UPDATE: Phenom II X3 core unlock is real

ThraxThrax 🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
edited March 2009 in Science & Tech
UPDATE: Phenom II X3 core unlock is real

Comments

  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Sweet Jesus. Were they just lying about super awesome laser cutting?
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Dunno about lying. I don't think they ever said they laser-cut the Phenom IIs. Perhaps that only applies to 1st gen Phenoms, which I guess this trick doesn't work on.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    I'm supposing that the first generation were laser-cut, but that process might have been too expensive or time-consuming. There are other ways to disable the core, I guess. AMD might have gotten lazy, or this is a SUPER SECRET DELIBERATE PLOY.
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Part of me hopes its the latter, because if it is...kudos to them.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    It's my guess that originally, there probably were many quad-core dies that were not quad capable, resulting in faulty cores on those dies being disabled. Later (again, my conjecture) on when the production process improved, AMD decided to bin some of the quad-cores to triple in order to keep quad prices higher - better profit through filling market niches. It wouldn't surprise that the newer tri-cores that can be unlocked were non-defective quads before being binned as X3s.
  • AlexDeGruvenAlexDeGruven Wut? Meechigan Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    They also could have binned a bunch of x4s as x3s to fulfill standing orders for x3s. Since x3 were only x4 with one disabled core, they could have disabled it for any reason.

    I love the fact that this exists. And if it was intentional, it's a fantastic nod to the enthusiast crowd (ala Vista Ultimate upgrade used for full install).
    Leonardo wrote:
    It's my guess that originally, there probably were many quad-core dies that were not quad capable, resulting in faulty cores on those dies being disabled. Later (again, my conjecture) on when the production process improved, AMD decided to bin some of the quad-cores to triple in order to keep quad prices higher - better profit through filling market niches. It wouldn't surprise that the newer tri-cores that can be unlocked were non-defective quads before being binned as X3s.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Theese Gigabyte boards do infact unlock the last core: (with a beta bios)

    MA790FXT-UD5P, MA790XT-UD4P, MA790GP-UD4H, MA790X-UD4, MA790FX-UD5P, MA790X-UD4P, MA770-UD3P, MA770-UD3 (rev 2.0), MA770-US3 (rev 2.0)
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