How to unlock AMD Athlon II x3 450 to AMD Phenom B50 x4

NoisyBoy

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Jul 20, 2012
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Hey, I heard that my CPU AMD Athlon II X3 450 can be unlocked to AMD Phenom B50 - quadcore very easily and I heard also that my mainboard has a special function to unlock hidden cores.
Mainboard: ECS ECS A780LM-M2
OS: Win 7
Can you tell me please if I can unlock my CPU to a AMD Phenom B50 x4 ,if yes ,how ?
 

Z1NONLY

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Jan 13, 2012
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I used an ECS board on my first build and the unlock feature was pretty easy to find.

I was even able to unlock my 455 to 4 cores. (At least until I upgraded my OS to 64 bit.)

However, both your board and your CPU are rated at 95 watts (stock). Unlocking the 4th core is likely to push you beyond the board's rated power limit for the socket.

I checked your board and ECS has it listed as a feature on the website, but I couldn't find it in the manual.

http://download.ecsusa.com/dlfileecs/manual/mb/A780LM-M2/A780LM-M2%20_manual.pdf



 

NoisyBoy

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Jul 20, 2012
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So what are you trying to say that ,to unlock to AMD Phenom B50 is not possible ,and if yes, the PC will overheat resulting in something worst?
 

Z1NONLY

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Jan 13, 2012
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ECS is sending mixed signals regarding the possibility. Their website says yes and the manual appears to say no. If you can't find the unlock feature in the BIOS, the answer is "no". (At least with your motherboard)

The other issue is heat. Unlocking the extra core (if possible) will increase heat for sure, and it seems your chip is already at the max power rating for your motherboard's CPU socket. So you could overheat the motherboard and the CPU.