Built Another PC....

[brandonwh64]

Untrue! on a friends AMD 720 He was able to unlock all core with AMD overdrive.

AMD overdrive works great on some board and HORRIBLE on others

AND

With AMD overdrive i was able to do 4Ghz with a 940BE

CPU Arch : 1 CPU - 4 Cores - 4 Threads
CPU PSN : AMD Phenom II X4 940 Processor
CPU EXT : MMX(+) 3DNow!(+) SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSE4A x86-64
CPUID : F.4.2 / Extended : 10.4
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 64 / 4 x 64 KB - L2 : 4 x 512 KB
CPU Cache : L3 : 6144 KB
Core : Deneb (45 nm) / Stepping : RB-C2
Freq : 4009.24 MHz (200.46 * 20)
MB Brand : Asus
MB Model : M3A78-CM
NB : AMD 780G rev 00
SB : ATI SB700 rev 00
GPU Type : GeForce GTX 285
DirectX Version : 9.0c
RAM : 4096 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
RAM Speed : 400.9 MHz (1:2) @ 6-6-6-18
Slot 1 : 2048MB (PC2-6400)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : OCZ
Slot 2 : 2048MB (PC2-6400)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : OCZ

 

[ati190]

Right, the program is flakey. B.t.w, nice configuration, except you aren't getting what you should out of it. The ram is on the slow side for the 940.. Next, using Overdrive to toggle the dorment cores on, is asking for trouble when you attempt an OC on the now 4th core CPU. Trusting Overdrive is like trusting a 15 year old A4LD with 200k on it. Good luck. It's best to set ACC in the bios as it demands a restart in overdrive anyhow.

On another note, the 720's are luck of the draw. It all depends on the batch the cpu came from. Also, the unlock depends on the chipset of the motherboard. You need the 790FX/some gx chipsets, 750 on the SB. Most 720's will not unlock. With the 4 cores unlocked on the x2 550 for 100$, you could have spent that money for a mobo that supports DDR3 (which is a world of a difference). As mjonesjr said himself, he'd never use DDR2 again, neither will I.

Purchasing a dual core/tri-core cpu with the expectations of it unlocking is just plain silly, but why not maximize the potential of your dorment quad core cpu

Your OC is lacking also, you just raised the CPU multiplier and never bothered the FSB. When I run the OC I usually set the FSB to about 240mhz (about the end for my board), and run the multiplier on the CPU up slowly, till stability becomes an issue. There has been people getting these CPU's to run a 6ghz, just google. From my experience most boards won't take 240mhz on the FSB, but you get the idea. My intention is not to fight with anyone here, but I have been one of the crazy ones buying 550's/720 and attempting to unlock and overclock. Yes, a few cpu's have died on me from doing such. But being i'm an opportunist, it's just my nature to try silly things

My system is as follows:

2.8ghz phenom II x3 720 (now a 920 4 core CPU)
8 gb of DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600mhz ram) Dual channel
750w psu
1x250gb 7200 SATA (free)
1x160gb 7200 SATA (free also) both drives new.
Dual DVD Writer/RW's.
Dual Radeon 4870's 1gb each
X-Fi titanium sound card.
Asus Crosshair III formula mobo BIOS 1003 (Finally fixed unleash mode) Supports IROG.

 

[brandonwh64]

Yea i only use AMD overdrive cause my ASUS motherboard doesnt have good overclocking tools in the bios and when i tried to raise the FSB it would lock on boot. When i boosted the Vcore to 1.5 and then the multiplier slowly to 20x and got my 4ghz clock. Thats bout as much as i got out of it using this board and for the ram im using the ram that was powering my older SLI setup. The specs for it was

Intel 5200 overclocked to 3.5ghz
XFX 680I LT SLI motherboard
x2 8800 GTS 640mb SLIed
4gb OCZ SLI 800mhz RAM

that system was pretty good but when i bumped up to the AMD 940BE and the GTX 285 it was HEAVEN!

 

[ati190]

CPU voltage at 1.5 is really pushing the envelope for the 940. I'd be afraid to continuously run the 940 at 1.5. I'm willing to bet, you can lower the voltage, if you up the NB/CPU voltage a little and raise the speed of the FSB. I can get 3.3ghz stock voltage with 4 cores running. But considering my chip was a tri-core to start with, it won't take much more of an OC with 4 cores running.

I see now why you use Overdrive. I'm used to dealing with top of the line mobo's lol.

Did you run any stability tests such as Prime95, or OCCT?

 

[brandonwh64]

YEs i run prime95 all night long and no errors stay under 55deg cel the whole time. my asus board is more for a HTPC than a Overclocker speed demon BUT i told myself if i upgrade i will just get the 965BE with a AM3 mobo and DDR3 Ram to make me feel better OR wait to see what else AMD has to offer. I wished i could move the FSB i would go back and see how i can clock it diffrent oh and tried over 4ghz and it seems stable at first tile about 1 minute of prime95 and i get a blue screen.

I acually got this motherboard and a AMD X2 5400+ BE for 60$ off of anandtech.com and the guy threw in 2 sticks of 1gb 667 ram (Which i sold) so i really got a good deal cause just the motherboard its self is 75$ on Newegg Here

 

[ati190]

I'm not sure, but it should be in the BIOS config somewhere. Raising the CPU to 4ghz doesn't mean much in terms of performance, more or less you just get numbers on the scale. Likely kill your CPU quicker. The performance gain is in the FSB. By speeding that up, you are improving memory performance, as well over cpu performance. a 3.5ghz vs a 4ghz cpu doesn't mean much, and most couldn't tell the difference. I have a seperate setting all together for FSB... Right now i'm at stock, but if i'm gaming heavy, I start the overclock process.. That's a very decent budget board.

 

[brandonwh64]

Yea imma get a BETTER motherboard in the future when i upgrade to a BIGGER AMD cpu. I may get another GTX 285 and Go SLI but for right now it runs any game ive thrown at it and that makes me happy

 

[pocket-rocket]

I agree on FSB overclocking FWIW. My system (a snail compared to your guys', then again, it's older too ) is a overclocked by FSB, mostly because I was running at max multiplier (can't unlock them on my CPU).

Asus A8N32-SLi deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ dual core (socket 939, stock speed 2.0Ghz, OC 2.7Ghz on air)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro heatsink/fan
Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO XMS ram with the activity LEDs (2gb)
EVGA GeForce 8600 GT w/ 512mb GDDR3 ram PCI-E
Seagate 320gb SATA II w/ perpendicular recording
Antec True Power Trio 650 watt PSU

It doesn't do bad for a 3-4 year old pc, but when I've messed up my memory overclocking and had to go back to stock settings, all I could say is wow in the performance between stock and OC'd.

 

[brandonwh64]

Yea i love my system and it will probly be about 2-4 years before i upgrade cause it does anything i need it too. Im currently running windows 7 RC and im planning on buying Windows 7 next month on the 22nd cause it runs solid! only issue i have had was my sound drive was being gay but they finally release a good driver for it other than that no problems