PII 720BE - 4 cores for the price of 3!

G

gongo

Regular
Hi again i am back and have finally upgraded my PC, skipped the C2Q once i heard of this unlocking 'hack'!

PII 720BE @ X4 2.8Ghz
Biostar 790GX 128M
IGP HD3300 256MB + 128MB sideport
4GB 800MHZ DDR2
640 WD AAKS Blue
Auzentech Prelude XFi
Corsair HX620
Lian Li A05
Windows Vista 64bit

This thing is smoking fast at stock cool 'n' quiet! Plays L4D med @ 30fps @ 720p

Well yes the rumors were true, you can unlock the X3 720BE to 4 cores simply going to the bios and turn ACC to auto.

I am leaving my GPU integrated for the moment.

The advancement of PC technology is stunning! Consoles am crying! ;)

There is a question, what is the issue with L2 and L3 cache?
The PII has total of 8mb cache but of which only 2mb is L2.
C2Q 9400 has total of 6mb L2. Is this cache holding back PII in games?
 
I think that if those processor can operate troubleless with 4 core enabled, then amd will have sell them as 4 core...
 
Not necessarily. I will have to see if my motherboard and processor can do it as well. EVGA 730a might not have that ability though.
 
I had no problem with unlocking the 4th core. OCCT Linpack stable for 3hrs. Awesome value mate! Get them whilst stocks last! I believe because of the newness of this batch, AMD let through these X3 with working 4th core.

Now back to the L2/3 cache thing....my research tells me for PII, the L3 affects only the NB/HTT, i need to upclock those to maximise the 6mb cache but i have a problem, my Biostar board is locked HTT at 1600mhz!!! I can get NB to 2000mhz but HTT is locked! Damn....
 
No apparently I can't with my mobo, it looks like the easiest answer is get an AMD chipset based mobo if you want it to work though the techreport said ACC was going to be enabled on nforce mobos it isn't clear if it was ever enabled, or on which ones if it was.
 
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=909

Lookie there! IF madshrimps is correct than for gaming PC, you are looking at overclocking the CPU speed first, then the Hypertransport and then the NB in that order to maximise performance!

My 720BE is an unlocked multiplier chip which is perfect! Now if only Biostar update their bios to fix the HTT bug, than what a PC i have! I am ready to play with the multiplier now!

To sxotty, consider getting a 790GX + 750SB mobo. Beats the hell out of Nvidia chipset and ACC = auto 4th core on the cheap! Biostar 790GX 128M is pretty affordable and works well, just take note the PWN area is not passively cooled. What i did was to slap some cheapo ram heatsinks on them and works perfectly for 4 core chip.
 
Its not worth it to me to buy another motherboard just for that. I actually like the one I have as well. I just wish Ihad known before I bought it as I was debating between the biostar anyway :)
 
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