Overclocking Athlon II X2 220 for complete Noob

[trents]

You might want to add to your Sig that the ram is DDR3.

And be aware that if your do succeed in unlocking your cores you now have a 95w TDP CPU and I'm betting that board is only rated for 95w. That means you may not be able to overclock it because that would make it pull more juice.

 

[Jamie_Edwards]

You might want to add to your Sig that the ram is DDR3.

And be aware that if your do succeed in unlocking your cores you now have a 95w TDP CPU and I'm betting that board is only rated for 95w. That means you may not be able to overclock it because that would make it pull more juice.

So your saying I should either not unlock it, and have headroom for overclocking, or unlock it and then wait until I get my new board?

 

[RGone]

220s are unlockable? I didn't know that.

This >> AMD Athlon II X2 220 << with a REGOR core is only a 2 core cpu. That is why Linux only finds two cores.

There are four (4) lines of print on the lid of most any AMD K10 processor. The third line can be used to determine the "core" the cpu is made on/from.

Identifying underlying base core is easy from the markings on the CPU.
The first line of markings contains family name. Normally larger letters than the next three lines of text.
The second line has OEM part number.
The third line contains stepping code: XXXXX (xx) XXXXXXX/X
The fourth line is of no consequence in this exercise.

AC - Deneb >> Third line XXXXX (AC) Denab core.
AD - Propus >> Third line XXXXX (AD) Propus core.
AE - Regor >> Third line XXXXX (AE) Regor core. 2 cores only. No 4 cores hidden or otherwise.
CB - Thuban >> Third line XXXXX (CB) Thuban core.

So you can pull the cpu cooler and look at the two characters described above and know that REGOR core will not unlock.

If one enables ACC on a cpu that has NO cores to unlock, nothing happens except that the ACC enable has disabled the ability for most software to read the CPU CORE TEMPS.

 

[Jamie_Edwards]

This >> AMD Athlon II X2 220 << with a REGOR core is only a 2 core cpu. That is why Linux only finds two cores.

There are four (4) lines of print on the lid of most any AMD K10 processor. The third line can be used to determine the "core" the cpu is made on/from.

Identifying underlying base core is easy from the markings on the CPU.
The first line of markings contains family name. Normally larger letters than the next three lines of text.
The second line has OEM part number.
The third line contains stepping code: XXXXX (xx) XXXXXXX/X
The fourth line is of no consequence in this exercise.

AC - Deneb >> Third line XXXXX (AC) Denab core.
AD - Propus >> Third line XXXXX (AD) Propus core.
AE - Regor >> Third line XXXXX (AE) Regor core. 2 cores only. No 4 cores hidden or otherwise.
CB - Thuban >> Third line XXXXX (CB) Thuban core.

So you can pull the cpu cooler and look at the two characters described above and know that REGOR core will not unlock.

If one enables ACC on a cpu that has NO cores to unlock, nothing happens except that the ACC enable has disabled the ability for most software to read the CPU CORE TEMPS.

ahh right OK, but if you "re-lock" the CPU said software should be able to read the core temps again?

 

[RGone]

if you "re-lock" the CPU said software should be able to read the core temps again? = That is correct. You would likely have to reboot for the RE-lock to take full effect.

As I posted above you can remove the cooler and go to the third line and determine what type of core is used to make that cpu. IF it is REGOR the cpu sold to you as a two core has only two cores and no cores are hidden/disabled or otherwise. About 14 years ago when dealing with cpus, I got to the point that I wrote all the information written on the cpu down so I would know what cpu I really had. Saved me a lot of hassle as time went on and things changed and I wanted to know for real what was in the cpu socket.

 

[Jamie_Edwards]

Finally took off the cooler earlier to find it was a Regor core, gutted about that but, hey ho XD hopefully once I've started work, my first project is going to be getting either a Phenom II x6 1045T, or for the AMD FX-8120 x8 BE for a few quid more.

One of them which will be cooled by a Corsair H80 Hydro series Cooler on an Asus AM3+ Crosshair V Formula S/L board, 16GiB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM, Asus nVidia GTX 550 Ti GPU ( maybe two of them if I can afford it ) with a 2TB WD Caviar HDD, powered by an ACE 500w BR PSU.

All of that will be housed in a CiT Vantage Midi Gaming Case.

Not all of it in one go ( although I wish I could do that ). Still do you know anything about either processors?

Reason why I'm wanting either a six or eight core CPU, with that amount of ram is because I render things quite a lot, and I also want to run windows 7 in a virtual box too XD

 

[RGone]

Phenom II x6 1045T = A waste of money in my mind since it has a locked cpu multiplier and must be overclocked by the FSB.

The FX processors all run hotter than you expect and to really push them takes a high dollar air cooler or an H100 up to about 4.5Ghz with 6 or 8 core FX.

 

[trents]

Jamie, when you start on this sequence of upgrades, do yourself a favor and start with the behind the scenes components that will lay the foundation for good overclocking success. Key word: "foundation". Resist the opportunity to go immediately for the big CPU. Don't build a skyscraper on a chicken coup foundation. Go first for a good PSU, a good case and a good cooler. Then the motherboard. Then the memory. Finally, the CPU. And download and install the free customer preview version of Windows 8 so you can use some of the good tools to help you overclock. When you get the overclock done, then put Linux on. You can do that one now. That would do us all a favor.

 

[RGone]

When you get the overclock done, then put Linux on. You can do that one now. That would do us all a favor.

Absotively an awesome idea man. Put another gold star by your name. After seeing what you wrote I went and looked and there are even some Win 7 trial downloads still available. Probably until win 8 RTM in August.

Nothing but man for your awesome insight. RGone...ster.

 

[Jamie_Edwards]

Jamie, when you start on this sequence of upgrades, do yourself a favor and start with the behind the scenes components that will lay the foundation for good overclocking success. Key word: "foundation". Resist the opportunity to go immediately for the big CPU. Don't build a skyscraper on a chicken coup foundation. Go first for a good PSU, a good case and a good cooler. Then the motherboard. Then the memory. Finally, the CPU. And download and install the free customer preview version of Windows 8 so you can use some of the good tools to help you overclock. When you get the overclock done, then put Linux on. You can do that one now. That would do us all a favor.

I didn't think they still had win7 trials going, I'll have a look into that and download and install a copy now xD

As for the upgrades, I was going to go in pretty much the same order as you just stated ( except I was going to get the memory before the motherboard ).