Phenom II 550 - Core 3 dead?

[GavX]

Thanks to ASUS being AWESOME, my 550 can now use its "Unleashing" mode to become a non dual core, the only problem is core 3 just does not want to play ball!

I have cores 0,1,2 all running up to 3.7Ghz nicely, might have even got a 3.8, but the system won't even POST at 2Ghz with all 4 cores. Is there a way around this, or will I just have to live with 3 cores?

All BIOS settings are set to default, except the ones needed for unlocking the core (I do ramp the vcore up when OCings, but just trying to get the 4th core working it's all defaults)

Any trickery you know of I can use?

 

[PeterStoba]

It looks like you're not one of the lucky ones and have got a defective core

Atleast you got one for free!

 

[GavX]

Oh well, I assume there is no way to make it effective? Still, I think it works out at about a 80% overclock going clock for clock now, 3.1Ghz duallie to 3.8Ghz trippler

 

[PeterStoba]

Oh well, I assume there is no way to make it effective? Still, I think it works out at about a 80% overclock going clock for clock now, 3.1Ghz duallie to 3.8Ghz trippler

As far as I know, there is nothing that you can do, Unleashing is the only benefit as it allows you to have a triple core instead of a dual or nothing.

 

[GavX]

Which raises my next point, when the hell did AMD chips overclock so nicely? I remember back in the day my 3200+ wouldnt go above 2.5, my 4400+ was similar, my 5000+ hit the wall at 3.1... and I got to 3.8 and still think its got some headroom!

 

[Overslop]

The Opterons were great clockers back in the day. The Phenom II's are the first I've been aware of that overclock really well since then.

 

[FarFarAway]

Core2 really reset what a big and easy overclock meant tbh and Core i7 goes further. The newer AMD chips do OC well, it's just that Intel's ones are even better.

The thing is that an overclocked AMD used to thrash the pants off a much higher OC'd Intel (circa P4), but now Core i7/i5 has blistering performance and great OC potential.

 

[painejake]

My Athlon II x4 620 overclocks from 2.6GHz to 3.2GHz stable on air My last Athlon 5900 overclocked from 2.8GHz to 3.4GHz too

 

[BrandonR-NZ]

I had a Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Cpu in my last build, unlocked stable to 4 Cores and overclocked happily to 3.4, ran hotter than my 955 @4ghz though.