Unlocking, Overclocking, and ACC

[Stoneburner]

Originally posted by: soonerproud
Auto is what will unlock the core, s.

Really? I've unlocked it with per core, all core, and auto at separate times on two different boards.

 

[Satsuki]

Originally posted by: soonerproud
Auto is what will unlock the core, if it is not a bad core. You have to remember that many of those processors were made X3's because of a faulty core and ACC will not unlock it. It is like playing the lottery and you have to use older bios because ACC has been patched to prevent unlocking of cores in later bios versions.

Don't be sad if you can't unlock it. Just OC it and it will perform as well as a X4 955 in many gaming benchmarks.

Deneb, Heka, and Callisto, all children of Barcelona, were born native quad core. The Phenom II X3 (Heka) series was conjured for yielding purposes. All are technically defective. Perhaps with per core tweaking the fourth core could be revived.

AMD has denied these rumors of a micro-lockdown-code. http://www.theinquirer.net/inq...d-denies-locking-cores

Can anyone else confirm that the reversion of a mobo's firmware helps with unlocking the 720?

If anyone has helpful information about ACC or overclocking, please post!

I'm optimistic. :laugh:

Thanks

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner

Originally posted by: soonerproud
Auto is what will unlock the core, s.

Really? I've unlocked it with per core, all core, and auto at separate times on two different boards.

Auto is the easy way. Geesh.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Satsuki
Deneb, Heka, and Callisto, all children of Barcelona, were born native quad core. The Phenom II X3 (Heka) series was conjured for yielding purposes. All are technically defective. Perhaps with per core tweaking the fourth core could be revived.

AMD has denied these rumors of a micro-lockdown-code. http://www.theinquirer.net/inq...d-denies-locking-cores

Can anyone else confirm that the reversion of a mobo's firmware helps with unlocking the 720?

If anyone has helpful information about ACC or overclocking, please post!

I'm optimistic. :laugh:

Thanks

The Inquirer is NOT A RELIABLE SOURCE FOR INFORMATION.

My post was being helpful, so why the rude response? Not all tri-cores are the result of yield problems, many were "created" to fill market demand for X3's, which is a extemely popular processor.

Either try the older bios as others suggested and if that doesn't work, you have a bad core. No one here is going to give you some magical information that will make ACC work if it is not going to work on older bios. ( I used to have a tri core and unlocked it successfully.)

 

[Satsuki]

Rude response? lol

If The INQ ". . . ISN'T A RELIABLE SOURCE," then what is?


I just think AMD was hesitant about choosing which dies passed X4 spec.

If anyone has Phenom II 720 experience, please post them.

This thread is for results.

Running at 3.4GHz with 26C at mild-load at 1.425v

Heat definitely isn't the problem!

 

[dac7nco]

Satsuki,

the X3 720 is an very nice CPU, at stock speeds and tri-core. My buddy has an X3 720, and (I know this is an increasingly
annoying benchmark) he can run Crysis: Warhead at equal FPS to my 16-thread dual Nehalem. Hell, I have more RAM then
he has on his Vertex, we both have a 295, and his 720 may be better with games than my over-priced freakachine. You have
scored a very nice CPU, and you've helped to prevent Intel from ruling the world for another day.

Semper Fi.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Satsuki
Rude response? lol

You may not have meant it rude, but your post came off that way by how you worded it. I sometimes do that too so don't think I am picking on you, just trying to get you to think about how you respond to other members post. It was the "helpful information" part of the post especially that came across as telling me I was not trying to be helpful, when in fact I was.

Originally posted by: Satsuki
If The INQ ". . . ISN'T A RELIABLE SOURCE," then what is?

A technology gossip rag in the same vein as Fudzilla, The National Enquirer and The Sun. It is very biased and 90% of the things they post are absolutely wrong or made up. It should only be read for entertainment value and nothing else.

Originally posted by: Satsuki
I just think AMD was hesitant about choosing which dies passed X4 spec.

No, they have very clear guidelines of what passes and what fails and is binned to lower parts. Both AMD and Intel will bin good parts lower if demand is really high and they can make up the difference in profits in volume. It is purely a numbers crunchers decision and many X3's on the market are good quads binned lower to sell in volume at a lower price. This has been common industry practice since God was a child.

Originally posted by: Satsuki
If anyone has Phenom II 720 experience, please post them.

I have and I did, yet you ignored it because it was not what you wanted to hear.

Originally posted by: Satsuki
This thread is for results.

And you are not going to get the results you want if the processor was one of the ones binned for a bad core. Load the older bios and if that doesn't work then accept you are not going to have a quad for the price of a tri.

Originally posted by: Satsuki
Running at 3.4GHz with 26C at mild-load at 1.425v

Heat definitely isn't the problem!

Set ACC on all the working cores to +2 and you should be able to squeeze a extra 200 mhz out of it. If one core is bad, set each working core individually and leave ACC disabled on the bad core.

 

[Satsuki]

I see!

I meant: what sources say AMD is locking down on unlocking?

The INQ isn't biased. They have good reason for their positions. Very funny, too

Man, you picked the shit out of my response, lol. It's barely breathing.

BBS with results!

 

[Satsuki]

The Phenom II X3 720 was released on 2/9/09, right?
The BIOS was released 1/13/09.

How sure are we "78DBA113.BST" will work with the 720?

I don't want to have try to recover from that.

I can't find any more information about 78DBA113.BST.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Satsuki
I see!

I meant: what sources say AMD is locking down on unlocking?

The INQ isn't biased. They have good reason for their positions. Very funny, too

Man, you picked the shit out of my response, lol. It's barely breathing.

BBS with results!

The sources claiming that micro code is being added to the bios to prevent unlocking are the mainboard makers themselves. Not every mainboard maker has complied or yet updated their bios.

As to the INQ, they are admittedly biased and proudly proclaim it. Unbiased press leaves the opinions in the editorial section only and just reports the news. The INQ loves to mix opinion with news and use very dodgy sources. That is why I say take them with a grain of salt as they can be fun to read, are on occasion right and out right funny at times.

You actually said a lot of different stuff and it was easier to reply after quoting each thought instead of trying to put it all in one big block.

As to the second post, go to the mainboard makers site and look in the bios section for the listing of all bios released for that board. If the bios released after that one says added X3 720 support, then the older bios does not support it yet.

It is not unusual for bios support for new CPU,s to be released a month or two prior to launch in anticipation of the launch. AMD and Intel work with these companies to have support ready for new CPU's by launch.

 

[dac7nco]

Satsuki,

some of these guys really know their shit... They won't nuke your system on a lark, or knowingly give you bad advice. The Inq. is a pain in the ass; the quality of info here has made a millionaire out of a highschool kid.

Daimon

 

[dndavis57]

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit RC (Build 7100) and have no problem booting with ACC on. I am on an AM3 board, however.

I'm at stock frequency right now. On my mobo, to unlock the fourth core, you have to enable both ACC and a separate "Unleash" mode in BIOS. Maybe there is some similar setting in your board's BIOS.

My system is unstable with the fourth core unlocked, though it does POST. A voltage bump might help or it might not, but I'm more inclined to spend my time using my rig -- a superb setup, as Daimon pointed out -- than fiddling with it.

 

[imported_Halley]

Originally posted by: richierich1212
If the PC won't post with ACC on it's because you have to use the BIOS dated from 1/13/09. The later ones have an option called core leveling which forces the cpu into single or dual-core mode only.

What do you mean by core leveling? Is it characteristic of Biostar mobo,s only? I didn't see anything like that on my MSI board. I used BIOS 1.7 dated 3.31.09.
I couldn't unlock my 550. Any suugestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[richierich1212]

Originally posted by: Halley

Originally posted by: richierich1212
If the PC won't post with ACC on it's because you have to use the BIOS dated from 1/13/09. The later ones have an option called core leveling which forces the cpu into single or dual-core mode only.

What do you mean by core leveling? Is it characteristic of Biostar mobo,s only? I didn't see anything like that on my MSI board. I used BIOS 1.7 dated 3.31.09.
I couldn't unlock my 550. Any suugestions would be greatly appreciated.

Well it's some sort of "core-locking" setting. The only options are Dual-core and Single-core. And yeah it's only on the BIOSTAR mobos with later BIOS revisions. It's not recommended to use any BIOS dated later than 1/13/09 on the BIOSTAR TA790GX A2+ if you are trying to unlock cores.

As far as your MSI board I'm not sure if it's even able to unlock cores, because the only manufacturers that I've seen that are able to unlock are Gigabyte, ASRock, ASUS, BIOSTAR, DFI, and Jetway.

 

[Smoove910]

I would suggest keeping ACC turned off, then try your overclocks. Sounds like you have ACC enabled, which is trying to unlock the 'disabled' 4th core, hence making your system unstable.

My .02, but I could be wrong.

Good luck!

 

[Fortunex]

I'm having the same problem as OP.

I'm 1hr P95 stable at 3.2 and stock voltage, stable at 3.4 and 1.4v, but no matter what I do, I can't get it stable at 3.5, let alone 3.6. Won't last 10 minutes of P95, even at 1.55v.

ACC and CnQ are disabled.

What do you guys say is the max safe voltage for 24/7 use? I've seen people running at 1.52, but I'm not sure if that's just for their benchmarks or if they run that voltage all the time.

What else can I do to help stabilize my OC? All I've touched so far is the multiplier and Vcore.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: Fortunex
I'm having the same problem as OP.

I'm 1hr P95 stable at 3.2 and stock voltage, stable at 3.4 and 1.4v, but no matter what I do, I can't get it stable at 3.5, let alone 3.6. Won't last 10 minutes of P95, even at 1.55v.

ACC and CnQ are disabled.

What do you guys say is the max safe voltage for 24/7 use? I've seen people running at 1.52, but I'm not sure if that's just for their benchmarks or if they run that voltage all the time.

What else can I do to help stabilize my OC? All I've touched so far is the multiplier and Vcore.

Enable ACC +2% all cores to start with.

 

[Rhoxed]

If it helps anyone, I got 720BE stable 4 cores using rig in sig

I belive it has to do with stepping, some are almost guarantee, and some are almost certain to be unlockable (or unstable while unlocked)

these are the cpu steppings that can unlock the 4th core of the Phenom II x3 720 and be stable

0849 CPAW
0851 FPBW
0903 gpmw
0904 CPCW
0904 CPMW
0904 DPCW
0904 DPMW (my stepping)
0904 EPEW*2
0904 EPEW*3
0904 BPMW 0243

Taken from:
http://www.overclock.net/amd-c...-x3-720-steppings.html

if anyone wants benches or anything let me know

 

[Stoneburner]

The latest bios for the Biostar TA790gx 128 appears to have eliminated unlocking through ACC. Same thing for the latest bios for the Asus M4a78-e.

EDIT: I still got it to unlock on the asus board, but it was a PITA and did not appear stable.