Sempron 140 Gets Second Core Unlocked

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Now more (hard)core.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
31 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Jerky_san
    If you can do that and keep the power envelope the same that would be amazing..
    Reply
  • Prescott_666
    Which motherboards can unlock the second core on a Sempron 140? Any of the AM3 785s?
    Reply
  • hellwig
    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?
    Reply
  • ahslan
    ^that is true...if you could do this with a cheap board, that would be awesome...not sure if cheap boards have this feature...
    Reply
  • mtyermom
    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.
    Reply
  • hillarymakesmecry
    Can I unlock/overlock the sempron in my craptacular cheapo HP laptop?
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    Or you could say, screw saving money, Iz want a i7 please!
    Reply
  • theholylancer
    some one needs to try it with the cheapo SB 710 boards.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    hellwigAs 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.
    Reply