SOLVED Biostar A780L3G + Phenom x2 560 Overclock / Core Unlock

[goolie]

Hey all!

I've frequently bumped into overclockers.com through google. Especially when I got my i7-960 + sabertooth x58. Thanks to several threads I was able to get that baby running at 4.6 GHz stable for about the past several months if not more. I've been googling like mad my current problem so that I can find a solution, but alas, either my googling skills are failing me or I may just be unable to actually do what I want to.

So, I built a simple build for my girlfriend to play WoW on. We went for budget:

AMD Phenom x2 560 @ 3.3 GHz

Biostar A780L3G Ver 6.1
AMIBIOS Version 8.00.14
Build Date: 4/21/10

Gigabyte Radeon 5450 GPU

4 GB MicroCenter DDR3 - 1333 Memory (2 x 2GB)

Thermaltake 430W (TR2-430)

Western Digital 500GB HDD

Basic DVD Drive.

Hyper 212 CPU Cooler.

Now, I was able to get this overclocked up to 3.8 GHz stable with Prime95 running for about 2-3 hours. (I just started my adventure, so I haven't done a full 24 hour sort of thing)

I was really interested in core unlocking. I've seen people having success with this but either I'm doing it wrong or my CPU is just not unlockable.

If I go into the BIOS and set AAC to Auto I get no boot. So I reset BIOS. If I push F3 or F4 I get the same instance. I've tried manually disabling and enabling cores on a per core basis but to no avail. Also, I'm not 100% sure why I get 6 options for CPU cores, when I set Advanced Clock Calib. to Auto and Core Leveling to Manual With Core 0 Greyed out to Enabled and Core1 - Core 5 Enabled with the option of disabling. (CPU 0 - CPU 5)

Has anyone had any success with this pair? Or do you know of any places I can read up on any correct step by steps I should be doing? Also, this is the original BIOS from Biostar. I see updates on the site, but I can't really see a full changelog and the brief description in the "Changes" category just say something along the effects of LAN Boot Rom fix.

Any suggestions would be great. Although, I have a feeling I'll be stuck with two cores and will have to settle for the overclock.

That about wraps it up, thanks in advance for any help.

 

[RGone]

Also, I'm not 100% sure why I get 6 options for CPU cores, = Because MSI does not have a chip onboard to poll the cpu for unlock and they just have to have all possible 6 cores listed.

A quick g00gle shows that it is only about a 50/50 chance now to unlock that 560 cpu. There is only one other thing you might try and that is to manually raise the Vcore to cpu (1.45V) before setting ACC to enabled. If that does not work then it is ultra-likely you got the part of 50/50 that does not unlock.

 

[goolie]

Haha, I usually refrain from posting because I almost always find more information on subjects within at least an hour. (And I really hate bugging people xD) I really did strike up with nothing though. Just might have been bad keyword selection on my part.

Well, I tried what you mentioned. Unfortunately, looks like I may just have an unlucky 560. Too bad, would have been nice.

But, on the good side, if anyone is thinking of a cheap build, the possibility of unlocking an extra core or two is great. Not to mention on a cheap Hyper 212 I got this cranking at 4.0 GHz pretty easily, Prime95 for about 5-6 hours now, running around 55C, which isn't too bad for the case having only one fan. I'll probably drop an extra fan or two in there.

Again, thank you for your time and swift response good sir!


Quick Edit: Changing thread to SOLVED.

After several hours of Prime95, I was able to get a stable 4.0GHz, also bumped up the 5450 with the Catalyst Control Center Auto-Tune feature. Have been able to move graphics settings in WoW from Low to Good while mantaining 30FPS (instead of dropping to about 18FPS) so all in all, great success! So, I didn't get any unlocked cores, but overall the main point was just the FPS boost. Thanks!

Oh, if anyone is interested, I had to bump voltage to 1.5125 to mantain stable. Is sitting under 55C under full load.

 

[RGone]

No problem with the question man. You gave full information with which to form an answer that could make sense in answer to your question. You don't know what a relief that is with concise information.

Yes, I was a little surprised at that 50/50 unlock ratio, since I thought it might be higher myself. I also found a user with your exact board that had gone thru the question and answer about unlocking a cpu like yours and the black screen was diagnosed exactly as "no unlocky". So no problem there even though there seem few Biostar users to pull from.

Appreciate your response so we know what to think and good information on your 4.0Ghz clock and supplying the voltage you used. All around a good session man. And good luck and happy computering. RGone...ster.