45nm Athlon X2 5000+ which is based on Phenom II available in the UK!

[mosherben]

Shall try and take a screenshot then

I stupidly ended up with one of these as it was on Scan Today Only offer for just £36. I wanted an old X2 to upgrade an old AM2 board to dual core, and that seemed like a steal of a price. If I had done my homework I would have realised it was not compatible before buying let alone stuffing it in the board.

I did pretty much the same but realised it before Scan sent it out so I amended my order.

[DanceswithUnix]

Athlon X2 5400+ for under £50? Not very cheap I admit, but not too bad either...

And if you decide to sell / get rid of the X2 5000+ let me know

They did that just to annoy me, last time I looked there was *nothing* dual core AM2

I notice they have one a few quid more than that which whilst only 100MHz faster is also into the free packing price range so would actually be cheaper.

OTOH, for that 51 quid I might be able to get a motherboard for my mistake purchase that has a 710SB and unlock friendly bios

[DanceswithUnix]

I had a quick look over lunchtime, and you can get a Gigabyte 760G + 710SB uATX board for 46 quid on ebuyer which is tempting. Need to check MythTV compatibility though. ASUS do a cheaper board but no ACC BIOS support.

Full sized ATX would have been better, but you really pay a premium for that don't you!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I had a quick look over lunchtime, and you can get a Gigabyte 760G + 710SB uATX board for 46 quid on ebuyer which is tempting. Need to check MythTV compatibility though. ASUS do a cheaper board but no ACC BIOS support.

Full sized ATX would have been better, but you really pay a premium for that don't you!

This motherboard has ACC:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ASRoc...SATA-RAID-mATX

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=233254

The motherboard also has dedicated RAM for the IGP.

[scaryjim]

They did that just to annoy me, last time I looked there was *nothing* dual core AM2

They probably did this to annoy you, too

You could sell the motherboard for more than £20, I reckon...

[DanceswithUnix]

They probably did this to annoy you, too

You could sell the motherboard for more than £20, I reckon...

Yeah I saw that too. Don't think I could be fussed with the hassle of reselling the motherboard though, and can't imagine a use these days for a motherboard with a non gigabit ethernet port.

I think instead I will be taking the wife to the local Chinese restaurant and spend the money on crispy duck, nom nom!

I'm sure a use for my currently useless CPU will turn up if I procrastinate long enough

[DanceswithUnix]

This motherboard has ACC:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ASRoc...SATA-RAID-mATX

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=233254

The motherboard also has dedicated RAM for the IGP.

That is damn good value isn't it!

Am amazed that power stage could drive a 3.9GHz overclock though, it looks like a 95W job.

[scaryjim]

... I think instead I will be taking the wife to the local Chinese restaurant and spend the money on crispy duck, nom nom! ...

That sounds like a much better plan to me

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

That is damn good value isn't it!

Am amazed that power stage could drive a 3.9GHz overclock though, it looks like a 95W job.

The motherboard was originally around £35 or something along those lines on Scan a few months ago!!

I wish I had got one as the price has now gone up!!

[Uriel]

First attempt didn't work but that was with the old BIOS that came with the board (Dated March 09). Will try a confirmed for unlock BIOS over the weekend.

[Uriel]

Tried BIOS A09 (most recent). It recognised it as a phenom FX5000 but wouldn't boot into Windows.

I've switched to the earlier BIOS A07 which I'd seen had confirmed unlocks of dual core phenoms and I am am now typing this booted up as Phenom FX5000 x4 @ 2.2GHz.

Seems like a reasonable start. I need to go and install some stuff @ default settings and then I can try playing with my new Quad

Edit: Will post more once I've got everything up and running. Meanwhile:

[Iron Sights]

Awesome stuff uriel. How are you getting on with your quad?
I tried using an older bios but it hasnt worked... yet, i guess it wouldnt hurt to try some others

[Uriel]

Things are going alright but not entirely getting my own way. It's a bit of a lottery whether I can get the unlocked CPU into Windows consistently at any speed. It regularly bluescreens from cold boots. Also got it working with the latest bios with a bit of voltage tweaking.

Once it's in Windows all seems fine. I've not yet had a crash once I'm actually in Windows. I can benchmark and stability test to my heart's content. It's quite happy looping prime95 blend and 3dmark06 @ just over 3GHz for example.

I suspect I may need to tweak the CPU-NB voltage a bit.

Edit: I never had a problem with POST @ quad. It POSTs @ stock voltages. If there's actually a defective core I've heard chips don't POST when ACC is set to auto.

[Uriel]

Think I'm going to settle for 3 GHz unless I can sort out better cooling. 3GHz gets a little toasty, at least with the side of the case on. Airflow may help as I'm running about 6-8°C cooler cpu temp with the side off.

Booting into Windows seems consitent now so there's a sign of improvement

[Uriel]

Need to do some stability testing to confirm but I think I'll be sticking at 3GHz for now. Looking pretty good. It's making it into Windows and doesn't throw up any Prime errors in a shortish test.

Pushing 62° though (at least with the case closed), which is the rated maximum for AM2+ Phenom IIs. May be able to improve airflow a bit but I don't want it to get too noisy.

[Uriel]

A bit of gaffer tape, a fan and spome cable ties has pushed CPU temps down. Now 35°C idle and 55-59°C under load.

Seems to be making it into Windows consistenly now. Prime for several hours never a problem. I'll leave settings as they are for the time being.

£36 for a 3GHz Phenom II ain't bad