M4A88TD-M EVO + Phenom II x2 555BE

[Akuze]

Hey, I'm gonna be buying:
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO
AMD Phenom II x2 555BE
I heard that there are 2 switches on the motherboard, which unlock the other 2 disabled cores on the 555. Is it safe to unlock them? I mean, if it was, why are they disabled? I would really appreciate a longer explanation about these "disabled cores".
Also, is the cooler that comes with the cpu any good for overclocking? I guess not, but I wanna make sure.
Thank you.

 

[dj1997]

yes it should be safe to unlock the extra cores but you will need to buy better cooling as the cpu is going to generate more heat with those enabled the reason
there are two disabled cores is so that amd can just unlock the and sell them in the phenom 2 x4 range for a higher price

 

[welshmousepk]

http/www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-amd-phenom-ii-athlon-ii-core.html

all there.

in short, AMD had to bin working chips to meet demand (and they are binned in batches, not individual chips, so even if some in a batch are bad, not all will be)

unlocking won't do damage, worse case is that you have a chip with one or two defective cores, which simply won't activate. success rates are high. (i have an unlocked chip in my rig)