FX 4300: disable two cores and overclock the remaining two? With stock

[toawe]

Hi with a FX 4300 can you disable two cores and then overclock the remaining two cores to obtain higher single threaded performance? And can you do this with the stock cooler and not affect any temperatures?

The reason I'm asking is because when debating between the I three 3220 and the FX 4300 I am really attracted to the high single threaded performance of the i3. But at the same time I know in the future there will be more and more applications and games utilizing all four cores (as well as the advent of running fraps and microphone recordings during games) so the quad core solution also looks attractive. But if you could selectively disable two cores and overclock the others that would make the FX 4300 really great.

 

[vortexredemption]

Disabling cores would depend entirely on your motherboard. For AMD you woudl be disabling cores and for Intel you woudl be looking at turning off Hyperthreading - but both depend on your motehrboard and BIOS options.

I have an FX-4300 in a Gigabyte motherboard and it overclocked to 4.2ghz using the stock cooler.
I ran Prime95 on it for 14 hours without any faults and it never rose above 60*C.
I left the FSB at 200 and HT at 2000 and just upped the CPU multiplier.

With a decent heatsink and fan (CoolerMaster X6 in the post) I can raise the voltages a little and hopefully get 4.4/4.5ghz ot of it.

 

[sarinaide]

Theoretically you are not improving single threaded performance, IPC wise you will still have the same arch and thats where AMD is behind but AMD make that deficit up with clock speed.

By disabling two cores you could ramp up your clockspeed and your HT bus for faster memory performance. That said I find that endeavor fruitless but fun to experiment with.

 

[FALC0N]

Hi with a FX 4300 can you disable two cores and then overclock the remaining two cores to obtain higher single threaded performance? And can you do this with the stock cooler and not affect any temperatures?

The reason I'm asking is because when debating between the I three 3220 and the FX 4300 I am really attracted to the high single threaded performance of the i3. But at the same time I know in the future there will be more and more applications and games utilizing all four cores (as well as the advent of running fraps and microphone recordings during games) so the quad core solution also looks attractive. But if you could selectively disable two cores and overclock the others that would make the FX 4300 really great.

Actually, that would make it suck.

Your idea might benefit the 8000 series, which has a lot of resources that go unused in games. The four cores of the 4300 though get a pretty good workout. Shutting down the two cores on that part is a mistake. it would substantially hinder performance.

The FX 6300 has been selling for only $10 more than the FX 4300. At that price, its worth it to get the 6300. And its a clear front runner vs the 3220. I would go that route.

 

[skitz9417]

well not really because the fx 4300 vs i3 3220 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCizTpntb2E

 

[amuffin]

By that time, you'll probably be getting an entirely new system.