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So I got my x3 445 for £60. Currently CPU-Z is telling me this :D
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5363/coreunlock.png
I reckon that with Cool n Quiet it's not quite stable so I'm going to try to get to about 3.5 GHz later :D
Any other tips on core unlocking? Might I have missed something?
Well, CPU-Z does report an X4, so that's fine.
As for the lack of info, try installing the latest version of CPU-Z - I noticed you have an old one.
Core unlocking disables the temperature sensor IIRC. I assume you are using an aftermarket cooler too?
Also make sure that the VRMs on the MSI motherboard have some sort of cooling too.
Not yet which is why I'm being cautious. It's god awful loud.
What cooler would you recommend CAT? It has to be no bigger than about 15cm. I'm in a p180 mini so size could be an issue.
I think the p180 mini takes full size coolers; they are about 16cm usually. Scan today only has both CM 212 on special (could have bee on thurs).
It should run fine with CnQ; you will have to test it with prime or the like when you get time and better cooling. The Mobo will have a temp sensor to read your CPU temps. The coretemps (which are what are disabled) are not really what you want to read anyway.
There are quite a few coolers on Scan Today Only this weekend:
http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/
The V2 version of the Arctic Cooling Freezer is meant to be good:
http://hi-techreviews.com/index.php/...freezer-7-pro-
http://www.kitguru.net/components/he...ev-2?showall=1
http://www.testseek.com/labs/reviews...cooler/?p=2694
The Xigmatek HDT-S963 is also meant to be a very good budget cooler and is cheaper too:
http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/
The CM212 mentioned earlier is also worth a look at too.
Make sure that you don't exceed the maximum rated temperature of a C3 stepping CPU which is 75C:
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskto...&f11=&f12=True
I'm not a big fan of these artic cooling freezer things. They seem to be on par with the stock JVC heatpipe model by frostytech iirc. The freedom tower was meant to be ok but I wouldn't go much over 20 squid as its dimminishing returns. Hyper plus gets my vote from the today only.
Direction of mounted is limited to up/down on alot of sinks this includes most of/all the Xiggis (I had to make a custom mount for mine). I know the CM hypers point in all directions.
There are plenty of 2nd hand ones kicking about on forums but watch out incase they are nicked; I couldn't lap mine completely flat again. I would worry less if it was not a HDT.
Mini nija would do the job?
I cenrtainly will not be removing the motherboard to install a backplate. I know that a HDT-S1283 doesn't need you to install a backplate so I might get one of them...
Frostytech has good reviews. The scythe ninja looks a bit pants tbh the 80mm fan is a bit loud. Xiggy only points up or down; otherwise very good.
Up is fine though, as I have a 200mm fan right above it ;)
I think you missed about £60 off the retail price! ;) :pQuote:
Originally Posted by nibbler
Full 6MB Cache unlock is very lucky indeed! I thought all the Athlon II X3s in circulation were cut from dies that didn't have L3 cache on them! Looks like demand has been good enough that AMD have had to use some Phenom cores in the Athlons after all :o
Huh, didn't notice that.Quote:
Originally Posted by scaryjim
Seriously, a full-fat X4 Phenom. Congrats, nibbler :rockon:
OOh I finally get a a nice cpu! My old i5 overclocked terribly in comparison and my amd athlon before that. Well...
Once I get my xiggy in the post on wednesday (I'm in london next two days) I'll do some overclocking and I'll post some numbers!
Yaay :D
Did one cheeky run of cinebench R10 and currently with it sitting at 3GHZ and 1333mhz ram it managed 12.4k points - roughly the same as a stock 940 BE. So basically, it's fast. I reckon that cache is good to use, will stress test when I beef up the cooling.
just noticed I'm running on unganged mode on my RAM, this is still dual channel right? Reckon I can get the RAM up to 1600mhz? I know the modules can handle it, just wondering whether the IMC can.
There seems to be some confusion regarding ganged and unganged modes. In one case ganged is faster, in other - unganged. All in all there doesn't seem to be that much of a difference. I leave my RAM in the same-coloured slots and it shows up as ganged - so I just left that be.
I'm in same coloured and it's showing as unganged, I don't really care so long as it's dual channel :P
That because you've essentially *got* a 940! ;) Lucky bugger...Quote:
Originally Posted by nibbler
AFAIK, the difference between ganged and unganged is that one treats the memory as a single 128bit channel and one treats it as two 64-bit channels. The upshot of which is (afaict) that if you're having a conversation about ganged or unganged then you're definitely running dual channel (as single channel wouldn't give you either option!). Although I'm not an expert, and I'll happily cede to someone with greater knowledge than I...
I'm happy with unganged. Not sure how I can change it and I'm almost certain it makes little to no difference irl.
Mmm... I'm getting bored with it I might 'upgrade' it to a 965 Black edition ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by scaryjim
Little bump
What is the option I see in the bios when I am unlocking about +/- %, i e +10% down to -10%. What does this mean? Apparently it affects stability, or so says a bit-tech article about their chip only being stable on -6% whatever that means.
That is supposed to be for users of the original Phenom, so not of use for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by nibbler
Basically seems to set timing margins on those CPUs to allow you to overclock beyond 3GHz.
That is my understanding too.Quote:
Originally Posted by scaryjim
Unganged is the modern way, I believe because it allows two cores to fetch independently at lower bandwidth when needed rather than having to wait for each other. Horses for courses.
Just installed a big ol' xiggy - love these, cheap as chips and great cooling. Covered in blood (which always seems to happen when im installing stuff in the computer) but apart from that all is well. And cooooool :D
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7847/setuprv.png
Pic is huge so just gonna link to it, but that's me atm. I put the HT link to 1760 because i read that that is more than enough anyway and that high speeds can cause stability issues with unlocks. Vcore up at 1.37 just to keep it stable and core temp is (roughly) 55C I think, judging by the temp sensor on the CPU reading 49 and the core tending to be a touch higher.
I've found that at least on my Phenom the actual CPU temperature ("Core") is always lower than the one shown as "Temp", so you should be OK.Quote:
Originally Posted by nibbler
By the way, had you encountered instability before, or did you simply up the voltage "just in case"? That way you might be simply heating the CPU unnecessarily. Undervolt FTW :)
Personally I don't trust speedfan for temps, according to it your "Core" temp is 0c and something else is -128c :rolleyes:
I'm sure it must work correctly on some motherboards, but I've yet to find one where it does.
AMD overdrive would probably give you better temp readings and I find GPU-Z is very good for gpu temp readings
It crashed once before at 0.05v less, so upped and now it's stable for 7:45 on prime 95. That was with lower clock speed, not sure why it crashed actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Queelis
When you unlock a core the temp sensor gets disabled. "Temp:" is the CPU temp but the core temps don't work. So long as your CPU temp is within 5C of the safe limit, you're supposed to be ok.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pob255
Gonna try and get to close to 4 Ghz maybe :D
I like HWmonitor atm.
Gigabytes OC software allow to you to make changes on the fly. I'm not sure if it lets you change the FSB though as in my case I was playing with the multiplier. The MSI is probably similar and may save you rebooting each time and may save some CMOS clearing.
Apologies if you already know this.
Might keep it at 3.4. BSOD at 3.6 with same voltage so seeing as I don't do anything taxing on the cpu, I'll just leave it at stock volts (1.376) of a 965 BE.
And the 4th core is now refusing to co-operate even with the same settings which were stable last night for 8 hours on p95 before I started tinkering this morning. Manually locked out the 4th core and stress testing with 3 cores + the unlocked cache at 3.5 ghz now. :(
Don\'t forget that the locked core was disabled for a reason. It\'s quite possible that 8 hours of Prime95 have exacerbated whatever problem caused the chip to be binned in the first place. Remember the Northwood P4, that died on its rear if you ran it overvolted for any length of time? Could just be a faster version of that problem...
Yeah, oh well, back to three cores and normal cache :p
Read about it and idiotically tried overclocking an unlocked undervolted X4 :D Got errors in two seconds and lost some 14 hours worth of folding@home :stupid:Quote:
Originally Posted by Domestic_Ginger
So you still have a 3.5GHZ Phenom II X3 with 6MB of L3 cache??Quote:
Originally Posted by nibbler
Currently just at stock - any kind of unlock seems to cause instability now :(Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH
Maybe when I need the power I'll experiment, I didn't change any voltages apart from vcore and DRAM so maybe doing that wil make a difference, I'm not sure.
This guide maybe useful:
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/53...ore-cache.html
Oh well, here are some pics of the build (because I have nothing better to do):
My current Desktop:
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6483/rimg0814.jpg
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2019/rimg0815.jpg
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3091/rimg0816.jpg
And the build:
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7725/rimg0817.jpg
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/783/rimg0818q.jpg
Looks nice enough anyway :D
Nice pics :)
What's the cooler on the CPU?
Just an old xigmatek HDT S1283. At £17 you can't really argue. Keeps it cool and it's silent.
Very nice nibbler! Good airflow :)
That's a nice case, what is it?
Antec P180 mini :)Quote:
Originally Posted by redddraggon
now unstable at stock speeds...
BSODs when idling. I think I broke the chip. Great.
Ouch..
I'd still try clearing the CMOS or upping the voltage (not a good option, but it's something to try nevertheless).
Let's hope for the best :)
had 2 BSODs in the whole of yesterday, lef it on for about 6 hours today while I was at school and no problems. We'll see...