Thursday, July 30th 2009
Latest 785G Motherboards Continue to Support Core Unlocking
When it first surfaced that some triple-core and dual-core AMD Phenom series processors could make their disabled cores available under special circumstances thanks to shoddy BIOS-coding associated with the Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC), the anomaly quickly transformed into a potential selling-point for AMD processors, that with the right motherboard, a cheaper AMD processor could be unlocked into a significantly powerful processor for the price. Although AMD made noise calling motherboard vendors to quickly isolate and fix the issue, months on, it hasn't been fixed even with AMD's newest desktop platform based on the AMD 785G+SB710 chipset. An almost deliberate precedent, one we can't have problem with.
Chinese website Coolaler.com has learned that MSI's newest AMD 785G motherboard, the 785GM-E65, can not only unlock the two disabled cores on the Phenom II X2 550, but also provide reasonable overclocking stability for the processor. Coolaler used a retail Phenom II X2 550 on the new motherboard, and simply set the ACC feature in the BIOS setup to "auto" (which enables it from the BIOS end). The system booted with all physical cores on the processor enabled, and allowed overclocking it to 3.609 GHz (18 x 200 MHz, 1.344 V). The chip was subjected to full-load using two instances of Orthos to test its stability, to which it emerged fairly stable.
Source:
Coolaler
Chinese website Coolaler.com has learned that MSI's newest AMD 785G motherboard, the 785GM-E65, can not only unlock the two disabled cores on the Phenom II X2 550, but also provide reasonable overclocking stability for the processor. Coolaler used a retail Phenom II X2 550 on the new motherboard, and simply set the ACC feature in the BIOS setup to "auto" (which enables it from the BIOS end). The system booted with all physical cores on the processor enabled, and allowed overclocking it to 3.609 GHz (18 x 200 MHz, 1.344 V). The chip was subjected to full-load using two instances of Orthos to test its stability, to which it emerged fairly stable.
26 Comments on Latest 785G Motherboards Continue to Support Core Unlocking
PS: Sweet new avvy ;)
Above appears to be a V.92 modem port.
strange things though...when doing the benchmark (3DMark, Cinebench, SuperPi, etc..) all 4 cores working smoothly, even when overclocking, but things turns ugly when doing just browsing...got random hangs...
maybe it's just the bios...dunno
1 thing for sure...you got another toy when buying X2 550 :D
I see myself sticking with them for the foreseeable future!:D
It has no covery-flap thing.
edit: ah yeah, i can see it. its black, so it blends in. all the ones i've seen, we're grey (or detachable)
No, I don't think the core unlocking is an accident. Rather, I think it's a hole AMD is willing to leave open to attract enthusiasts and tweakers back to their crowd. Not something they'll advertise, for fear of misrepresentation, but definitely a quiet and purposeful gesture.
Also, no, I doubt they'll laser. Keep in mind that we don't know at what stage of production these things are diagnosed as being defective, not to mention the plausibility and more importantly the cost effectiveness of such a measure. Hell, AMD may not be cutting them simply to save a bit of cash on the process. They need to get rid of the defective cores one way or another anyway, so there's no point in intentionally crippling them any more than a fault in manufacturing already has.