Sempron 140 Gets Second Core Unlocked
Now more (hard)core.
We love getting more chip for our money. That's why we're into overclocking. But an even more interesting way to get more performance for free than overclocking is to unlocking extra cores.
We've seen core unlocking from the AMD Phenom II X2 and X3, but now it seems someone has figured out that the Sempron 140 can also be unlocked to restore it an Athlon II X2 state. Both chips are based on the same silicon, but the Sempron has one of its cores disabled.
If this feat is easily replicated, this could be the cheapest and most full-featured dua core processor for $40. Even better if you can overclock it too (which that same modder did, going from 2.7 GHz to 3.7 GHz).
Read more at Tech Report.
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If you can do that and keep the power envelope the same that would be amazing..
Which motherboards can unlock the second core on a Sempron 140? Any of the AM3 785s?
As with anything, don't count on this working with your sempron.
However, according to the site, they used a 790GX with ACC. I would think you could get a cheaper motherboard, and buy a Athlon X2 you know will work properly with both cores enabled. Seriously, who's going to spend money on a 790GX but buy a $40 Sempron and hope they can get both cores working?
^that is true...if you could do this with a cheap board, that would be awesome...not sure if cheap boards have this feature...
Like Hellwig said, it's nice as a proof of concept, but for the same money you can get guaranteed and reliable dual core performance for the same money.
Can I unlock/overlock the sempron in my craptacular cheapo HP laptop?
Or you could say, screw saving money, Iz want a i7 please!
some one needs to try it with the cheapo SB 710 boards.
Reliable? Wouldn't be surprised if some of the Sempron's were binned out because of a defective core...even a core that might "mostly work", but fail some more obscure test case. I wouldn't use this on a PC where reliability is a consideration.
As with anything, don't count on this working with your sempron.However, according to the site, they used a 790GX with ACC. I would think you could get a cheaper motherboard, and buy a Athlon X2 you know will work properly with both cores enabled. Seriously, who's going to spend money on a 790GX but buy a $40 Sempron and hope they can get both cores working?
Agreed. It does seem a bit pointless to spend all that money on a board and then just drop a $40 CPU to it. However, if it's just for the experience (and bragging rights) then this makes sense.
Reliable? Wouldn't be surprised if some of the Sempron's were binned out because of a defective core...even a core that might "mostly work", but fail some more obscure test case. I wouldn't use this on a PC where reliability is a consideration.
Yup, there's a reason that this got dumpped to being a "Sempron" rather than a Athlon II - these are usually the silicon that had unstability or "other issues". Sure you can do it, but exactly how reliable would that hyped up Sempron be?
You can't say it's unreliable until you've actually tried it, obviously you wouldn't want to run something mission critical with it, but why not give it a try, if it crashes, just turn it off? You might wind up with a decent dual-core machine on the cheap, if not, as long as the Sempron can serve your needs, there is no problem.
If they are disabling the other core to meet demand then your chances are pretty high of unlocking the extra core. Now, if they are doing it to dump faulty chips then your chances are pretty low.
If they are disabling the other core to meet demand then your chances are pretty high of unlocking the extra core. Now, if they are doing it to dump faulty chips then your chances are pretty low.
I would imagine it's a combination of the two, depending on the yields at any given time.
I want to upgrade my system. Currently my main system is a Dell Precision 370 with a Pentium 4 530 3.0 MHz with Windows XP Pro. but I have an older system that I can reuse the case, floppy, DVD-RW and 300W PSU and I have a WDCWD3200AAJS SATA hard drive that I can use. I need a motherboard and processor and if I get an AM3 motherboard, DDR3 memory. Stuff like a new case, a better power supply, and more memory I can get one piece at a time
I'm thinking of getting an AM3 785G or 790GX motherboard. If I get something like a Phenom 955 processor, that's pretty much it forever. I'm not going to pull and throw away a $200 processor. So when the 32mn processors come out next year, I'll look at them and read the specs, but I won't get one.
But if I get the $40 Sempron, that's a different story. Then I can get a 32nm AM3 Phenom (Phenom III?) for a couple hundred bucks and throw the Sempron away.
As with anything, don't count on this working with your sempron.However, according to the site, they used a 790GX with ACC. I would think you could get a cheaper motherboard, and buy a Athlon X2 you know will work properly with both cores enabled. Seriously, who's going to spend money on a 790GX but buy a $40 Sempron and hope they can get both cores working?
I get your point, but I bought one of those boards (msi) in april or may along with a cheap athlon 5050e - I don't remember what that processor was offered for, but I know it wasn't by any means the most expensive one.
I get your point, but I bought one of those boards (msi) in april or may along with a cheap athlon 5050e - I don't remember what that processor was offered for, but I know it wasn't by any means the most expensive one.
But buying a Sempron and unlocking a core would be a $40 gamble for your case. If you have extra $40 that you could spare, then you're welcome to try, though you need to make sure that the other disabled core was disabled due to demand rather than being faulty.
But buying a Sempron and unlocking a core would be a $40 gamble for your case. If you have extra $40 that you could spare, then you're welcome to try, though you need to make sure that the other disabled core was disabled due to demand rather than being faulty.
I've yet to hear about anyone breaking the cpu by trying to unlock a core. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and you have to reset the bios and just live with hte performance you bought in the first place.
Which 790GX motherboards have ACC and have successfully unlocked the second core? ASRock M3A790GXH/128M AM3; MSI 790GX-G65 AM3; GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3; DFI LP JR 790GX-M3H5 AM3; ASUS M4A78T-E AM3; or others?
I've yet to hear about anyone breaking the cpu by trying to unlock a core. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and you have to reset the bios and just live with hte performance you bought in the first place.
It was highlighted on the core unlocking article by Tom's. How do you validate that the core does fully work?
It's not about breaking the cpu (which is near impossible for unlocking a core), but it's a gamble for the person. It might be a $40 well-spent or a $40 waste for the other guy (since he already has a better cpu).
It was highlighted on the core unlocking article by Tom's. How do you validate that the core does fully work? It's not about breaking the cpu (which is near impossible for unlocking a core), but it's a gamble for the person. It might be a $40 well-spent or a $40 waste for the other guy (since he already has a better cpu).
I read that article. But basicly the problem is no different than overclocking. How do you know it's stable? Just because it can run prime without the icon going from red to yellow doesn't prove it. You just have to assume that if it looks like a horse, it probably is one.
Already had an Asrock AOD790GX/128H on the bench, so installed a 140 and it appears to be straight forward. Just enable the ACC to All Cores and you get two cores. Seems to show 3D Mark 06 and PC Mark 05 scores similar to the 7750BE (that's the closest cpu I have to compare it with) at 2.7GHz and 3.1GHz, all other components being equal. The least expensive Asrock motherboard with ACC seems to be the A780GMH128M at around 65% of the AOD790GX/128H. Still, I get more out of a E5200+G31 board for less money, but it worth checking the result anyway.
you know the only thing in this article that had any impact to me, and lately most of the articles on toms hardware as of late- the vast amount of typos. if you guys are a technology site and cant use a technology like spellcheck and proof reading, then how can we trust you know what you are talking about?
so you may be able to post information i can get on other sites, but your credibility lacks due to such common and frequent mistakes making your writers and editors look like monkeys at they keyboard typing for bananas.
oh and unlocking the unstable core is both pointless and a waste of money. its already been done, and the reason the core is locked is because it failed initial tests and was downgraded to a sempron.
good news lol
I was one that was able to unlock my AMD Sempron 140 into a dual-core processor using a Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H. A word of caution, at least in my case. This thing runs dual-core all day long on various Linux distros, including Puppy Linux and Ubuntu, but when I installed Windows 7 Pro 32bit it would not run and I had to back it down to a single core. A quick search on Google and I found others with this issue. Not sure if it is related to the motherboard or the OS, but something I would like to make others aware of. The 140 is still a strong low-end processor, and with the 785g, it makes an adequate HD HTPC, but it would have been nice to have a dual core in the Win 7 machine.
@michaelangelo1
it has to be the 32bit aspect of win7.. i'd try to go 64.
I saw a huge bump in performance going from x86 win xp to x64 win 7
using asus m4a77td-pro I got my semprons 2nd core unlocked easily I just went to bios set the acc to auto then set the unleashing mode on, and every thing checked out. my windows 7 rating went from 4.6 to 6.1 on the sub score of the processor, that is amazing.well worth the unlock.
Build Spec
OS Ubuntu
Sempron 140 Sargas $36 now $33
Asrock 770+sb710 with acc $60
Mushkin 2G stick 1600 ram $67
cheap xfx Radeon HD 4350 $40 -10 combo
cheap Ocz 500w psu $65 -10 combo -25 rebate
cheap Raidmax case $40
free Spare dvd burner
total $263 GO NEWEGG!
After acc on auto will register as Regor X2 4400e
over clocked on stock cooling to 3500+ Mhz
(only stopped cause the memory controller on the cpu screws up everything
and i have to lower the north bridge freq and memory settings as it will fail memtest) running at lower memory settings this thing is easily stable up to
3900+ where it starts to act a fool.
notes: Cpu fbs is 260, multiple is 13.5(max) with memory on auto, 7,7,7,20 timin
extreme OC fbs is 290, multiple 13.5 and memory clock lowered to well under 1600 to avoid mem fail from cpu's OMCFH (onboard memory controller from hell)
whats even better is the motherboard can save up to 3 configs you can load and easily switch from OC to stock to Low power setups
This defiantly the best deal I've seen building computers but I'm not completely sure if these result are normal .
hope amd stays alive as I've never liked intel's limiting of their cores and price controlling policies
i have a biostar modle TF529 A2+ with a AMD Sempron 140 and would like to kno how to get the the next core unlock asking plz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH-cLy5LEtE
I have unlocked but....
It's temp is at 0
and my computer will stop working after a few minutes ...
anybody helps ?