# Properly unlocking a Phenom ll x2 560



## PuntyMario

so i recently bought a phenom x2 560 and an Asus M4A785T-M because my mobo for my athlon 4200 died and i was in need of an upgrade to edit properly without killing my budget. anyway after getting everything running and what not i wanted to try unlocking so i used the built in unlocker and it ran fine for a few minutes at full load then shut off. i dont know if this is because of lack of proper voltage or if the tdp was too high for the board because it has anti surge and such. its rated for max 125 tdp and when i checked cpuz it said the cpu was 143w but ive read that there is no such revision of the 560 that goes that high. i then tried running 3 cores since it would take less wattage and it still shut off. i can presumably say that the cores arent bad because they dont glitch up or anything it just shuts off no bsod or anything.

so id like to see if anyone here has bought a 560 or similar cpu and see what they did to keep the unlock stable

windows 7 ultimate
Asus M4A785T-M
amd phenom ll x2 560 3.3 ghz
ripjaws ram 8 gb at 1333mhz


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## KBeasley

My Phenom II X2 555 unlocked right away using my motherboards built in core unlock. I did not need to do anything special to unlock the cores and make them stable. All 4 cores are stable up to 3.82+ GHz.

I am using -
Windows 7 Home Premium
Gigabyte 880GA-UD3H
AMD Phenom II X2 555 (Stock 3.2 GHz)
G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB 1333 MHz

Finally, here is a handy guide to unlocking AMD CPU's.
AMD K10.5 Core & Cache Unlocking Guide - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net


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## loda117

first off the back what is the make and model of your power supply and what watts 
What kind of heatsink you are using with this stock or after market? 

If the system is shutting down then there are 2 causes for this
1) over heating and system is shutting down 
2) not enough voltage to the CPU (it could be the PSU can't provide enough power or did not tweak the voltages under BIOS) 

If this is the first time you are doing this I would recommend you read the following 
How To: Overclocking Your AMD Processor : Introduction: The Basics Of Overclocking
there is a lot of things you have to watch out for to get a stable OC
instead of cranking up the cpu all the way up I would OC it in baby steps to figure out where your current hardware runs out (cooling, power) 
so for example, if the cpu clock is 2.2 then you should raise it to 2.3 or 2.4 first and see how stable it is run a game to test it 
if stable then raise it to 2.6 and test it with a game etc 
At some point you will run into issues at that point you can turn back to last good configuration for OC and keep it there because that will your current hardware will permit


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## PuntyMario

im not gonna overclock the cpu just want to stabilize the unlock. i have a 650 watt Rosewill Performance Series RP650-2 psu. havent fiddled with the voltages yet because i want to see the safe margin for increase in voltage. whats the highest i can go and whats the best


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## KBeasley

I would not go more than 1.5V to be on the safe side. That should be plenty anyways. Just raise the multiplier in small increments until you get a stable OS. Make sure you are watching your temps though, because raising the voltage and unlocking cores WILL make your CPU run hotter. 

Also, when you unlock a Phenom II X2, conventional programs like CoreTemp and HWMonitor will not read the CPU properly. I have found Speedfan to be one of the only temperature monitoring programs that works after unlocking. Also, set your BIOS CPU warning temp to 60C just in case.


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## Amd_Man

No need to raise the vcore that high on Phenom II's unless your trying to go over 4ghz. Mines OC'd at 3.8ghz and my vcore is set at 1.35v which is lower that the rated max of 1.4v.


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## loda117

As AMD said unless you are really sticking it to your CPU, you don't need to mess with voltages 

As for your question about whats the highest and whats the best.. 
Why are you over clocking in first place? 3.3GHz is pretty fast as it is (don't get me wrong more is always better but) 
Plus you never answered my question about are you running stock heatsink and fan or you have an after market?


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## PuntyMario

im not trying to overclock. isnt anyone reading my first post? not to mention the title says nothing about overclocking. im asking about voltages because some unlocked cpus require more voltage to stabilize the cores. im using stock heat sink


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## loda117

POSt the voltages from your BIOS for your CPU 
Stock CPU settings motherboard should be giving it the right voltage unless the pwoer supply is having problems


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## MonsterMiata

Here is the deal with the phenom duals. At one point in time demand was higher then supply leading to alot of quads being locked as duals, This is long since then. Most of the phenom duals you will find on today's market will be locked due to a faulty core or two. It sounds to me you have a unit with 2 faulty cores.

Not all phenoms unlock and you shouldn't buy one expecting it to unlock as it does not always happen, its a lottery and you lost.


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## Amd_Man

The earlier ones were only disabled to keep up with demand and when unlocker came out they started cutting them because alot of people were getting quads for the price of duals.


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## gcavan

> At one point in time demand was higher then supply leading to alot of quads being locked as duals,


And since, at that time, the 9XX quads were nearly double the price of a 5XX dual, it was well worth the risk. Now, however, the difference in price is only 20 bucks or so. If you want a quad, buy one.


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## sherry9873

hey! can anybody please tell me how to unlock hidden cores????? 
i recently bought a phenom x2 560 BE, msi 880gm-e35(bios 1.1latest),corsair vengeance 4gb 1600mhz ram and cooler master 460w supply......


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