# unlocking phenon II



## Dumitdown (Dec 20, 2010)

So I'm building a new system and was advised to go with the phenon IIx2. I was told you can unlock(possibly) the other two cores. I've read up on it and am ready to try, I just have two questions. 1. Do you have to have an OS installed? 2. Do you have to OC to do this?


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## Dumitdown (Dec 20, 2010)

Did I possibly post this to wrong section?


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## Marmaladee (Sep 21, 2010)

Hmmm, i'm fairly sure 4th cores can only be unlocked on tri-core processors.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Have a look here
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/535501-official-amd-k10-5-core-cache.html
http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=905&page=3


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## Marmaladee (Sep 21, 2010)

I learned that it depends on your mobo weather you can unlock extra cores, called ACC or UCC.

Phenom II can be unlocked but its very very unstable.


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## Dumitdown (Dec 20, 2010)

By unstable what do you mean? System crashes for no reason? And is there a way to make it more stable?


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## Marmaladee (Sep 21, 2010)

Overheating, voltage fluctuations.

High core voltage can cause permanent damage to the CPU and overheating can cause thermal runaway, and this will have higher chance of happening with unstable core unlocking/overclocking. This will have system crashes...you shouldn't try it unless you really know what you're doing. All I know is the reasons why I shouldn't do it haha.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Dumitdown said:


> So I'm building a new system and was advised to go with the phenon IIx2. I was told you can unlock(possibly) the other two cores. I've read up on it and am ready to try, I just have two questions. 1. Do you have to have an OS installed? 2. Do you have to OC to do this?


1/This may be done without installing an OS, however, you should have your computer fully configured and functioning stable *before* attempting this or any overclock procedure. Otherwise, you do not know whether you were unsuccessful or the computer was a dog before you started.

2/ Once you have successfully unlocked your CPU, you may stop right there, stress test it to confirm and move on. Further overclocking is optional.



> 4th cores can only be unlocked on tri-core processors.


Not true. All AMD dual and triple core CPU's may possibly be unlocked. Some (Athlon II's and Phenom II's) have higher success rate than others.



> Phenom II can be unlocked but its very very unstable.


Also, not true.

You have to think about *why* it the cpu cores are locked in the first place. The most common reason is that the hidden cores were faulty and the CPU would not pass stability tests as a quad. So the manufacturer locked down the faulty cores and sold the CPU as a fully functional dual. In this case, an unlocked CPU may be stable enough to run until it becomes stressed, or it may simply fail to boot.
The other case (far less common) is market necessity. The manufacturer had a shortage of dual or triple core CPU's but had plenty of quads in inventory, so they locked the cores of some of the quads and sold them as dual cores. If you are lucky enough to get one of these, you should be able to run your CPU as a fully functioning quad core.

You should note that when you unlock cores of an AMD processor, you will also lose the temperature sensor, which makes manual monitoring of your system health necessary.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

gcavan said:


> 1/This may be done without installing an OS, however, you should have your computer fully configured and functioning stable *before* attempting this or any overclock procedure. Otherwise, you do not know whether you were unsuccessful or the computer was a dog before you started.
> 
> 2/ Once you have successfully unlocked your CPU, you may stop right there, stress test it to confirm and move on. Further overclocking is optional.
> 
> ...


Excellent advise my teammate gcavan gave you



> You should note that when you unlock cores of an AMD processor, you will also lose the temperature sensor, which makes manual monitoring of your system health necessary


This I did not know. Thanks for that


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## Dumitdown (Dec 20, 2010)

Well thank you for your advise. I was sucseesful in unlocking all 4 core. Im running Prime95 in the 14th hour right now. Was advised to run it for 24 hours at least, then gong to run memtest, and then run everest. I'll update this thread with my results, and if you have any advise on good monitoring devices, software, etc... It would be appreciated. Thank you again


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## Marmaladee (Sep 21, 2010)

Thanks gcavan, your teaching is great.


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