Is a Phenom II X2 unlocked == Phenom II X4? and what's with X2 Deneb?

[bupkus]

Is a Phenom II X2 unlocked == Phenom II X4? and what's with X2 Deneb?

I've been mulling over the decision to get a Phenom II X2 and unlock two cores but after reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenom_II I'm concerned that I may experience intermittent failures. Let me quote:

"Hardware enthusiast websites have collected and summarized anecdotal reports that, overall, indicate about a 70% success rate, but these reports likely have self-reporting bias, and more importantly, it is impossible to know whether an unlocked core is truly bug-free or just works 'well enough' for the particular individual making the report."

Considering I will be building 1 or 2 of these for relatives I'm uncomfortable basing builds on potential problems. Which now leads to my next question-- can I re-lock a problematic core?

Item 2:
Wikipedia lists the Phenom II X4 with the Deneb name, the X3 with the Heka name and the X2 with the Callisto name. Newegg lists a Phenom X2 555 as Deneb. Any guesses on what that means?

 

[Hyperlite]

According to a recent AT article, the 555 is the most likely to unlock. and yes, you have complete control over unlocked cores, and can easily relock them if the system is unstable. Just don't build a system with an X2 solely on the premise that you'll end up with an X4.

The 555 being listed as a Deneb is a typo, sort of. Technically, it IS a deneb, but the deneb part with two cores "disabled" is labeled a Callisto.

 

[Markfw]

I think that the success rate is also over rated. My 550 BE didn't unlock.

 

[Axon]

I guess the best way to describe an unlocked Phenom X2 is as a crappy yield off the Phenom II X4 silicon. Mark is also, imo, correct in that the success rate for unlocking cores may be a touch overrated. Thread carefully if you are absolutely set on unlocking four cores.

 

[soccerballtux]

I think that the success rate is also over rated. My 550 BE didn't unlock.

555's could be different.

 

[fffblackmage]

I kinda do wonder if the unlocked X2 really is from a crappy X4 yield. I haven't run into any problems with the unlocked cores, but maybe I won't see them until sometime down the road....

Unless your relatives know what they're getting, and know how to deal with it themselves, I'd probably avoid giving them potential problems.

 

[maddy143ded]

well my 555be unlocked well and is running quite well under load....
i have had it only for 6 hours now so i cant really say that it will last or not ? but so far so good.
i only bought it for dual core purposes and am just playing around with it for knowing its limitations.

 

[soccerballtux]

I kinda do wonder if the unlocked X2 really is from a crappy X4 yield. I haven't run into any problems with the unlocked cores, but maybe I won't see them until sometime down the road....

Unless your relatives know what they're getting, and know how to deal with it themselves, I'd probably avoid giving them potential problems.

If there aren't any problems now and after stress testing it's unlikely problems will develop.
Could just be a bin-down to fill the market segment.

 

[bupkus]

I believe both my nephews would be better served with 2 faster cores than 4 slower ones so I don't think it would be a problem either way. It does, however, allow for more options for future yet unexpected needs. Not to mention that they're black box CPUs.

 

[nonameo]

Where will you be buying from? if you get it on ebay, the 710 is about the same price as the 550. There's also the 805 and the 810 which go for a bit more(but have 4mb l3 instead of 6mb)

 

[deimos3428]

Thread carefully if you are absolutely set on unlocking four cores.

Best CPU pun ever.

 

[Jd007]

I guess the best way to describe an unlocked Phenom X2 is as a crappy yield off the Phenom II X4 silicon. Mark is also, imo, correct in that the success rate for unlocking cores may be a touch overrated. Thread carefully if you are absolutely set on unlocking four cores.

That's true in the earlier days of Phenom IIs. Now the yield is too high for them to have enough defective X4 chips to fulfill the X2 lineup demand. So they are actually forced to lockup two good cores on a perfectly fine X4 chip and sell it as X2. Which is why the new Phenom II X2 555BE is more "unlockable" than the 550BE.

 

[maddy143ded]

Yeah get the 555BE, Its unlockable and its fresh in the market, so there is a very high chance that You will get a Quad....(Phenom II 965 BE) thats about $75 u can invest in good Graphics card... or more RAM.

 

[bupkus]

I'm waiting to see if MicroCenter has any Phenom II X2 555 in the morning.

i3 530
Newegg = $124.99 free shipping
MicroC = $99.99 + sales tax (pickup only)

Phenom II 550 BE
Newegg = $95.99 plus $5.99 shipping
MicroC = $87.99 plus about $6.29 combined sales tax (pickup only)

 

[Axon]

Best CPU pun ever.

If only I actually meant to make it!

 

[Allio]

Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much but my 550 has been absolutely rock-solid stable unlocked at 3.4GHz for the past six months.

 

[gen3d]

I just bought a 555 BE for $103 at Fry's in Austin Texas. I can get the 4 cores to unlock, but I can't get them stable enough to load Windows 7 64-bit all the way. With stock cooling I can get into Windows at 4.2GHz but it crashes fairly quickly. So far it seems stable at 4Ghz. The same CPU would only do 3.9 and not boot at all when I tried to unlock the cores on a MSI motherboard. I ended up doing better with a Gigabtye board. I'm going to try buying one more and see if I can get all 4 cores on the next one.

 

[soccerballtux]

I just bought a 555 BE for $103 at Fry's in Austin Texas. I can get the 4 cores to unlock, but I can't get them stable enough to load Windows 7 64-bit all the way. With stock cooling I can get into Windows at 4.2GHz but it crashes fairly quickly. So far it seems stable at 4Ghz. The same CPU would only do 3.9 and not boot at all when I tried to unlock the cores on a MSI motherboard. I ended up doing better with a Gigabtye board. I'm going to try buying one more and see if I can get all 4 cores on the next one.

uh, have you tried stock speeds?

 

[gen3d]

Yea..the first thing I did was try stock speed, and no luck. After trying every tweek I could think of, I just worked on seeing how far I could take the two cores that work.

 

[soccerballtux]

ah bummer

 

[Eddie313]

I have a Phenom 550 unlocked it right off the bat and ran it at 3.6ghz quad stable with 1.425 volts Never gave me a problem.

 

[LoneNinja]

Personally I'm wondering if the 555 even has as high of a chance to unlock to an X4 as the 550 does. Yes manufacturing has improved and so have yields, but the 555 is the only disabled C3 chip. With C2, anything with one defective chip would be labeled as an X3 and anything with 2 would become the X2, and of course they intentionally disabled cores to meet demand. However they currently don't have any C3 X3 chips, meaning any chip with a defect becomes the 555 X2.

It's just a thought.

 

[soccerballtux]

Personally I'm wondering if the 555 even has as high of a chance to unlock to an X4 as the 550 does. Yes manufacturing has improved and so have yields, but the 555 is the only disabled C3 chip. With C2, anything with one defective chip would be labeled as an X3 and anything with 2 would become the X2, and of course they intentionally disabled cores to meet demand. However they currently don't have any C3 X3 chips, meaning any chip with a defect becomes the 555 X2.

It's just a thought.

thats an interesting point.
I wonder if that means more 550's and 720's will unlock now-- because all the 965's are coming from C3's.

 

[ear8dmg]

My unlocked Athlon X2 5000+ @ Phenom FX-5000 3.3GHz, 2100 NB & HT is stable enough to prime blend 8 hours+, IBT 20x, S&M 100% Long. Loop 3dmark06 over any of the above.

It generates Windows Event viewer warnings once a minute on cache hierarchy for CPU0 though.

Now is that stable enough or not? It's clearly not 100% perfect but it also appears to be fully functional.

Strangely I've only ever had it stable over 3GHz. Under that was BSODs all over the place.

 

[tiblot]

I guess the best way to describe an unlocked Phenom X2 is as a crappy yield off the Phenom II X4 silicon. Mark is also, imo, correct in that the success rate for unlocking cores may be a touch overrated. Thread carefully if you are absolutely set on unlocking four cores.

Thats incorrect. A X2 is in no way a "crappy yield" of a X4 chip. AMD simply does not want to have 2 seperate production lines.

Its easier to produce X4s and sell them as X2s. BUT there are a few ways they accomplish this.

1. Build a X4, disable 2 cores sell as X2
2. During Qual Control, 1 or 2 of the cores was dead. Sell the chip as X2 or X3. Don't throw away the chip.

The success rate of unlocking OLDER X2 chips has been bad, partly because #2 I mentioned above. However, recent chips especially the X2 555 have had very high success rates.

AT article mentions this, I've seen numerous reviews on it, and I actually just did it last night to my 555. Again, there is no guantree you'll succeed. However, if I were to place a bet on it the 555 unlocking - I'd take take my chances.

The 555 can be OC'd from 3.2 --> 3.6 with ease. Even if you can't unlock 2 cores there is still tremendous value.