Does unlocking the 4th core on an Athlon II X3 440 raise its TDP?

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RevOne

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Jun 19, 2011
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I have the Athlon II X3 440, an ASUS M5A78L-M LX mainboard, a CM Hyper TX3, and an Antec Earthwatts EA-650 650W supplying the voltages. The most important thing to note in all this is that the M5A78L-M LX - though an AM3+ "black socket" motherboard - only supports CPU's up to a 95W TDP rating.

I was able to use the ASUS "Core Unlocker" feature the very first time without a hitch. The Athlon II X3 440 was recognized as a Phenom II X4 after the first reboot by the bios, Windows Vista 64-bit, and CPU-Z. Haven't Prime95 tested it yet for true stability.

The Athlon II X3 440 I have has the AADAC code engraved on its heat spreader. As I understand it, this means it's a Propus, because the third letter is a D. The regular Propus' natively have a 95W TDP; so if I unlocked my 4th core anyway, and my processor is a Propus, then technically, should I still be operating at a 95W TDP?

Does this logic seem right to anyone else? Given that my mobo only supports up to a 95W TDP, does unlocking - in any case & under any circumstances - automatically raise the TDP? My individual core temps using both the bios readings and HW Monitor in Windows showed about 32 degrees Celcius with just three cores @ idle; and 36 degrees Celcius with all four enabled, also @ idle. No overclocking has been done... yet 😉 I'm just worried that if I leave it unlocked, I will cause damage to my motherboard or severely shorten the life expectancy of my processor.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)
 
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Seems there was a thread on here (Tom's) somewhere where someone confirmed a 955 95W only ever being sold in parts of Asia. I can't find one for sale anywhere just doing a quick scan over Google. That would have been a nice option for me.

EDIT: I take that back. Here's two sources: http://www.google.com/search?q=HDX955WFK4DGM&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US😱fficial&client=firefox-a#q=HDX955WFK4DGM&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US😱fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=shop&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=b5feaac58e99eeca&biw=1127&bih=494 . One is selling it for $175USD and the other $376. Neither even bothers to make any mention of wattage on either page; or list ANY specs for that matter. I don't know if I would even trust ordering it unless I could confirm beforhand that it was the right one.
 
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No Eyefinity for me yet, unfortunately, since I've still only got one monitor and can't really afford to spring for any others at the moment. I have the main HDTV in the living room, also; but that one's got a bigger screen. I wish I could actually have gotten the Phenom II X4 960T (it's a Thuban and I might have had luck in unlocking the two extra cores) and a 6-series ATI or a GTX 5-series Nvidia GPU. Just a matter of budget holding me back really. With this one, I paid $27 for the 820 processor (originally $45 for Athlon II X3), $33 for the mobo, and $75 for the 4890. I couldn't even find a GTX280, much less even a GTX460 768mb selling for the price I got the 4890 for anywhere; and I know the 4890 at least runs on par with the GTX460 768mb, or at least somewhere between that and the 1GB version. And the 4890 is hopefully going to run pretty little circles around the 9800GTX (not even a GTX+) that was in there before.

I was able to put this entire build together for approx. just under maybe $260 USD; $33 of which I actually spent out of pocket to put me in the red. I wouldn't have been able to get even an X4 945 and GTX 460 1GB for that amount of money, unless I got real lucky on ebay pitching for the used one's. I think this machine ought to make me happy for at least a year. Hopefully, it'll hold up enough to play Modern Warfare 3 decently. That'll get me by for the next couple months at least.

Plus, there's a laundry list of games I haven't played that the 4890 could easily handle: Batman: AA, Dead Space 1 & 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the Dragon Age series, the Assassin's Creed series, all immediately spring to the forefront of my mind. I've missed out on tons of games over the years. For finally coming from a Pentium 4 Northwood system with an AGP 4x bus, I hope this little machine will serve me well for the time being.

Additionally, I'm hoping to do an entirely separate build when the time and money is right, and this one (the Phenom II X4 820/4890) will likely become a secondary beater unit for the everyday tasks and the like; then dedicate the other to pure enthusiast level gaming. This is my first ever custom build, too; so if anything, it's been good for getting at least a little bit of experience under my belt.

Geez... why do I always end up typing so much? It's like my fingers just go off on their own sometimes. I swear - I am not this talkative in person :lol: It baffles me, seriously...
 
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Once again, I can't thank you enough malmental, for all your help and guidance with everything. When you're completely new to this stuff (as I am), it really helps to have someone who's willing to share their knowledge. I think I ought to be happy with it. It's a big step up from my old system, so we'll see if once the novelty of it all has worn off, if I feel I still desire a little more "oomph" from this configuration. The great thing is that upgrading IS an option now (whereas with my old system, it was a total dead end).

I can understand where you're coming from. The only other ATI card I've owned in my entire life was a 32mb Rage 128 Pro for an old Compaq I had back in maybe '98. Everything else has been Nvidia; but I'm definitely willing to give ATI it's time in the light as well. I hear a lot of good things about this particular card, so hopefully my experiences with it will mirror those reports. I'd love to have just a couple hours to mess around on the rig you have. It sounds like a beast! :) Hey, when anyone can afford to pass on a system with two 560's in SLI, gaming has GOT to be good -=laughing=-

Well, I ended up ordering the Phenom II X4 820 for the heck of it (was only $27 after all) and I should have it by Tuesday. I'm gonna toss it in there and see how it stacks up against the unlocked Athlon II X3 440; then decide on which one I'll keep in that unit. I'll probably just keep whichever processor doesn't end up in this machine, then build another basic system around the other and give it to one of my brothers. He's still running an old Northwood Pentium 4 system, too; so I think he'd definitely like it very much to be brought up to speed with something a bit more modern (he's even more of a gamer than I am... XBOX 360 for him right now, though lol).

Anyhow, thanks for all your help malmental and all the others who have lent a hand in this. I can't stress how much I sincerely appreciate it! :)

BTW, think my setup can handle Bulletstorm? I think that'll be one of the first games I'll try to beat once everything is finally up and running for good...
 
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Yo.
what's your monitor situation again.?
Click to expand...

Here's what I've got: http://insigniaproducts.com/products/televisions/NS-L22Q-10A.html .

It's a 720p LCD HDTV; but when using a DVI to HDMI cable running from my GPU to the TV, it's native resolution is usually automatically set at 1360 x 768. I can output as high as 1920 x 1080, but I don't know if that's progressive scan or interlace (doesn't say, just says 1920 x 1080 on the display dialogue when I set it to that resolution). The other TV I have (that my girlfriend and I use for watching television and playing the XBOX 360) is a Samsung 32" 720p 60Hz HDTV (also will output 1980 x 1080). I believe this is the model: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-LN32B360-32-Inch-720p-HDTV/dp/B001U3Y8M2 .
 
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1360 x 768 is a real downfall...
I'd have to up it to full 1080P if possible.
that 768 in particular, I can't stand it..
Click to expand...

Yeah, tell me about it :lol: I found that with the 9800GTX in there, I often had to set certain games (Crysis and Bad Company 2 in particular) as low as 1280 x 720 (720p) in order to get good framerates. With most everything else (Assassin's Creed, Dead Space, the Call of Duty games, NBA 2K11), I cranked it up to full 1080p (I'm assuming it's 1080p; may be 1080i, though, since this is a 720p TV). Hopefully, the HD 4890 will let me do a little bit better across the board. That 1GB of GDDR5 memory in the 4890 over the 512mb GDDR3 in the 9800GTX ought to help out with filling textures better at higher resolutions. The only reason I really was so quick to snatch up the 4890 right away, instead of waiting a few months and saving up in hopes for something better, was because I was using these two sources as a reference to see where the 4890 would put me in comparison to the 9800GTX, as well as other cards:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-geforce-gtx-560-ti-gaming-graphics-card,2857-7.html

HD 4890 vs 9800GTX
http://www.hwcompare.com/2220/geforce-9800-gtx-vs-radeon-hd-4890-1gb/

HD 4890 vs GTX 460 (768MB)
http://www.hwcompare.com/8154/geforce-gtx-460-vs-radeon-hd-4890-1gb/

It's strange, because with the old Dell that had a 7800GS AGP in it, if I tried any resolutions between 1360 x 768 and 1980 x 1080, it wouldn't scale fully to the borders of the screen. It would simply adjust to 1980 x 1080 and show a borderless window set at the resolution I was originally aiming for (i.e. 1440 x 480, 1600 x 900). I thought this was the monitor at fault, but it doesn't do that with either of the two newer cards.
 
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I was on the verge of getting a 5770, but saw that even the 4890 was more powerful than that one. I really, REALLY wanted to score a 1GB GTX460... but I wasn't so lucky. You're absolutely right, too: In a lot of the benches I'm now looking at, even the 768MB GTX460 edges out ahead of the 4890 in most games. It's funny, because my 4890 came bundled with H.A.W.X., and the 460 easily wins by a landslide in that game according to the benches you posted. It's tough when people publish differing results. Some say the 4890 approaches even the 1GB 460; others say it's not much more powerful than the GTX280 (until you factor in overclocking). Makes it tough when you're in the market for a card and you're new to this stuff.

I was wondering: what processor do you have running in the SLI 460 rig? It's not the Athlon II X3 440, is it?
 
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Revone I understand that you sold your Athlon II CPU.I have the same problem here but with a Athlon II 455x3 CPU.After I unlocked the fourth core I got TDP 126,2w.The CPU is very stable,no problems in stock 3,3Ghz,not overclocked and I"m not gonna overclock it.My MOBO supports up to 95W TDP too.I don"t know what to do,leaving the CPU unlocked will damage my motherboard?
I put here a screenshot of Core Temp program that shows basic info of CPU and that is a 126w TDP.In original state with 3 cores my CPU has 95w TDP


 
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Hi, gabilondo :) Yeah, I still wasn't too sure about how it affects the overall TDP, myself. I'm fairly certain that the TDP readings must get screwed up somehow, the same way that you can no longer monitor temps per each core, when the CPU is unlocked. However, I do think that the TDP must be increased, if only just by a little bit. It seems logical that the more cores you have running, the more power it will draw. Yet, it isn't like there aren't 95W quad-cores in existence; especially those based on the Propus die.

Interestingly, where my Athlon II X3 440 when turned into a Phenom II X4 B40 supposedly stayed at 95W, your 455 @ 95W ( http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Athlon%20II%20X3%20455%20-%20ADX455WFK32GM%20%28ADX455WFGMBOX%29.html ) turns into the B55, which is stated to only have an 80W TDP ( http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X2%20B55%20-%20HDXB55WFK2DGM.html ). Either way, I think it does raise the TDP, but only minimally, and most programs like CPU-Z will report much higher than it actually is.

Wait... I don't think that's right. That second link says it's for the Phenom II X2 B55. Isn't the Phenom II X4 B55 what the Phenom II X2 555 (and not the Athlon II X3 455) turns into when you unlock the four cores?
 
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There was a guy who's video I was watching on Youtube and he put a 125W Phenom II X6 into the motherboard that I'm using (a 95W max mobo), and he runs it as a server 24-7. Seems to be alright so far, with the exception of having troubles overclocking the thing. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEwvyaw8ep4 . I wouldn't recommend doing what he did because I don't know what long term effects it could have on his setup, but in your case, I think you'll be fine. I was still a little in the dark as whether or not the TDP is raised significantly enough to a level where one would need to be concerned. It's why I decided to just go with a CPU that was already a 95W quad-core out of the box.

There's this thread on Tom's about the same thing you're encountering: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265443-29-tomshardware
 
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Not a problem :) Not sure how much help I was since I'm still very new to all of this myself; but I'm glad I could help, nonetheless.

Alright, so despite being scared half to death yesterday by the ground rumbling (I live in Virginia), Fed Ex STILL delivered the Phenom II X4 820 through all the insanity -=laughing=-.

I took your suggestion malmental and didn't apply as much AS5 when I remounted the Hyper TX3, and right now, the CPU idles at around 38 degrees Celcius. Much cooler than the Athlon II X3 did. I've unlocked the extra 2MB of L3 Cache, but I still have to run stability tests with Prime95. Other than that, it's working in Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit just fine (I'm using it right now to type this). Even tried a little Batman: Arkham Asylum and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and no problems to report with the unlocked L3 Cache (I haven't recorded temps on full load yet, however).

Now I'm at the point where I want to try a little OC'ing (first the CPU, then later the GPU). The V-Core says it's currently at 1.28v (this is at stock). I have a locked multiplier, so I know the only thing for me to do is up the FSB a bit (is that correct?). I don't want to leave the V-Core on Auto though. I'd rather set it manually so that it doesn't exceed its threshold. What's the highest acceptable voltage that most would recommend (on air cooling)? I've read you should go too much more above 1.43v in some places.

EDIT: Found a major problem. These are my GPU temps at idle... Something is wrong. I'm gonna end up frying this card. Unless the fan kicks into high gear when I'm gaming.

 
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Did you get that card used from Ebay? I'd take a look at the heat sink and apply new thermal paste if I was you. I bought a used 9800gt that ran 70c at idle and 90c+ when benchmarking, even went up to 105 one time, turns out the heat sink was completely blocked with crap. Just glad it didn't start on fire. Worked good once I got it cleaned out.
It irked me a bit that the guy posted it as nothing was wrong with it, cause obviously it must have been overheated many times before and hadn't been working decent for gaming for a while, the heatsink doesn't get that blocked over a day. There was literally no air getting into the heat sink, and it wasn't a big heat sink at all.
 
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Yeah, I did buy it used on ebay. The seller said they had removed the cooling unit and applied some fresh Arctic Silver 5, but had tested it since then, and reported it running well. According to the listing, they weren't getting rid of it because there was anything wrong with it, but instead because they had upgraded to a GTX 570. Maybe they hadn't quite reseated the cooling unit correctly/fully. Hope it's an easy fix.

I don't have any experience removing a fan from a GPU, so I'll see if I can find a visual aide or some kind of tutorial. I'm going to run a test to see what it gets up to under load.

On a separate note, if I do attempt the CPU OC, should I disable Cool 'N Quiet?

EDIT: Prime95 won't stress test my GPU, will it? Gonna try using the Crysis Benchmark for the GPU I suppose...
 
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Well, the fan only seems to want to operate at 37% when it's idle and set to Auto. I went into the Catalyst Control Panel and used AMD Overdrive to manually raise the fan speed up to 60%, and the temps are steadily coming down. Looks like at this speed, it hovers around 52 - 53° C.
 
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Alright, so it seems I'll have to use manual fan controls whenever I want to game. At least until I can pull the fan off and reapply some thermal paste. I have to double check, but I think you can save profiles for regular and heavy load use that can be switched back and forth. I played Crysis for about an hour, had the fan speed at 65%, and the highest temps I got were between 61 and 62 degrees Celsius. Still, would like it to be lower, but I guess I can't expect much with an mATX case. Also, I wish I didn't have to do it manually every time I want to rev up a game; but it's only a minor inconvenience. Not to mention that if I set the fan any higher (>70%), it sounds like a mini jet engine :lol: . CPU doesn't go above 52° C under load, so I'm pleased with that.
 
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I was hoping I could maybe ask for a little guidance with the OC'ing part.

I unlocked the extra 2MB of L3 cache. For the clock speed, I set the multiplier as high as I could, which was 14 x "something". The HT link was set at the highest value available (2400MHz, I believe). I set the FSB (or I think it said NB) at 235. This bumped everything up to about 3.3GHz (3.29, actually). At idle, it was 44°C. It never topped over 61°C; and would jump up and down between 57 and 61°C. I couldn't manually change the VCore for some reason. It just stood at AUTO. Seems it was set at 1.39v with all the changes. I'm wondering if this is safe, or should I bump it back a little to keep things under 60°C ?

These are the readings after about 15 minutes of Prime95:






I also went in and changed my RAM timings. At default, they were 7-7-7-20. I changed it to 5-5-5-15. Is this how you're supposed to do it? Lower = better, correct?



EDIT: Playing a little Bad Company 2 & Crysis and the CPU temp didn't rise above 54°C with these very settings...
 
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Thanks amdfangirl :)

lol @ malmental...

Here ya go:



OC'ing the processor and changing the RAM timings only bumped it up by 0.1 in each of those categories. The GPU has remained the same because I haven't done any OC'ing with that yet (at least not until I can find a workable solution for the heat issues other than manually changing fan speeds).

The hard drive turned out to be the weakest link. Well, actually, the main 750GB I was going to use ended up not posting in the bios. I couldn't get it to work even if I changed SATA cables, ports, power connectors, jumper settings, etc. . So I have to get another. The one that's in here right now is a (ugh) 160GB 7200RPM Western Digital; but it only does 1.5GB/s. The other one does 3GB/s. No SATA 6GB/s or USB 3.0 with this board... 🙁

I'll probably get this when I can: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

EDIT: Hmmm.... I was looking in my bios and the RAM appears to have been downclocked to 1066MHz. I'm trying to find information now, but I'm wondering if the DDR3 controller on the Phenom II X4 820 only supports up to that speed. My motherboard natively supports 1333MHz; even higher if I OC.
 
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