Unlocking 4th core HELP!

[MadDog121]

I tried to unlock the 4th core on my AMD Phenom II x3 710 2.60GHz. I have a ASRock N68C-GS FX motherboard.

I unlocked the core with an option called UCC(Unlock CPU Core) in the bios. When it restarted i opened up the bios and it was successful(it was a AMD Phenom II x4 10 2.60GHz), well.... at least i thought it was successful...

When i let Windows 7 boot up a BSOD appeared and then it restarted itself. After the restart it asked me if i want to run windows self-repair, i ran it and it just stuck on a black screen.
After that i restarted my pc and disabled the 4th core and after that it successfully repaired it self and now I'm here...

Is there no hope for the 4th core or do i need to increase the vcore? Tell me what to do plz

 

[Z1NONLY]

You may have just learned why the 4th core was disabled by AMD in the first place. The two times I unlocked cores on two different Athlons, the 4th core worked with a 32 OS and failed to boot on a 64-bit OS.

Both your motherboard and your CPU are rated for 95w. Unlocking the 4th core will increase the power drawn by the chip.

You could try adding voltage if your motherboard offers that option in the BIOS, but then you will draw even more power than the increased power draw from unlocking the 4th core.

 

[MadDog121]

So you think it's a malfunctioning core? I could do the voltage thing but I'm afraid i will kill my mobo with that.
But why do they offer options like unlock 2x to 4x, 3x to 4x, 4x to 6x if the mobo supports only 95W?
That doesn't make much sense.. But anyways, lets put the voltage increase on the last place.
What could i do else to fix that problem except giving up on the 4th core?

 

[Z1NONLY]

It's probably marketing. There is also the possibility to unlock a low-wattage dual core to something that wouldn't overload the socket.

32-bit OS is the only thing that got the 4th core on my two Athlons to play nice. But that's a drastic measure as well. When I upgraded to 64-bit and lost the 4th core on the first Athlon, I decided that 3 cores and a 64-bit OS was better than 4 cores and a 32-bit OS.

 

[MadDog121]

It's probably marketing. There is also the possibility to unlock a low-wattage dual core to something that wouldn't overload the socket.

32-bit OS is the only thing that got the 4th core on my two Athlons to play nice. But that's a drastic measure as well. When I upgraded to 64-bit and lost the 4th core on the first Athlon, I decided that 3 cores and a 64-bit OS was better than 4 cores and a 32-bit OS.

Hmm very good point! So i might just leave it as a x3 core and overclock it to 3GHz if possible without going with the wattage over 95W. I don't want it to bottleneck with a new 7870 because i am planning to get one sooner or later. Or a 7770.. I'm not sure but i want to prepare it for any decision.
Is it even possible to OC this CPU?

 

[Z1NONLY]

You can only OC if your motherboard allows base clock overclocking. It's more complicated than overclocking with a "black edition" CPU.

You would also want to try and undervolt your chip since it's rated at 95w with stock speed and voltage.

If you can stabilize faster speeds with less voltage, you can break-even in the wattage department. That's a pretty big "if" though. More speed generally requires more voltage, not less.

 

[jpoos]

yes. but you'll be reference clock oc'ing - providing you have components & cooling that can handle it. unfortunately the 710 is a fairly low 13x multi so don't expect any 4ghz miracles, a more practical goal is probably gonna be in the 3-3.3ghz range. there's plenty of guides out there on phenom II overclocking; just google it.

 

[MadDog121]

I've got a program that came with my motherboard, it's called ASRock OC Tuner. It doesn't allow me to raise the multiplier over 13 but it lets me to raise the CPU frequency(200 stock). I tried to go to 300 and it worked(i didn't apply the settings)! So that's a good thing, i will search for OC guides. If i manage to OC it to 3GHz will it bottleneck with a 7870?

 

[MadDog121]

I am probably going to buy another motherboard because i got this one not a week ago and i think i can still give it back at full price. So i'm planning to get this one: MSI 970A-G46

Would anybody recommend this over this one: ASRock N68C-GS FX?

 

[Z1NONLY]

The MSI has a beefier VRM section so I would go with the MSI between the two.




I have overclocked a few chips on two different examples of this board and have been happy with both. (But it's $125)
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

 

[MadDog121]

Nah, i am going to trade my current one for the full price and add 30 bucks and get a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3.
That has 125W cpu socket, for which i was aiming for and it's below the 100 bucks mark.
Now I've got one more question... The newer CPUs use less power right? And there aren't much processors that go over 125W TDP, right? Can someone answer this question? Cause i'm getting the new mobo tomorrow and i wanna know everything about it before purchasing!

Oh and here it says that i can use 4 DIMMs but it also says that it has dual channel architecture... Does that mean that it can run quad channel as well?

New MoBo:
http/www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4396#

 

[wr6133]

Nah, i am going to trade my current one for the full price and add 30 bucks and get a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3.
That has 125W cpu socket, for which i was aiming for and it's below the 100 bucks mark.
Now I've got one more question... The newer CPUs use less power right? And there aren't much processors that go over 125W TDP, right? Can someone answer this question? Cause i'm getting the new mobo tomorrow and i wanna know everything about it before purchasing!

Oh and here it says that i can use 4 DIMMs but it also says that it has dual channel architecture... Does that mean that it can run quad channel as well?

New MoBo:
http/www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4396#

AMD CPU's still have 125W TDP's (and can go higher when OC'ing). Thats a pretty solid board you are getting the UD3's have good VRM's under decent heatsinks so can OC well also it supports the new vishera FX chips so you can upgrade later if you wish. Only thing to beaware is the 970 chipset does not support SLi (but does crossfire) if you want SLi support you need a 990 chipset. It will run 4 sticks as 2 sets in dual channel.

 

[Z1NONLY]

And make sure you get the latest BIOS version if you are going to use the latest AMD CPU's.

 

[MadDog121]

AMD CPU's still have 125W TDP's (and can go higher when OC'ing). Thats a pretty solid board you are getting the UD3's have good VRM's under decent heatsinks so can OC well also it supports the new vishera FX chips so you can upgrade later if you wish. Only thing to beaware is the 970 chipset does not support SLi (but does crossfire) if you want SLi support you need a 990 chipset. It will run 4 sticks as 2 sets in dual channel.

Are the wattages of new generation CPUs going down or up. I saw that the new FX series with the bulldozer architecture have very low TDP.
And i know that they only support CrossFireX, that's why I'm getting it. I'm always aiming for AMD cards over nVidia.
I also want 8GB of ram. How do you recommend i lay it out? I mean which is more efficient?
2 modules of 4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 or 4 sticks of 2GB? So if i got it right then if i put 4x2GB then it will form 2 dual channels?

And make sure you get the latest BIOS version if you are going to use the latest AMD CPU's.

The BIOS can be updated with a flash drive or do i need to tell them in the store which bios i want(i don't think that's the case but crazy stuff can happen lol)?

 

[Z1NONLY]

It can be done with a usb flash drive, but you will probably need to install your x3 long enough to perform the update.

You will also need a working computer to download and "unpack" the latest BIOS version, then put it on the flash drive.

 

[MadDog121]

The only thing that is worrying me about my new board is that it has 1x PCIe 2.0 x16(16x bandwidth) and 1x PCIe 2.0 x16(x4 bandwidth). And i heard that using crossfire on 16x and 4x isn't the best thing to do... also loss of performance