AMD Phenom II X4 960T Overclocking/Unlocking Problem

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs AMD Phenom II X4 960T Overclocking/Unlocking Problem

Hi I'm trying to unlock the 2 hidden cores and overclock the Amd Phenom II X4 960t. My problem is when I unlock the two hidden cores to 6 in the first two versions of my bios it boots up fine with no problem other then I can't see the temps at all, its 0C. In the third and most recent version of my bios it wont boot at all and freezes at the Windows logo screen every single time. In CPUID-CPU-Z its says its been unlocked to six cores, in the task manager ect. so I know the cores have been unlocked but I need to see the temp. BTW I'm not using the stock cooler I'm using the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 in a dual fan push pull setup, I'm using Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste. I can see the temps fine when the cores are locked to 4 in any version of the bios, and I'm averaging 18C-20C idle and 25C-35C playing Crysis maxed out at 1080p averaging 40fps . My motherboard is a Biostar A770E3. My gpu is a Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850, with 4GB of Kingston ValueRAM. Like I said I'd like to overclock and I'd like to have the 6 cores and I think I have adequate cooling but if I can't see the temp I'm not chancing it. Ive been using Speedfan and AMD Overdrive to monitor temps and its says 0C on both when two extra cores are unlocked. I'm thinking about reformatting and reinstalling windows to Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit, I'm using Windows Ultimate 64 bit right now, maybe that will make a difference. If anyone has any suggestions at all please help me.

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to mriley911

mriley911 wrote :

Like I said I'd like to overclock and I'd like to have the 6 cores and I think I have adequate cooling but if I can't see the temp I'm not chancing it.

I doubt changing the OS is going to fix a hardware issue.

I think you found the reason that CPU was sold as a X4 960T and not a X6 1060T.
IMO four cores OC'd to 3.6Ghz trumps six cores @ 3.0Ghz for gaming.

The Overclocking section of the forums might have more ideas on how to get around the limitation you've found. Probably be a good idea to check in there.

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Reply to WR2

Unlocking cores disables the CPU core sensors this is the case on all Athlon II & Phenom II CPUs. Try HWMonitor it should show a reading for CPUTIN which is the temp sensor on the motherboard.

Reply to simon12

mriley911 wrote :

Hi

Did you manually reset the mobo's bios after each update ? If not, re flash the newest version then reset/clear the bios/CMOS.

Boot into windows with the cores locked then goto START> RUN> type MSCONFIG> .. under the 'boot' tab you'll see 'advanced options', and be sure the 'number of procs' box is not checked.

Windows might be confused from all the bios updates and plz stick to 64bit. Try a fresh windows install with the cores unlocked.

Other bios setting to look for are : enable microcode updation, manually dial in the cpu/vcore volts to 1.3, disable C1E/cool n quiet/ turbo Core.

pEACe

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Reply to magikherbs

often people that get a cpu with extra locked cores is because the locked cores do not work. every once in a while a person may get one that the cores can be unlocked in but often the cores are still unstable. I had the same issues with booting when i tryed to unlock my old athlon x3 extra core which ended up being a dead core.

Message edited by jfed on 01-20-2012 at 03:16:06 AM

Reply to jfed