Monday, February 23rd 2009

Phenom II X3 Can be Unlocked to Phenom II X4?

Feb 23rd, 2009 06:49 Discuss (99 Comments)

It is a well-known fact that AMD has been carving out triple-core and dual-core Phenom/Phenom II series processors out of complete Agena/Deneb dice with one or two cores disabled. In a fresh revelation, a Korean enthusiast claims to have discovered that it is rather easy to unlock the disabled core on Phenom II X3 processors, provided the motherboard supports the Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) feature that is meant to enhance overclocking using AMD's Overdrive software. The enthusiast claims the soft-mod to have worked in his/her case, where a Phenom II X3 710 was paired with a Biostar TA790GX 128M motherboard. The CPU was overclocked to 3.12 GHz, with a vCore setting of 1.37 V.

The method employed: Set the appropriate BIOS setting for the Advanced Clock Calibration feature to "Auto", save settings and restart. The system will be able to deal with the disabled core, and off load some work to it. The processor with the "additional" core was tested to be Prime95 stable and was able to boost 3DMark06 CPU score by as much as 1,000 points. Let the screenshots below speak for themselves:
The method:

The Result:

Sources:Playwares, VR-Zone

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99 Comments on Phenom II X3 Can be Unlocked to Phenom II X4?

#26

TheMailMan78

Big Member

bta you have any high rez photos of this claim? I would like to look at them close. I'm pretty good at picking up photochopery.

#27

suraswami

btarunrCPU-Z shows the name string as shown by the CPUID, and the CPU it recognizes. So in one field, it's an X3 710, but in the other as an "X4 10". Look at what 3DMark06 is detecting the CPU as: the same string the BIOS is displaying during POST.

a Bios (hack) update for name string? I know there is a program that will tell windows to display whatever CPU namestring you want to (atleast Athlon XP mobile days).

#28

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

TheMailMan78bta you have any high rez photos of this claim? I would like to look at them close. I'm pretty good at picking up photochopery.

In the first source link, just click on the light-blue links (drop-downs).

#29

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

craigwhitesideMore like something is right, with his motherboard :laugh: :toast:

Edit: would this make the cpu essentially a X4 810?

Actually, it would be a 910, since it has the full 6MB of L3.

TheMailMan78bta you have any high rez photos of this claim? I would like to look at them close. I'm pretty good at picking up photochopery.

#30

cdawall

where the hell are my stars

several people have messed had a 4th core show up after failed oc's.

its already well known that these chips are not laser cut just hardware locked

#31

Johnytxtc

All sounds plausible to me :)

#32

devguy

I have a Phenom II x3 720 coming in today. Unfortunately, I have the sb600, so I won't be able to try this out.

#33

PCpraiser100

So possible! I knew this could happen!

#34

PVTCaboose1337

Graphical Hacker

There is no shoppage in those pictures. The fonts from CPU-Z naturally artifact when in JPG format. The way you would know there is shoppage is if the fonts are crystal clear on the backdrop, and they are not. The pics are legit, but I have a feeling that this whole X3 -> X4 thing is a bit bogus.

#35

TheMailMan78

Big Member

PCpraiser100So possible! I knew this could happen!

Where exactly did you read that? :confused:

bta I checked the photos and I honestly can't tell. The rez is just to low. I'm not buying this unlock stuff anyway. Unless someone from TPU can verify.

PVTCaboose1337There is no shoppage in those pictures. The fonts from CPU-Z naturally artifact when in JPG format. The way you would know there is shoppage is if the fonts are crystal clear on the backdrop, and they are not. The pics are legit, but I have a feeling that this whole X3 -> X4 thing is a bit bogus.

Thats not 100% true ether. I can do anything in photoshop and there is no way you could tell unless trained to do so. All it takes is a high rez photo. ;)

#36

SeanG

I looked around the net and couldnt find 1 phenom x3 named like his in cpu-z?They all say just "AMD Phenom II".:cool:

www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-810-and-x3-720be-review-am3/9

#37

phanbuey

somebody try this !!!

#38

Unregistered

How come that the picture on the mobo and the cpu are better than the screendump from his system? Or is it when the links are posted here they get like that??

EDIT: Does anyone know if AMD has/can verify/verified this???

#39

SeanG

And if you look at both cpu-z pics where it says specification its written different.That isnt going to change no matter what you do to the cpu or the bios.Plus the 7 is missing in first pick,it should say 710 not just 10.And it isnt going to change from x3 to x4.;)

#40

ShadowFold

Yea screw 945, I'm getting a 720 :p I have ACC on auto right now on my 3.2ghz Kuma and it just shows 2 cores, I guess this only works on Deneb based CPU's since they have ACC built in and having it on twice must make it tard out and show the disabled core.

#41

zOaib

DrPepperMaybe they arn't all bad cores, maybe amd deliberately disabled a good core so they can sell it as a tri core although that isn't the most efficient way of doing it but maybe they never had many quads with bad cores.

or maybe in bulk a quad costs equal or less , because the die alrdy has 4 cores it wud be idiotic to make only 3 core cpus , so they still make money selling the 4 as 3 + now since this news is out amd alrdy knew about it and it will boost there sales cause ppl will be thinking hey i am geting a quad for the price of a tri core .................. anywho ........... its all relevant to the consumer and their choices.

kiya haal hay btaruner , yaar slumdog millionare nay to hollywood ki phaar kay rakh di , bhut khushi hui mujhay dekh kar kay. jeeway hindustan =)

#42

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

SeanGI looked around the net and couldnt find 1 phenom x3 named like his in cpu-z?They all say just "AMD Phenom II".:cool:

www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-810-and-x3-720be-review-am3/9

That is likely because the version of GPU-z used in most reviews is 1.49, and the one used here is 1.50. Version 1.50 brought improved Phenom II support.

#43

SeanG

Well all i know is the specification part in cpu-z on both pics reads different and it shouldnt.Its still a AMD Phenom(tm) II x3 710 processor no matter what you do to it.It isnt going to change in specifications to a AMD Phenom(tm) II x4 10 processor .lol

#44

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Depends on where that CPU-z field comes from. Notice the string reads the same on the POST screen. If the BIOS is changing the CPU ID string for some reason, then it will change what CPU-z displays also.

#45

TheMailMan78

Big Member

Well if everyone really wants to know Ill reluctantly use my computer to test this Phenom II X3 theory. No need to thank me. Its all in the name of science and the interwebs. PM me and Ill send you my address so you may send the PII CPU directly to my house.

#46

lower77

I'll give you some more links. maybe you can get some more informations about this topic.

Tom's Hardware
www.tomshardware.com/forum/258421-28-phenomii-720be-3core-4core-phenomii

Korean overclocker's video (also posted Tom's hardware forum)
dory.mncast.com/mncastPlayer.swf?movieID=10080554320090223193027&skinNum=1
(spoken in English - alternative link here www.vimeo.com/3333450)

Parkoz Hardware AMD Overclock forum (Korean hardware site)
www.parkoz.com/zboard/zboard.php?id=overclock_amd
(Korean. you may use translation service like translate.google.com/)

#47

ShadowFold

Anyone know how to mod bioses? I'm gonna try and make my Kuma CPUID read as a 9950 BE.

#48

TheMailMan78

Big Member

ShadowFoldAnyone know how to mod bioses? I'm gonna try and make my Kuma CPUID read as a 9950 BE.

Everyone wave goodbye to ShadowFold. He wont be back for a while.

#49

ShadowFold

TheMailMan78Everyone wave goodbye to ShadowFold. He wont be back for a while.

Hey, I have a laptop :p If it doesn't post with the modded CPUID, I have a Semperon in my server, a 4200+ sitting next to me, a PII 920 in my HTPC(my dad might kill me if he notices it's gone lol) and my mom has a 4200+ X2 in her rig too.

#50

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

lower77I'll give you some more links. maybe you can get some more informations about this topic.

Tom's Hardware
www.tomshardware.com/forum/page-258421_28_50.html

Korean overclocker's video (also posted Tom's hardware forum)
dory.mncast.com/mncastPlayer.swf?movieID=10080554320090223193027&skinNum=1
(spoken in English - alternative link here www.vimeo.com/3333450)

Parkoz Hardware AMD Overclock forum (Korean hardware site)
www.parkoz.com/zboard/zboard.php?id=overclock_amd
(Korean. you may use translation service like translate.google.com/)

Interesting, he does it on an 720 in the video, the original is about a 710. I wonder if these are engineering samples though? Do AMD engineering samples identify themselves as engeneering samples in CPU-z? Another thing, why does he keep turning the machine completely off and then back on after saving the BIOS? Makes me wonder if he doesn't just have two machines next to eachother in the video and just switches between them to trick us into thinking he is using the same CPU.

If someone at TPU or a legit source confirms this, I'll definitely be picking up a Phenom II rig in the near future.:rockout:

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