CPU AMD Athlon II X3 440 unlocking

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by dave_salmon, 22 Aug 2010.

  1. dave_salmon

    dave_salmon What's a Dremel?

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    I started this thread for some advice on a build and Reddoguk posted about the Phenom II x2 and to consider buying it to unlock to an x4.

    Whilst researching this I stumbled across articles talking about unlocking the Athlon II x3 to a Phenom x4 and it got me wondering. At first it seemed that only the C3 (Calisto) revisions of the chips are unlockable but I can only seem to find the Rana revisions available for sale.

    Does any one have any experience unlocking these chips? Does it have to be the C3(Calisto) revision or will the Rana revision unlock too?
     
  2. Reddoguk

    Reddoguk I Play WoW :(

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    Yes mate the 440 Rana unlocks aswell (chance) to a AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B40 Processor.

    The difference is though that the X3 440 has no L3 cache and i'm unsure if you can unlock that aswell.

    The older revision X3s were in fact Phenom II with Deneb dies, so you could unlock the core and the L3.

    The newer revision X3s Rana is not Deneb but is Propus, so it can be unlocked to a quad Athlon II X4 but there is NO L3 on the chip wat so ever.

    http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2010/...th_core_on_Athlon_II_X3_revision_C3_CPUs.html
     
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  3. dave_salmon

    dave_salmon What's a Dremel?

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    ahhh so that's why you were recommending the Phenom 555BE, because that has the L3 cache?

    Thanks for the advice btw, much appreciated!
     
  4. Reddoguk

    Reddoguk I Play WoW :(

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    Not only does it have 6mb of L3 cache, it is also a Black Edition.

    So easy to overclock, just open the bios and change the multiplier from x16 to x17 or x18 or even higher if your lucky.

    They are really cool chips aswell, mine idles @ 30C and i've never seen it go over 48C and that was with Prime95 running for 7 hours.

    Ofcourse i have a good aftermarket cooler aswell though, the max temp of the 555 is 70-72C so lots of leg room left over to play with. To be on the safe side i wouldnt allow mine to go over 60C.

    I bet this chip i got would hit 4GHz easy, but maybe not as a quad though.
     
  5. dave_salmon

    dave_salmon What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks a lot for the help!

    I'm getting the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7pro rev2. I have the Rev 1 on my C2D E6750 and it keeps my cores at an idle 35C after three years of serious hammer!


    At the moment I'm torn between the rig in my other post and a refurbished Alienware M11x from NDC. The laptop is more convenient but the CPU is a crappy SU7300 dual core 1.3ghz with a possibility (if I'm one of the lucky few) to clock it to 1.76ghz...
     

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