AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Triple-Core Black Processor unlock 4th core question

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,

I reviewed the Antec Lanboy Air recently and in some ways liked it but it was very much a toy. I suppose that it was aimed at this type of market to be fair. I think it fell down in particular in the main design of having so much mesh everywhere. This made it more or less impossible to get a god airflow through the case even though in theory it could take 15 fans. There was just no way to direct the airflow or stop dust and fluff from entering the inner chamber of the case. The mesh needed to be much finer and only in certain places top get the best out of it.

It is only after some use that the downsides become really apparent (my son is using it now and loves it) Hopefully they will bring out a versioin 2 that will target some of the flaws and be a bit wider too. 

[soarwitheagles]

Very good points you bring to our attention DM!  I only wish I had asked you prior to purchasing one!  I was sorely disappointed after realizing it would actually be a sizable downgrade from the CM Storm Sniper I am presently using.

Oh well, live and learn...and hopefully learn from my mistakes!

Yes, I ripped out nearly everything from the Sniper, and installed the OCX 850 gold along with that nice black 990XFA-UD3.  I will stick with the 1055t for now until I see how the FX adventure pans out...

At first, my system did not post and I was a little nervous about that.  Switched out power supplies, GPU's etc.  Then I realized I had forgotten to install the RAM!  

That was a sure sign that working day and night on computers for the last week or so is causing some serious brain freeze and senior moments!

Anyway, installed the RAM and BOOM!  Loud crackle, smoke, small fire and very strong smell... and then...

I woke up and realized I had fallen asleep and it was just a bad dream.  The reality is, AFTER I installed ALL the necessary components, the system posted first shot, no problems at all!

So, I am kinda happy about that!

I have started a thread at AMD motherboards part of this forum and will look forward for more good advice and suggestions!

BTW, finished the 720 build...here are a couple of pics!  The darn CX 430 wires were too short to be able to hide them all...

DM, do you see the 24 pin ATX plug on the LEFT side of this BS MB?  Is that strange or what?  I had to think about that a while before routing the cable...

Darkstar, I am still waiting for help to discover how to unlock the 4th core...well, or at least try!  How about you DM, can you give me any advice how to unlock that 4th core?

Have a great day everyone!

I'm gonna get some rest and be ready to finish this build up hopefully tomorrow before the work week begins.

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Nothing to worry about soar. Just a different manufacturer using a diffferent design. Often they have their own way of translating the various specs and you get some weird and wonderful designs.

[soarwitheagles]

DM,

Well, it this case it was a lot weird, and a little wonderful!  

Ok, DS or DM, how do I unlock this baby.

Please give me some pointers!

I looked everywhere for a BIOSTAR forum, but no such luck!  I feel so spoiled by all the good help I receive from Gigabyte forums...and that is why 99% of my motherboards will always be Gigabyte!

Yeah Gigabyte!  Go, Go, Go!

Thanks,

Soar

[DarkstaR]

Hi man, how are you ? 
I'm a  "pro" to unlock hidden cores with mainboards having the southbridge 710 or 750 which have the ACC function... your Biostar and your new 990fx-ud3 have newer chipsets: 850 for the Bio and 950 for you last Gig... both have a new way to unlock those cores through the manufacturer specific features...for the Gig. you shoud see an"unlock core" option in the MIT section for the Bio. it should be the same in it specific overclocking bios section.
For both turn this option on "auto" exit and save and...see what happens !!  If it works you will be able to boot on windows..then make stability tests with "orthos 2004" "occt v 4.00 or 4.10" i don't remember... 30 mn are enough ! then you will be able to run 3dmark11/vantage to see the difference between 3 cores then 4 

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

Thank you for your reply.  I am doing fine, but am back to my teaching job after a wonderful 16 day Christmas break!  I hope to try the unlock tomorrow DS!

I will let you know the results.  I am curious if these newer chips [2011] will unlock!

Soar

[DarkstaR]

Fine ! be concentrated when doing that and take your time... and write or post your results about 3dmark11 and vantage 

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

Are there any free versions of 3dmark11 and vantage or must I purchase them?

Soar

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

So sorry, there is no "unlock core" option in the MIT section for the Biostar mb.

After Googling it, I discovered that if I hit F4 during start up, it will unlock the 4th core.  Sure enough, SIW is showing 4 cores operational now.

Ok, what next?

soar

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

I did manage to download the free version of vantage.  Here are the scores so far:

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 video card 3DMark Vantage benchmark test score
Name
 
Description
 
Processor
Processor
Get it! AMD Phenom II X4 20
Processor clock
2800 MHz
Physical / logical processors
1 / 4
# of cores
4
Graphics Card
Graphics Card
Get it! NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
Vendor
EVGA Corporation
# of cards
1
SLI / CrossFire
Off
Memory
1024 MB
Core clock
882 MHz
Memory clock
1900 MHz
Driver name
Driver version
8.17.12.7533
Driver status
FM Approved
General
Operating system
64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601)
Motherboard
BIOSTAR Group A870U3
Memory
8192 MB
Module 1
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 2
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Hard drive model
640GB WDC WD6401AALS-00L3B2 ATA Device
Detailed scores
3DMark Score
9601 3DMarks
Graphics Score
9631
CPU Score
9510
Jane Nash
28.7 FPS
New Calico
27.71 FPS
AI Test
1243 operations/s
Physics Test
14 operations/s
Settings
Default settings used
Yes
Preset
Performance
Width
1280
Height
1024
MSAA
1
Texture Filtering
Optimal
Anisotropy
1
Texture Quality
Performance
Shader Quality
Performance
Shadow Shader Quality
Performance
Shadow Resolution Quality
Performance
Post Processing Scale
1:2
PPU Disabled
true
PPU Used
false
Disable Bloom
false
Disable Streaks
false
Disable Anamorphic Flare
false
Disable Lens Flare
false
Disable Lenticular Halo
false
Disable Motion Blur
false
Disable DOF
false
Disable Fog
false
Disable Color Noise
false
Flush On Low FPS
false
Fixed Framerate
false
GPU Count
1
 
And here are the scores for my Intel 2500k rig:

    Graphics driver is not approved (What is this?)

Version: 1.1.0.0
SystemInfo Version: 4.0
1/13/12 2:01:19 AM
Id: 3811089
Score:
P17345 3DMarks
Score Histogram of Similar Systems
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AMD Radeon HD 6870 video card 3DMark Vantage benchmark test score
Name
 
Description
 
Processor
Processor
Get it! Intel Core i5-2500K Processor
Processor clock
3409 MHz
Physical / logical processors
1 / 4
# of cores
4
Graphics Card
Graphics Card
Get it! AMD Radeon HD 6870
Vendor
Pineview Industries Ltd.
# of cards
1
SLI / CrossFire
Off
Memory
1024 MB
Core clock
900 MHz
Memory clock
1050 MHz
Driver name
Driver version
8.920.0.0
Driver status
Not FM Approved
General
Operating system
64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. P67A-UD3-B3
Memory
16384 MB
Module 1
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 2
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 3
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 4
4096 MB Corsair 9 @ 667 MHz
Hard drive model
160GB INTEL SSDSA2CW160G3
Detailed scores
3DMark Score
17345 3DMarks
Graphics Score
17070
CPU Score
18225
Jane Nash
51.42 FPS
New Calico
48.54 FPS
AI Test
2480 operations/s
Physics Test
25 operations/s
Settings
Default settings used
Yes
Preset
Performance
Width
1280
Height
1024
MSAA
1
Texture Filtering
Optimal
Anisotropy
1
Texture Quality
Performance
Shader Quality
Performance
Shadow Shader Quality
Performance
Shadow Resolution Quality
Performance
Post Processing Scale
1:2
PPU Disabled
true
PPU Used
false
Disable Bloom
false
Disable Streaks
false
Disable Anamorphic Flare
false
Disable Lens Flare
false
Disable Lenticular Halo
false
Disable Motion Blur
false
Disable DOF
false
Disable Fog
false
Disable Color Noise
false
Flush On Low FPS
false
Fixed Framerate
false
GPU Count
1

[soarwitheagles]

AMD 720:

Score:
P9601 3DMarks
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PC Health Check has detected other potential problem

[DarkstaR]

Well done Soar !! 9601 is a good average... if you had a gtx460 your global score would have been bigger...but well done all the same 
The global score of your 2500k rig is very impressive quite the double 
Congratulations for the unlocking manip' of the 4th core of your 720 BE... you will see coretemp and monitoring softwares won't be able to check the internal cpu temperatures as unlocking core disables this function... but with hwmonitor 118 you will be able to check the cpu temperature thanks to the mainboard socket diode...it is the 2nd line of the 3 temperatures monitoring

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

A very big thank you for all your help in making this so possible.

Ok, one more question:

How do I disable that last 4th core just in case the system ever becomes unstable?

Remember, the only way I could find to enable the 4th core was by holding F4 button during start up...

Soar

[DarkstaR]

Thanks you're welcome my dear  You have an impressive will to achieve your objectives that's cool  It's odd that in bios menu of your Biostar you haven't seen yet this famous unlock core option because i think this hold key function must be a shortcut... if you still don't find this option in bios try to re-press the f4 key in order to relock the 4th core...

[soarwitheagles]

DS,

Ok, I will try the F4 button to undo the unlock.  Honestly, I looked, scanned, squinted, and pounded the keyboard over and over again and could not find the "unlock" core in the BIOS [and believe me, I looked in every possible corner].  Strangely enough, there was a place to unlock the BIOS!

I did discover the unlock the extra 4th core F4 trick after googling "unlock extra core with BIOSTAR."  But I found nothing else...not even a tiny bit of hope of a BIOSTAR forum!

That is another reason why I will do my very best to purchase ONLY Gigabyte motherboards in the future and for the rest of my life!

BTW, I hope that Vantage program pushed the heck out of the AMD 720, so that it passed the test and now I can be confident it will not be unstable with that 4th core unlocked!

I suppose now it is obvious to all how little I really know about this sort of endeavor!  DS, I have never unlocked a core in my life before this AMD 720 adventure.  Thanks for helping me make it happen.

Soar