X2 550BE Unlocked

[Caldezar]

Sweet deal! Updated my BIOS to f5 and unlocked my 550 to 4 cores! Best gamble I've made in a long time. Just running Prime95 to test it out before I worry about attempting any O/C.

Curious as to why CPU-Z lists it as AM2+ though... as it's an AM3 processor? Not to mention, isn't the 2k HT low? Thought it should be around 3k? But I wasn't sure what to set it to in the BIOS so I left it at default.

[mattlef]

my HT was always at around 2K

The chip should be able to do about 3.6 with little volt increase.

[Caldezar]

Yeah, gonna play with O/C'ing once I OK the stability of the cores. I'm running in to a bit of an issue with RAM now though. I can't seem to get my RAM to go to 1066. If I bump it from 800 to 1066, I get to the windows splash screen for a split second, then blue screen to a dump. I've looked around and this seems to be an issue with specific BIOS' on some Gigabyte boards. Any ideas on this? I know my RAM is clean as it's passed testing. And I'm running it at 2.1v (Manufacturer recommended) All in all, I'd certainly rather the extra cores over the bare jump in RAM speed, but I don't see a reason I can't do both. Especially since this would hamper my O/C efforts on the processor in the future wouldn't it?

[jcmaz]

I'm planning to get a 720BE and a Gigabyte 770T and unlock!!!

[Caldezar]

Hmmm... after some research it appears that my G.Skill RAM may be the culprit. Seems that lots of people are having trouble specifically pairing G.Skill 1066 with Gigabyte boards. Might have to buy new RAM now... just in time for the DDR2 prices to rise. Ugh...

Realistically though, Can I O/C the CPU without issue if I keep my RAM at 800? I thought there's a limitation with that? If I'm OK to do that, what real-world impact would it have to leave my RAM @ 800 for a while? Would I likely even see an impact on gaming?

[kingnubian]

Originally Posted by Caldezar

Hmmm... after some research it appears that my G.Skill RAM may be the culprit. Seems that lots of people are having trouble specifically pairing G.Skill 1066 with Gigabyte boards. Might have to buy new RAM now... just in time for the DDR2 prices to rise. Ugh...

Realistically though, Can I O/C the CPU without issue if I keep my RAM at 800? I thought there's a limitation with that? If I'm OK to do that, what real-world impact would it have to leave my RAM @ 800 for a while? Would I likely even see an impact on gaming?

You can still overclock just using the unlocked multiplier to get the speed you want & leave the ram at 800Mhz if you desire. You do obviously sacrifice some memory performance at the expense of CPU clock but it will still be real fast.

I have mine unlocked at 3.825Ghz that way but want to play with it a little more. Probably going to order a Coolermaster Hyper 212P for better cooling before I go there though.

[Supergrover]

Set your ram to 800 and up the FSB to 250 your ram will be running @ 1000mhz.

[Caldezar]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Set your ram to 800 and up the FSB to 250 your ram will be running @ 1000mhz.

Haven't tried this yet, I'll test it when I get home. Thanks for the tip!

[emanedoc]

Originally Posted by mattlef

my HT was always at around 2K

The chip should be able to do about 3.6 with little volt increase.

I too am running stable 3.6 @ 1.4v, HT @ 2k.

[emanedoc]

Originally Posted by Caldezar

Hmmm... after some research it appears that my G.Skill RAM may be the culprit. Seems that lots of people are having trouble specifically pairing G.Skill 1066 with Gigabyte boards. Might have to buy new RAM now... just in time for the DDR2 prices to rise. Ugh...

Realistically though, Can I O/C the CPU without issue if I keep my RAM at 800? I thought there's a limitation with that? If I'm OK to do that, what real-world impact would it have to leave my RAM @ 800 for a while? Would I likely even see an impact on gaming?

I was concerned that I had a unstable unlocked cpu, but underclocking the ram did the charm. Unfortunately my gigabyte 790xt doesn't play nice with ocz 1066 ddr3 ram, and I am forced to underclock the ram to 800.

I think the difference between 800 and 1066 is minimal compared to two extra cores(if the program utilizes the cores). You might be able to tighten the timings up a bit, and the difference will be virtually nil.