i realise that this is the hardware section but there is method to the madness!!! ive recently "aquired" a bargain of a full tower, and after hoovering out the dust (yes including the inch thick crap in the PSU) i think i've come a cropper... I was under the impression that i had purchased a Phenom ii X2 550 BE....and if i load up Coretemp it confirms this.... HOWEVER....when i boot up CPU-z it merely shows.... Also note the different socket descriptions between the two... Is there anyone who can shed a bit of light on this for me, or even better had the same issue. Which one should i trust? I was contemplating buying a motherboard with the ability to unlock the extra cores but now......meh Hopefully thanks in advance. Nic
I see both showing a Phenom2 x2 550 Black Edition CPU (CPU-Z just doesn't bother registering the BE). What motherboard are you running it on? Not all 550's are good at unlocking. The 555 has a higher success rate.
You are correct sir. As are the 555 and 560. X4 Black editions are 9xx's X6 Black Editions are 1xxx's.
On the contrary sir i don't believe you are correct. The C3 revision is a normal 550 according to.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Phenom_microprocessors#Callisto_(C2/C3,_45_nm,_Dual-core) It appears that the more i delve into finding info, the more confused and contradictory the evidence becomes... They both show C2 which is the stepping for the Black edition however i have seen pictures of cpu-z where the black edition is described in the Processor name, which is what initially led me to think that it was a non Black Edition CPU. My current motherboard is an Asrock M3N78D. Some might skyward at their mention but i always use them as a first board since i have never had one die on me....and their cheap. Ideal when something goes wrong and you need to swap in something robust that you know works as a troubleshooting measure. Yes i know that the southbridge on this mobo won't allow me to unlock the two extra cores if it does turn out to be the better kind of 550, but i wont be buying a new cpu at any time soon.. Only reason i bought this setup was because it was dirt cheap so i wont be modding it with anything spectacular, just a TT Frio and a new mobo if it turns out to be worth it. i thought it had potential and in anycase its still miles better than my old rig. Nic
One easy way to check; go into the BIOS and start cranking up the Multiplier. BE cpu's have unlocked multi's.
@faugusztin The last thing i want to be doing at the moment is messing around with the hs&f...its quite nicely set and its keeping my cpu temps lower than other stock coolers have in the past and i dont want to upset its karma I guess i'll know for definite once i throw the Frio at it since ill have to take it off @Instagib I thought that only happened after you had unlocked it? Didnt occur to me to try it beforehand On a side note I dont suppose anyone reading knows the highest, safest overclock for the memory on an MSI GTX 280? ive already pushed my core to 710 (still linked to shaders) and i want to start pushing my memory clock upwards but i want a decent trusted base to start from. Thanks for all the advice so far Nic
