Phenom ii x4 Zosma 960T

i have heard that you can indeed unlock 2 cores. my understanding is they used the same chips in the quads as they did in the hex core CPU's but just disabled 2 core. much like ati did with there X800 vs X850 vivo video cards and the reference cards with HD6950 vs 6970. I have not done this myself and dont know if there is a certain chip that is required for this to work. i.e. reference design vs a retail rework. i would do alot of research before attempting this and be willing to loose a chip in the process.

Problem is, the Zosma was never sold at retail, so your chances of finding one are slim. The Deneb X4's do NOT unlock to 6 cores.

Unlocking a chip is a gamble. When they test the chip, if something is defective in one of the cores they will lock it and sell it as a lower core chip. This way they still make money off of the silicon. However, sometimes they lock a core to keep up with the demand. I had an athlon x3 that wouldn't overclock, but heard of many people being successful.

So don't buy a chip with the expectations that you will unlock it. If it does happen you get a nice bonus, if not, oh well you get what you paid for.

zooted is right. But I have to add that not all motherboards unlock hidden cores, some of them have the function with the bright highlight in the package (mostly AMD 710SB), others still have the function in the BIOS Setup but don't announce it... and others simply don't have it. I personaly matched an Asrock N68-GS3 UCC with a Sempron 140 and actually could unlock the second core converting it in an Athlon II X2 235e. Still low end but awesome for the budget.

Later I matched an ECS 880G-M7 with an Athlon II X3 with no luck. The 4th core was unlocked and the Bios recognized it as an Athlon II X4, but always crashed loading windows, so I asume that 4th core was hidden because it was actually defective.

So its a risk, you cant count on it, but considering that you have a probability to get more than what you pay, worth it.

By the way, if the unlocked core is defective you dont lose the processor, just deactivate de unlock core function on your MB and stuck with the working cores that you paid for.

I have the Phenom ii x4 Zosma 960T. I was able to unlock the other 2 cores. It is now a x6 1605T. I have it overclocked to 3.6ghz on stock voltage. Even if you can't unlock any cores it's still a nice CPU.

Yeah... I have the Zosma unlocking as X6 1605T on undervolt and stock frequency...

If the CPU has the ability to unlock you can always try it and see what happens but there is no guarantee that it will unlock and be stable. When buying a processor get what you need and take the unlocking as a bonus.

from all the posts of people with the processor, it looks like a good chance of unlocking.

the new made ones are probably defective. i bought my amd phenom x555 late after it came out, and the 2 cores were defective.

The people that are successful unlocking and overclocking are never shy about saying what a great deal they got.
The ones that don't have success might not be as forthcoming admitting they could have messed up in not choosing a faster X4 CPU.

Paired with a motherboard that allows for unlocking there is a good chance it will unloack but still there no guarantee that it will stable. And like I said it's a good idea to get what you need and take the unlocking as a bonus.

Super good deal at microcenter right now, get the 960t + decent mobo for $99.99, $89.99 after MIR, thinking of getting it but is it even possible to unlock the other cores with the stock cooler?

Debating if i should get the 960T or get a 965 for a little more money....

At 99.99 + mobo. Yeah that is a good deal. You can unlock it with the stock cooler, you can even overclock a little bit.

If you want performance I would stick with a X4 970 or 980, with some luck maybe you can find a X6 1090/1100T.

If the threads are what you need, consider a FX 6100 rather than putting your faith into a potential core unlocking.

At that price you really cant lose with the 960T combo. If you unlock it great !(you have about an 80% chance) On the slim chance it doesn't unlock you still have a 4X Phenom that can hit just as high of clocks as any of the big denbs. Plus the 960T has better memory support via a much improved IMC.

Mine is @ 4X 4.25Ghz 1.41v, with hyper 212+ in push pull my max temps are 30c

In X6 mode I was able to get up to 3.8Ghz @ 1.43v, temps on the 212+ are 50c max

Yea get the 6100 if you want a really hot, slow processor. Of the 4100, 6100 and 8XXX Bulldozers the 6100 does the worst in benchmarks. It's probably the worst price to performance of all the Bulldozers. Stick with the Phenom II it will perform better than the Bulldozer in almost all programs.