Does unlocking the 4th core on an Athlon II X3 440 raise its TDP?

I have the Athlon II X3 440, an ASUS M5A78L-M LX mainboard, a CM Hyper TX3, and an Antec Earthwatts EA-650 650W supplying the voltages. The most important thing to note in all this is that the M5A78L-M LX - though an AM3+ "black socket" motherboard - only supports CPU's up to a 95W TDP rating.

I was able to use the ASUS "Core Unlocker" feature the very first time without a hitch. The Athlon II X3 440 was recognized as a Phenom II X4 after the first reboot by the bios, Windows Vista 64-bit, and CPU-Z. Haven't Prime95 tested it yet for true stability.

The Athlon II X3 440 I have has the AADAC code engraved on its heat spreader. As I understand it, this means it's a Propus, because the third letter is a D. The regular Propus' natively have a 95W TDP; so if I unlocked my 4th core anyway, and my processor is a Propus, then technically, should I still be operating at a 95W TDP?

Does this logic seem right to anyone else? Given that my mobo only supports up to a 95W TDP, does unlocking - in any case & under any circumstances - automatically raise the TDP? My individual core temps using both the bios readings and HW Monitor in Windows showed about 32 degrees Celcius with just three cores @ idle; and 36 degrees Celcius with all four enabled, also @ idle. No overclocking has been done... yet I'm just worried that if I leave it unlocked, I will cause damage to my motherboard or severely shorten the life expectancy of my processor.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

without reading your essay, the answer to the question, yes, it will use more power.

I think the TDP is still the same, 95.
I think that even the unlock recognition of the Phenom II x4 that Phenom II chip is also a 95 TDP.
I do not remember what model Phenom II X4 it renames itself too.
You can always cross-verify it's actual specs..
let's just hope for better performance that you have the C3 stepping version and not the C2.

C2 stepping is just not as good for overclocking and runs on a slightly higher voltage,
the higher voltage restricts the overclocking headroom.
other than that it's fine.
no worries and stock WEI score (athlon ii x3 440) win7 64-bit was 6.8 I believe.
I didn't unlock mine but did clock it to 3.3GHz before I made changes to my units.
I run a C2 stepping in one of my units as well.

have you tried to unlock the L3 cache, does your motherboard have that option.?
quite possible there isn't any at all to unlock, if so then that's a bummer but not anything to loose sleep about.
so keep it unlocked and then clock it up a-bit for some gaming fun.
also don't worry about the AS5 burn-in time (curing),
just reach a stable clock that works for you and then monitor temps, they should actually go down when the paste has cured.
after temp monitoring if needed then work on cooling (more or better) from there.
just my advice.

http://www.cpu-world.com/info/AMD/ [...] nd_L3.html
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.ph [...] +II+X4+B40
http://cpu-data.info/index.php?gr=35

now upgrade to windows 7 and feel the differences..
then it's time for that 9800GTX+ has to go.
even if you had the 9800GTX x2 or whatever it's called, it's time to move on up.
at least a GTX 460..

go ahead and do the windows 7 upgrade.
I'm really a nVidia guy now but I use to rock a HD6850 with my athlon ii x3 440 and when I had a phenom ii x3 b77.
I started out with a HD5770 Vapor-X but realized I needed more than the 5770..

phenom ii x3 b77
asus m4a785-m
4GB DDR2 800MHz cl5
HD 6850 sapphire
wd raptor 10k
open air pc/matx case
500-watt rocketfish modular

Yes...your TDP will DEFINITELY increase!! (but by not more than 25%) .Your chip will also run hotter once u unlock the fourth core.

TDP - close but you or I do not know for sure..

hotter with fourth core - that's obvious..

Good article... Thanks! It would have been an even better deal if I had lucked out and gotten one of the Deneb-based Athlon II X3's From what I've been reading, if you can find one with the code CACYC on it, you're in luck and it'll most likely be a Deneb with a disabled core and available L3 cache. Whether it works or not when someone with one of these goes to attempt to unlock either appears to be a total crap shoot in itself. Since mine has the code AADAC embedded on it, it appears that these are the Propus-based ones with no L3 cache at all. Even so, unlocking the fourth core and the chances of it being usable/stable isn't always guaranteed with these either; so I was real fortunate that I was able to get one with a disabled, but good working 4th core. I can notice a significant performance difference between leaving it as a triple-core and when I unlock it to a quad. I am real happy about this...

Well, I guess I'm pretty much settled on the idea that even with the fourth core active, the processor is still rated as a 95W TDP CPU. All the information I've found points to the Propus coming in either a 45W or 95W variant; and my guess is that the one I have is derived from the latter. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlo [...] ography.29 (not the most reliable source, I know). This is also great news, as my motherboard only supports up to 95W TDP processors; so I get a nice performance gain, while remaining within the manufacturer's optimal operating parameters. I also did try a little OC'ing. I got it up to 3.45 GHz, but I didn't like the temps that were being reported back in HW Monitor (62 degrees Celcius - and rising - after only running Prime95 for almost 10 minutes). I can't get readings for individual cores anymore because unlocking fudges this feature up in the bios for whatever reason when all four cores are active. So, I just brought it back down to 3.0GHz and left it there until I could figure out if there's a better (or right) way to overclock this thing. I'm completely new to OC'ing, and all I did was set it to 15x 3000 for the multiplier and I think it was 240 for the FSB. Like I said, I have no idea what I'm doing, so in order to feel comfortable, I just reverted it back to stock with the fourth core enabled until I can read up more about how to OC properly.

Do you mean that I should uninstall the cooler, clean the copper contact base and the CPU's heat spreader, then reapply a fresh application of thermal paste? I used the AS5 this time and not the paste that came with the HyperTX3. Should either one be better than the other or would it really make that much of a difference at all?

I'll probably have to wait a little bit to save up enough to put towards a new GPU. I was at first going to shell out the cash for a used GTX280, but after reading many reviews and scouring through the benchmarks, I don't think it would really be worth it to do anything less than at least a GTX460 or HD6850. Idealistically, I'd settle for either a GTX470 or HD6870. Is there a good chance that a bottleneck would be created by pairing any one of those cards with my CPU; even when it's overclocked and unlocked to a quad?

I'm beginning to wonder: Did I mount the Hyper TX3 cooler in the wrong direction? I have the fan facing the front of the case. I thought that it would be intaking dead air from the front, blowing air through the heatsink part, then out to the rear mounted case fan. However, if I (carefully) put my hand inside the case, it feels like there's more airflow between the front of the fan and the hard drive cage than there is between the back of the cooler and the rear mounted fan. Right now, I find that I'm still topping out at 55 degrees Celcius (no higher thankfully) after a few hours of Prime95 testing. I want to get it as low as I possibly can, and until I do, I'm afraid to even attempt OC'ing at all. Here's a pic:
http://imageshack.us/f/402/picture93u.jpg/

I'm also going to be removing the bottom optical drive from the bottom 5.25" bay, and installing one of these to get some fresh air coming in through the front of the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835230005 . I also haven't yet received the actual SATA DVD-RW DL drive I'll be mounting in the top bay. Those two in the picture are just left over IDE drives from what was in the case before, but my mobo doesn't have IDE connectors/controllers. Once I have the new SATA drive and that drive bay fan thingee, the build will be done (except for the new GFX card).

the fan goes in the back of the heatsink and blows air out taking it away from the heatsink out the back of the case usually accompanied by an outgoing fan..
as for the 5.25" bay cooler, it's a waste of time.
I use one for over a year before I finally realized adding real fans and redoing thermal paste is the way to go..

so in the pic is the LED fan blowing out and the fan on the heatsink should be blowing to it taking the heat away from the heatsink.

also with the thermal paste, are you using the paste that came on heatsink or was it just a packet of preferred paste was sent.
sometimes some heatsink will already have the paste applied and all you have to do is install.
if applying paste yourself it's quite possible that you have used too much.

the 5.25 blows out not in ot at least that's what mine did...
you might want to check on that one.

I have some re-wiring to do, swapping to a modular PSU.
my heatsink is low-pro so it blows straight up, I have 5 x 120mm fans, 3 controlled by fan controller
and the other two are motherboard controlled not including heatsink/fan.
the clear side panel doesn't have a fan and the vents create a 'draw-in' effect.

COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119227

I had the Gemin II heatsink/fan for a few months, it's pretty cool.
But the Scythe similar options are a step better - IMOp.

I guess the model you have blows in and mine blew out.
Second fan is one option but first try and lighten the load of thermal paste.
The CPU-Z rating is going to be off and also interesting the TDP's when unlocked, I have read reports about no changes at all to the TDP.
anyways, do not worry about it and move on to getting those temps down then some overclocking..

no problem bruddah enjoy the rig, maybe I'll see you on the sniping grounds somewhere..

I have build 4 PCs around the Athlon x3 CPU all with boards that have a 95W TDP limit and this was my results:
1 Unlocked 4th core stable and L3 Cache but would not overclock at all with the 4th core so now running 3 core + L3 Cache @3.6GHz
2 Unlocked 4th core stable no L3 cache and didn't try to overclock
3 Would not boot with anything unlocked at all
4 Unlocked 4th core not quite stable no L3 cache this was the only C3 one and its now running happily at 3.7GHz 3 cores (with a 4890)

what was your voltage when you unlocked and then overclocked it, what did you set it at.?

All just unlocked was with voltage on Auto which set it to 1.4.
1 to get 3.6GHz needed 1.475V set in bios but HWMonitor reports 1.49
2 all just left on auto I built this for some else and never tried overclocking
3 all just left on auto never tried to overclock as I use this for work and nothing intensive. I did try increasing the voltage to unlock a core but no success
4 was trying for 4GHz but nothing over 3.7 was stable even at 1.5V and 3.7 was still stable with 1.45 which is how its left.
Yes 4 does run all games very well and can Max out all but the most demanding games at 1680 x 1050 res. and most games at 1920 x 1080. All this was using this £34 motherboard http://www.ebuyer.com/221178-asroc [...] n68c-s-ucc

Thanks for the feedback simon12 & malmental Okay, so it looks like I ought to be happy with this processor's performance. I'm now thinking I may do a secondary build around this same processor. This one won't be used for gaming as much. Just more for my school coursework and general stuff like web browsing. I may not have luck in getting another X3 440 that unlocks or even at least has C3 stepping, though. I was looking into the Phenom II X4 820 because I can get that one for pretty cheap (even less than I paid for my Athlon II).

Only thing I'm now wondering is if I do get the Phenom II, if I should switch it out for the Athlon II X3 440 and put it in the system with the HD4890 for gaming. I was looking up the Passmark CPU comparison scores, and it looks like the Phenom II X4 820 is only the next AMD processor up from the Phenom II X4 B40 (although it does score significantly higher than just a stock Athlon II X3 440). Another thing is, it's a Deneb and not a Propus, plus I'll possibly gain the extra 2MB of L3 cache on the X4 820 to bring it up to a total of 6MB like the other Phenom II's, and I don't think those scores reflect unlocked CPU's. The other thing is that I know for sure that the X4 820 comes with a lower stock speed of 2.8GHz and is also a C2. I have been reading that people have been able to get it up to 3.5 and higher on average, however; which would make me happy.

Here are the scores: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lo [...] +II+X4+B40

Unfortunately, my mobo can't handle a 955BE or 965BE (due to the 95W TDP limitation). I REALLY wanted one of those; and would have been willing to spend the money for a 965. I would have gotten another board, but I only paid $33 USD for this one brand new/shipped; so I couldn't pass up on the deal. The only thing I'm now hoping is that Bulldozer will ship with some nice 95W or less variants so I can get some use out of this thing in the long run. If not, it won't be such a big deal to replace it, I suppose (at least once in the next year and a half when I graduate from college). The highest X4 I can do on this is the 960T, but those things are so rare (there's ONE listed on ebay right now; and bidding is already up to close to a hundred bucks with like two days left to go). The next step down is the 945, a non-BE, but with a decent enough 3GHz speed, all four cores, and the total 6MB L3 right out of the box.

Originally, I paid $45 USD for the Athlon II shipped. The Phenom II X4 820 is less than thirty. And unfortunately, the Phenom II X4 840 is pretty much the same exact processor I have at the moment (the Athlon II), only it comes stock at 3.2 GHz. It's also not a BE, has no L3 cache, and is also built from the Propus (It's essentially an Athlon II rebranded as a Phenom II).

Do you think the 820 wouldn't be worth it? Like, is it that bad of a performer compared to the other Phenom II's? I guess I just don't want to get it just going based off price alone, and then end up getting it and regretting not having just saved up for at least an 830 or the 945. I saw on that chart that the Athlon II X4 640 can outrun it; and those sometimes have an unlockable L3 on 'em. But still, I would end up paying more than 30 dollars for one of those (not much more if I buy a used one on ebay, but more nonetheless) and there's no guarantee of ANY L3 with that one either. Any guidance? Many, many thanks in advance!

EDIT: Looking at the Bulldozer lineup, it looks like I'll be doing the FX8100. So far that's the best one I've heard about with a 95W TDP. Well... that's IF I decide to keep this board. I'm really tempted by that FX8170...

C2 is 140W and C3 is 125w there is a 95W one on paper but I don'y think its ever been sold anywhere.

Sorry yes its the C2 965 that 140W also I think the C3 980.

Seems there was a thread on here (Tom's) somewhere where someone confirmed a 955 95W only ever being sold in parts of Asia. I can't find one for sale anywhere just doing a quick scan over Google. That would have been a nice option for me.

EDIT: I take that back. Here's two sources: http://www.google.com/search?q=HDX [...] illa:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a#q=HDX955WFK4DGM&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=shop&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=b5feaac58e99eeca&biw=1127&bih=494 . One is selling it for $175USD and the other $376. Neither even bothers to make any mention of wattage on either page; or list ANY specs for that matter. I don't know if I would even trust ordering it unless I could confirm beforhand that it was the right one.

now you need to upgrade that 4890 to a 5-series or 6-series and run Eyefinity set-up..
the 4-series doesn't have Eyefinity and I wish I would have caught you before you made that purchase..

it's all cool.
sounds like your satisfied/content with your DIY and you should be, good job.
Phenom II X4 are Deneb or Zosma and not Thuban I believe..
4890 can game still, I'm just more of a nVidia guy now, use to run Eyefinity..
the GTX 460 1GB 256-bit will go down as the best card (ratio wise) as the best card ever, I have to variants of the 460.
MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 460 SOC 768MB in my non-gamer unit and then (SLI) EVGA GTX 460 SSC+ 1GB in my gamer unit.
the SSC+ are faster than the GTX 560 models (not all) so I'm good until nVidia comes out with 6-series.
I actually had some GTX 560's in SLI but sold them locally for a nice profit, the SSC+'s are re-manufacturers (took a chance) money savers.
(with warranty)
you can always upgrade the CPU at a later time if you wish but it's unlocked now and so clock it up a bit and have fun.
see you in the gaming world..

P.S.
I eBay all the time and don't talk that much either too..