Ready to 
Dormant cores on upcoming Athlon X2 can be unlocked
Robert Hallock
April 27, 2009 3:10 PM ET in Tech
In early March we reported that it was possible to enable the fourth core of a Phenom II X3 by enabling the “advanced clock calibration” feature present in the BIOS of select motherboards. Word is now coming forward that the two dormant cores on the upcoming Athlon X2 6500/7000-series can also be activated in the same fashion.
The newest version of the Athlon X2 is based on the Kuma core, a member in the architectural family that also hosts the original Phenom X4 (Agena) and Phenom I X3 (Toliman). Athlon X2 parts are a dual-core solution fabricated from the same dies used in production of the Agena and should start hitting the market relatively soon.
As was initially the case with the Phenom II X3, many were of the belief that the Athlon X2’s dormant cores would be mechanically disabled with no hope of activation. It now appears, however, that the Phenom II X3 and the Athlon X2 are similar in that the cores can be activated with the adjustment of certain BIOS settings.
While AMD has never come forward to issue official word on this process, it is no longer believed that the inactive cores have been disabled due to faulty fabrication. A sufficiently large sampling of people have effectively proven that the cores have been deactivated only to fill the market’s demand for cheaper chips.
Though the Phenom I-based Athlon X2 units were expected in December of last year, they have thus far remained fairly elusive. Any user looking to try their hand at this procedure are advised to be on the lookout for any one Kuma-cored Athlon X2.
Correction: The original edition of this piece indicated that the Athlon X2 was cut from the same fabric as the Phenom II X3 (Heka) and the Phenom II x4 (Deneb). This is obviously incorrect. The Athlon X2 is based on the first edition of AMD’s K10 architecture which produced the Phenom (Agena) and the Phenom X3 (Toliman). This update has been corrected to reflect the accurate information.
RSS