Going to upgrade my amd phenom ii x2 550 to...

[kelso1325]

an amd phenom ii x4 black edition but im not sure if my power supply has enough wattage.
I have a 500w power supply and my graphics card (gtx 560 ti) says it needs a minimum of 450w on the tiger direct page from where i purchased it.
This new processor requires 125w so my question to you guys is, do i have enough wattage?

 

[mocchan]

Your PSU should be fine, however I'm more concerned about your motherboard.

What model is your PSU and what model is your motherboard?

 

[kelso1325]

Your PSU should be fine, however I'm more concerned about your motherboard.

What model is your PSU and what model is your motherboard?

I'm unsure of my PSU but if i open my case i could tell you...my motherboard is a M4A785TD-V EVO by asus. It says that it supports up to 140w and amd phenom quad cores

 

[mocchan]

Thank you for clearing that up You should be fine in theory. The GTX560Ti only pulls around ~150w-200w from your PSU, and your CPU will pull around ~125w at MAX. That gives you with a total system usage (CPU+GPU only atm) of around ~275w-325w.

Factor in your other components and I can see a ~400w worst case scenario load on your PSU.

Do you know what brand your PSU is? As long as it's a QUALITY brand, I can almost guarantee you should be fine.

 

[jerm1027]

an amd phenom ii x4 black edition but im not sure if my power supply has enough wattage.
I have a 500w power supply and my graphics card (gtx 560 ti) says it needs a minimum of 450w on the tiger direct page from where i purchased it.
This new processor requires 125w so my question to you guys is, do i have enough wattage?

The Phenom II x2 550 is a quad-core chip with two cores disabled. Have you tried unlocking the two dormant cores? The Phenom II x2's were really popular because a lot of them unlocked without issues, in addition to overclocking, so they provided phenomenal value for the $100 mark. Might take a bit of research, but worth it IMO.

 

[kelso1325]

The Phenom II x2 550 is a quad-core chip with two cores disabled. Have you tried unlocking the two dormant cores? The Phenom II x2's were really popular because a lot of them unlocked without issues, in addition to overclocking, so they provided phenomenal value for the $100 mark. Might take a bit of research, but worth it IMO.

wait what? two dormant cores!?!? where can i unlock these!!?!

 

[mocchan]

If your motherboard has a "Core Unlocker" feature, you can try that

 

[jerm1027]

wait what? two dormant cores!?!? where can i unlock these!!?!

Through the BIOS. Usually done through a feature called Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC), which was also marketed as a core unlocker from certain motherboard manufacturers. It varies by motherboard, chipset, etc. Since you already listed the motherboard, I'll look it up.

UPDATE: Here you go: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254737-29-unlock-phenom-with-asus-m4a785td
Here is the important part.

The Unlocking Process
In terms of unlocking your “defective” cores, the process is actually very simple.

1. Enter BIOS.
2. Set Automatic Clock Calibration (ACC) to AUTO.
CRUCIAL step for Asus and Gigabyte owners : Enable "Unleashing" or change "EC Firmware" mode to "Hybrid"
3. Reboot.

If it was successful, your processor should have a new designation starting with X4. Congratulations, because you probably just unlocked your processor.

Some users have been reporting seeing the "X4" designation, but only seeing three cores using CPU-Z. Unfortunately, for 720BE users, it is most likely that your fourth core is defective. For 550BE users, thankfully, you were still able to unlock one of the two defective cores!!

Once you are in Windows, or any other OS that you use, you should begin stability testing for your unlocked processor. I highly suggest the use of Prime95 "Blend Test" for 12 hours to ensure stability before overclocking.

 

[jerm1027]

I'm unsure of my PSU but if i open my case i could tell you...my motherboard is a M4A785TD-V EVO by asus. It says that it supports up to 140w and amd phenom quad cores

If your motherboard has a "Core Unlocker" feature, you can try that

The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO is reported to work fine. I posted a thread earlier with another user confirming it works. Now, it's just down to little bit of luck.

 

[kelso1325]

The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO is reported to work fine. I posted a thread earlier with another user confirming it works. Now, it's just down to little bit of luck.

I did everything that post said to do and when i booted up i got unleashing mode failed. I did this 4 times and each time i got the same error....What now?

 

[mocchan]

Your cores are most likely dead if it doesn't work

 

[kelso1325]

Your cores are most likely dead if it doesn't work

well then im gunna check to see if all the cores are dead, gunna do core 2 and 3 seperatly *crosses fingers* hope this works

 

[mocchan]

Good luck

 

[jerm1027]

I did everything that post said to do and when i booted up i got unleashing mode failed. I did this 4 times and each time i got the same error....What now?

Which BIOS are you using?

Special Note about Asus Motherboards
UPDATE 22/8/09: Asus has released new bioses for their M4Axx line which addresses all previous unlocking problems. Make sure you update your bios to the most recent one before attempting to unlock.

 

[mocchan]

^ +1 didn't think of that.

 

[kelso1325]

Uhh Im having a serious issue here. Windows is getting stuck on starting up windows and idk what to do

 

[jerm1027]

Uhh Im having a serious issue here. Windows is getting stuck on starting up windows and idk what to do

Did you unlock any cores? If so, it might mean the cores are unstable. If not, try disabling ACC.

In the case of unstable cores, you can either up the voltage, or lower the multiplier. Also, disabling ACC works as well.

 

[kelso1325]

I disabled all cores after trying the two separately and after doin so windows Wont boot what's so ever I get options, boot windows normally or load all windows files, both get freeze during the first phases

 

[jerm1027]

I disabled all cores after trying the two separately and after doin so windows Wont boot what's so ever I get options, boot windows normally or load all windows files, both get freeze during the first phases

Boot into safemode.

To boot into safemode, restart and after POST, spam the F8 key. Select Safe Mode.

 

[kelso1325]

I selected safe mode and it froze after loading \windows\system32\DRIVERS\AVGIDSEH.Sys

I then went afk for like 5 mins an came back to find my pc was off. Turned it on and I got the two same options again.

I'm really getting worried here

 

[jerm1027]

I selected safe mode and it froze after loading \windows\system32\DRIVERS\AVGIDSEH.Sys

I then went afk for like 5 mins an came back to find my pc was off. Turned it on and I got the two same options again.

I'm really getting worried here

Try resetting the BIOS to factory settings. Alternatively, try clearing CMOS.

 

[kelso1325]

Try resetting the BIOS to factory settings. Alternatively, try clearing CMOS.[

And what will resetting everything in bios do? What will I have to fix?

 

[jerm1027]

Try resetting the BIOS to factory settings. Alternatively, try clearing CMOS.[

And what will resetting everything in bios do? What will I have to fix?

Well, the goal is actually fixing, not break. Resetting the BIOS will reset all settings to factory, which should be bootable and safe. The only thing you would have to "fix" is the boot order, if you had a particular one before, and whether or not the SATA controller operates in IDE or ACHI mode.

By default, most motherboards (except the newest ones) runs in IDE, which isn't bad, in fact offers broader compatibility, but some people (especially those with SSD's) prefer to run ACHI for a performance boost. Windows doesn't do well switching between the two. If you installed Windows without tweaking any BIOS settings first, then you don't have to worry about the IDE/ACHI setting upon resetting the BIOS.

If booting normally doesn't work after resetting the BIOS, try Safe Mode.

If this doesn't work, I have one last trick up my sleeve.

 

[kelso1325]

Well, the goal is actually fixing, not break. Resetting the BIOS will reset all settings to factory, which should be bootable and safe. The only thing you would have to "fix" is the boot order, if you had a particular one before, and whether or not the SATA controller operates in IDE or ACHI mode.

By default, most motherboards (except the newest ones) runs in IDE, which isn't bad, in fact offers broader compatibility, but some people (especially those with SSD's) prefer to run ACHI for a performance boost. Windows doesn't do well switching between the two. If you installed Windows without tweaking any BIOS settings first, then you don't have to worry about the IDE/ACHI setting upon resetting the BIOS.

If booting normally doesn't work after resetting the BIOS, try Safe Mode.

If this doesn't work, I have one last trick up my sleeve.

Okay to reset my bios to default which option do I pick? Bios versio. Is 02.61 on my board

 

[jerm1027]

I'm unfamiliar with the ASUS BIOS. Look for something along the lines of reset/factory defaults. Alternatively, you can clear the CMOS by removing the battery. It's located just below the PATA port.