My new cpu only shows 1 core in bios and 2 in windows but its a quad core

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

I recently got a amd fx 4300 and once i checked it out in the bios it only shows the 0core and no other cores, i used the core unlocker and nothing changed. In windows it shows 2 cores but games run terribly, worse than my previous cpu which was much worse than the fx 4300 even with only 2 cores active. I looked at the motherboard specs and it supports up to 8 cores and 95w cpu's.
Specs
amd fx 4300 black edition 3.8ghz
4gb 1333mhz ram
asrock 960gc-gs fx
500w evga power supply
hd 7950
Somebody please help.
Also here is what i see in cpu-z

IntelTurtleFan · Apr 17, 2015

How do you know it is only using one core? I have never herd of it disabling cores and still working. Could it be you are seeing it as one socket CPU (as a whole).

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

Thanks for the fast response. In the bios it only shows 1 core and nothing else to choose from, I had a option with my old cpu to unlock the cores but i dont have that option anymore.

IntelTurtleFan · Apr 17, 2015

Try clearing the CMOS ether with a jumper on the mobo or by removing the battery from the mobo. When you change CPUs you need to reset the CMOS.

mbarnes86 · Apr 17, 2015

Hi

What does cpu_z. Say about your CPU ?

Did you upgrade the CPU with the same windows on the hard disk as a previous CPU or is this a fresh build

Regards
Mike Barnes

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

Just took it out, also last time I switched my cpu i didnt have to reset it, any idea why ? i was switching from a semprom 145 into a phenom 2 x4

IntelTurtleFan · Apr 17, 2015

It is best to clear the CMOS anyway it has a good chance of fixing the issue. It allows the mobo to refresh its info.

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

mbarnes86 :

I updated the post with a screenshot of cpu-z.
And i upgraded with the same windows with no changes.

Anik Talukder · Apr 17, 2015

sadixan :

Reset CMOS Battery on the motherbored, update the bios

geofelt · Apr 17, 2015

The definition of a core is a bit ambiguous with the FX architecture.
There are two modules in a FX-4300, some might call them cores.
Within, there are two threads which share some resources, giving a total of 4 threads.

I suspect that running the the core unlocker may have something to do with your problem.
It was intended to add cores that were locked because they were good, but locked to sell a lower priced cpu.
If you unlocked a defective core from a FX6xxx chip I don't know what would happen.
I am hot experienced with that process, but see if there is a way to reverse whatever was done.

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

Thank you for the support everyone. I reset the cmos and this time it doesnt show me that the core0 is enabled anymore and nothing changed other than that

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

geofelt :

i reset the cmos again and i reset the bios settings to default and still no changes. But even if only 2 ''cores'' were working why would i get worse performance then on 2 cores on my old semprom 145 which is nothing compared to the fx 4300.

IntelTurtleFan · Apr 17, 2015

Have you flashed the bios?

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

IntelTurtleFan :

no

IntelTurtleFan · Apr 17, 2015

Try updating the bios I don't know of a problem with that mobo and old bios but it can happen.

geofelt · Apr 17, 2015

I imagine that the "core unlocker" app changes the actual cpu.
If it has done so improperly, there may be no recovery and your cpu may be permanently damaged.
Do some research on that.

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

IntelTurtleFan :

Updated the bios, nothing changed. Altough i didnt use the core unlocker this time becouse of what geofelt said. Should i try anyway?

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

geofelt :

But before using the core unlocker everything was the same. I did some research and the core unlocker also overclocks your cpu for you and i noticed that after i used it but nothing else changed before the cor e unlocker it still showed the same thing in cpu-z. Maybe the cpu is just faulty?

geofelt · Apr 17, 2015

A faulty CPU is unusual, but It must happen from time to time.
You could return it.

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

Also i dont know if this is relevant but every time i reseted the pc after reseting the cmos and messing around with the core unlocker. The cache levels changed is this suppose to happen ?

sadixan · Apr 17, 2015

Is it possible that the motherboard could be throttling ?

mbarnes86 · Apr 18, 2015

Hi

It is often difficult to diagnose if the component is faulty, incompatible with motherboard or bios or there is a Windows driver problem

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/960GC-GS%20FX/?cat=CPU

AM3+ FX FD4300WMW4MHK 95W Vishera 3800MHz 2000MHz 2MBx2 4MB C0 All BIOS

so this cpu is supported (if stepping C0)

core unlocking is only supposed to be used if you have a AMD 3 core cpu which is suspected to have a 4th core which is disabled but not faulty. The BIOS should recognise and enable all the cores by default.

Was this a second hand CPU, or a brand new boxed retail CPU, or a OEM version?

many years ago I purchased a new OEM Althlon cpu and the level 2 cache was zapped by static and it only ran stabilly (& slowly) when the level 2 cache was disabled in BIOS.

maybe some one can point to a diagnostic tool to test (modern) AMD cpu's

Do you have a spare hard disk to do a fresh Windows Install?

What windows version are you using?
I remember XP had cpu drivers for intel & amd cpu's and haveing the wrong one loaded would stop windows XP loading.

have you installed the motherboard chipset drivers for your version of Windows ?

regards
Mike Barnes

sadixan · Apr 18, 2015

I have installed the motherboard chipset drivers when i got the motherboard. I am using windows 7 home premium 64bit. I will install a fresh windows in a couple of hours and give you an update. I have reset the bios to default settings and disabled the APM becouse the motherbard was throttling and installed the hotfixes for the bulldozer cores, it seemed to give me a big performance boost but it still only uses 2 cores and when i play any game both the cores are used at 100%. The cpu was retail new

DuckCaller · Jun 19, 2017

No.

The FX-4300 has four physical cores, though each pair of cores shares some resources. The CPU only presents four logical cores to the system, and Windows treats it as two physical cores to take advantage of the scheduling improvements used for HyperThreading.

urbancamper · Jun 19, 2017

Install HWmonitor. Then look in it to see how many cores you have running. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

My new cpu only shows 1 core in bios and 2 in windows but its a quad core

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