Unlocking cores/Overclocking?

[Treize]

So as my new pc components will arrive in a few days I was looking them up on their manufactures website.

I will have a ASRock 870 Extreme 3 mobo with a AMD x4 955 (BE I think) CPU (with hyper 212+ cooler).
Now the question is, can I use ASRock UCC to make it a x6? And will this make it less reliable or shorten its life?
Be aware that I am new to this stuff.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

no

955 is a default quad

only the Athlon II line

and Phenom II x2 and x3 720be will unlock

even then it varies and is never 100%, some athlon II x3 chips will unlock an extra core but no L3 cache, some will unlock completely etc

the only x4 Phenom II chips that unlock are the Zosma based quadcores

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...C_Quad-core.29

but as far as i know they were never released and only just now are they popping up in Japan and some asian countries and they DO unlock, just x6 cpus had better yields than anticipated and since the Zosma line performs the same as the Deneb quads it would of just cannibalized Deneb quadcore sales.

but yea the the Phenom II 925 945 955 965 970 975 and 980 are all quadcore only, none of them unlock.


for reference most likely cpus to unlock
Phenom II x3 720be,
Phenom II x2 550be 555be
Athlon II x3 440 445 450

more unlock just those are the most likely chips to unlock

[Treize]

Ok, thanks.

As for normal overclocking using this system, how bad is it for your cpu if you add a couple of 0.1's to the mhz?

[Devilmaypoop]

Ok, thanks.

As for normal overclocking using this system, how bad is it for your cpu if you add a couple of 0.1's to the mhz?

Not bad at all. Going from 3.2ghz to 4ghz will most likely have no effect on the lifespan that you would notice. It might go from 10 years to 8, as long as your CPU voltage and temperatures are reasonable there won't be visible degradation.

Stay under 62C on the core temperature and 1.55v for the core voltage, but some people prefer to stay under 1.45v or 1.5v

[Treize]

Not bad at all. Going from 3.2ghz to 4ghz will most likely have no effect on the lifespan that you would notice. It might go from 10 years to 8, as long as your CPU voltage and temperatures are reasonable there won't be visible degradation.

Ok then.

My friend who helps me out told me overclocking ruins your cpu.
As usual I want a second opinion, and preferable a third.

Stay under 62C on the core temperature and 1.55v for the core voltage, but some people prefer to stay under 1.45v or 1.5v

This can be seen in the BIOS, right?
As for the cooler that I ordered, the cooler that if I did not order it I would have my PC up and running by now, is it good enough for this?

[Devilmaypoop]

This can be seen in the BIOS, right?
As for the cooler that I ordered, the cooler that if I did not order it I would have my PC up and running by now, is it good enough for this?

You can use easy monitoring programs like CPU-Z and HWmonitor to see voltages and temperatures in windows. Usually actual values vary from BIOS values due to Vdroop(voltage drops on load) and such.

Yes, Hyper 212+ is an excellent cooler. It easily has the best price for the value.

Anyways, people who say that are usually misinformed/don't know enough on the subject. Overclocking will only harm your CPU if you ramp voltages/temperatures insanely high for long periods of time, and that's not easy to do by accident.

[Treize]

Thanks, if it can find a good step by step guide I might want to try it once everything is up and running, when I have a good mouse/keyboard (help) and a sexy D2342P screen.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

correct overclock is safe with the right precautions, ive taken my setup to extremes and it still just as good as the day it was first built

my 940BE i had at 4ghz 24/7 at 1.7 volts thats extreme and considered unsafe, it didnt degrade untill I had a power surge from a lightning strike on a transformer down the street. other then that all my chips still run fine the 940 still runs at 3.5ghz today at 1.4volts without a problem. so it only lowered the overclock potential the chip will still run stock and undervolted if desired so again it takes quite a bit to kill or shorten a cpu's life span.

even got a old as Dirt Pentium 3 699mhz overclock to 900mhz running to this day.

my current 965 bought in August 2009 was running 4.2ghz at 1.6 volts for 6 months it then was sold to me and put at 1.55volts and runs @ 4ghz 24/7 and has been since then its been 2 years chip still runs fine, it can do 4.2ghz at 1.65 volts for me on AIR but my FRIO cant quite handle the TDP