AMD Athlon II X3 445: General Questions + Unlocking

[xXDangerous]

Hey Overclockers!

I ended up on this Forum while I was looking for the topic "Unlocking AMD Athlon II X3 445" and I started to like this Forum also.
Considering that I used Google and the Search Function on here, I couldn't find my answers so I hope I'll get some assistance here.

Starting over, my system set up:

CPU
AMD Athlon II X3 445 3,1GHz (Core: Rana; Stepping: 3; Revision: BL-C3)

Motherboard
ASRock N68C-S UCC (BIOS v.: P1.40)

Power Supply
350W ATX Power Supplier 20pin

Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a (OnBoard, 256MB shared memory)

Memory RAM
Kingston DDR3-1333 (667 MHz) 2GB (1x Module)

First over, I have slightly overclocked my CPU by setting the BIOS this way:

CPU Frequency 215 MHz
PCIE Frequency 100 MHz (left untouched as using onboard card)

CPU Multiplier x15.5 (max) (3332 MHz)
Processor Voltage 1.3250 V (default)
NB Frequency Multiplier x10.0 (max) (2150 MHz)
HT Bus Speed x5 (max) (1075 MHz)
HT Bus Width AUTO

So far, this config is working stable without doing any problems.
Have checked the core temperatures also and they went up just by 1°C - 8°C, nothing to worry of since the highest temperature registered by CPUID Hardware Monitor was 25°C (77 °F).

When I've checked CPU-Z, it shows the following info:

Stepping 3
Revision BL-C3

What shall the "BL-C3" mean?

Also, I have been having troubles with unlocking my CPU. I've read everywhere that I just have to simply enable the ASRock UCC in BIOS and that's it but I've tried it like 5 times and the Unlocking failed. I've tried to set up the CPU Voltage up to 1.40V (max I dared to) and the system still didn't boot up nor showed up the POST screen nor anything.
After saving the BIOS Settings with UCC activated, the system turns off and restarts after few seconds but it shows no signal. It doesn't boot!

Is there any possible solution to fix this? Or is my 4th core and L3 CPU Cache defect at all? Thought I would have some luck since it's a C3 Step CPU.

Thanks for any help guys!

Here the screens from CPUID HW and CPU-Z:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/298/cpuf.png

Regards,
xXDangerous

Edit: The CPU-Z show's the Idle CPU Frequency, not the real one which should be 3,3GHz ...

 

[Marshmallow64]

Seems like AMD quiet n cool is on. I recommend you disable that first of all. You will probably need to update to the latest bios, see if your board allows unlocking of cores by visiting the main website.

You are doing the right thing in enabling ACC in bios, that should unlock the core. It is possible that nothing will show up, its really the luck of the draw in these AMD unlocking stories. Also the Athlon II does not have L3 cache. Nothing is defective with your cpu as it was meant to be X3 not X4. The only thing that might be defective is that 4th core. Don't feel bad if it doesn't unlock, like most people. If anything unlocking is just a added bonus to the chip. I had my phenom II 720 unlock but it was unstable, so I reverted back to 3 cores. Good luck.

 

[xXDangerous]

Hello

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, my motherboard supports UCC. Before proceeding with anything else I also updated the BIOS to the latest version (P1.40).

I will try it once again with AMD Cool 'N Quiet turned off and then post again.

 

[trents]

Besides Cool and Quiet, also disable C1E if you have it in your bios.

 

[xXDangerous]

Concerning my AMD Athlon II X3 445:
Loaded default settings in BIOS, activated UCC, disabled Cool N Quiet, setted CPU Voltage up to 1.40V

Result: Still fail.

I checked also the Stepping written on the CPU itself. It's a CACAC A Step CPU.
Has it any meaning maybe?

Besides the Athlon, I tested an AMD Sempron 140 2,7GHz 1MB L2 Cache (Had it from some months ago).
Unlocked it successfully to an AMD Athlon II X2 440 2,7GHz dual core with 2MB L2 Cache.

Been running Prime for like 3 hours now, working perfectly.

Just wondering how it comes that the Sempron didn't do any troubles and the Athlon does.

What may happen if I go past the 1.40V on CPU? Since thats the limit for my CPU (paper says so).

And I have also tried with C1E disabled. Still same failure.

Regards,
Dangerous

 

[QuietIce]

Just wondering how it comes that the Sempron didn't do any troubles and the Athlon does.

These cores are disabled by AMD because the don't meet certain tests. Some of them are so bad they simply will not run regardless of what you try to do. It's a simple luck of the draw ...

 

[xXDangerous]

Oh well.. All I can do then is trying some more ...

Just, what could happen to the CPU if I pass the standard CPU Voltage?
As for what I know, ATHLOn II X3 445 serie works with a maximum of 1.40V. What if I set it to an higher point? May I risk to burn the CPU even if the system won't likely boot?

I've seen on youtube someone unlocking his CPU to a x4 Core with a CPU Voltage of 1.50V ...

Any advices?

Thanks alot in forward.

 

[trents]

Up to 1.5v with good cooling is about the safe max limit, especially if you run it that way 24/7. 1.4v is just the upper end of the factory recommended range. Nothing magic about it. Temps are more important. Just want to limit core temps (not CPU temps) to mid 50s C.

 

[mastrdrver]

As with all Phenom II X2s and X3s, it all depends on the locked parts of the Athlons.

I myself have an Athlon II X3 435 that is a C2 stepping that fully unlocks its 4th core and L3 (since it is a Deneb die) stably on stock voltage (1.325v cpu, 1.175v cpu-nb).

 

[Marshmallow64]

As mentioned a few times already it is the luck of the draw. That fourth core simply might not be stable. I'm not the best overclocker, but I could not get my phenom II 720 BE 4th core stable no matter how many different things I tried. I tried all sorts of voltage ranges on the cpu, NB, and CPU-NB, lower ram timings, underclocking the core speeds, etc.

Nothing I did got it stable.

 

[xXDangerous]

Well, I believe that my CPU is impossible to unlock then.
Looks like a no go.

Earlier today I tried to overclock the CPU by 10% by using the optimized overclocking feature of the ASRock N68C-S UCC. But i decreased slightly the CPU Voltage to see if It would work stable at 3.4GHz with 1.3V. After 5minutes of running Primer95 I got stability problems with the system. May it be due to the overclock and decreasement of the Voltage? How can I reach a quiet good overclocking frequency with a voltage as low as possible so that I can reduce also the CPU heat..