We received word that a Korean hardware review site has managed to turn a triple-core Phenom II X3 710 into a 4 core CPU.
Apparently, the quick switcheroo requires a Biostar motherboard says the site, but customers boards that have the same BIOS options can try the same technique out. The BIOS option to enable the 4th core is called Advanced Clock Calibration, and when set to Auto, turns on the 4th core.
From our experience, when AMD or Intel ships a processor with a core disabled at manufacturing, it's because the disabled core isn't performing up to snuff with the other core(s). We'd be interested in knowing if users experience any bugs with the 4th core enabled.
The processor shows up with 4 cores in Windows, and according to benchmarks posted by the site, the 4th core had a real impact on scores. Those with 3-core Phenom II's, try this out!
(Images courtesy of: playwares.com)