Athlon X2 7750 BE Unlocked to Quad-Core

[skugpezz]

Earlier this year, a Korean source had pointed out an easy method to enable a fourth core on the Phenom II X3. This was made possible by the way AMD has been designing its triple-core and dual-core processors based on the K10 "Stars" architecture: by disabling one or two cores on the quad-core die. "Sloppy" BIOS coding lead to the Phenom II X3 anomaly. It looks like a somewhat similar mod enables not one, but two cores on the sub-$100 Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition. A Korean technology website GiggleHD.com has reported a successful unlock of two cores.

The method is similar to that of the Phenom II X3 unlock: using flaws in BIOS code to enable cores, by enabling the "Advanced Clock Calibration" feature in the BIOS setup. The OS, Windows XP SP3, was able to see the processor as a "AMD Phenom(tm) FX-7750", while CPU-Z reads the name string correctly and lists the core count as 4. The motherboard in use is an ASRock A790GX/128M.
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-04-25/62a.jpg

http://www.techpowerup.com/92330/Athlon_X2_7750_BE_Unlocked_to_Quad-Core.html

[gerikoh]

hmm the low end phenom 1 quads are dead cheap anyway. but still a good thing for those with a kuma :D

[Warrior_oF_Byte]

It's true????

Because, it is soooooo cheap.... I'll buy one.

[Archer]

I personally think that there is more to it, it is a fake or a strange fluke. My reasoning is the statement about the OS I want to see more.

[Sneaky Snake]

I too am skeptical, and even if it works now the mobo companies will release bios updates like they did for the 720 in order to prevent this from happening

[Kal-EL]

No doubt, AMD should just let it be, I'm sure they haven't seen sales so High in that segment and either way they're makin cash.

[Jay]

kuma is pretty cheap
a quad at $60usd is one hell of a deal

[SLATYE]

I wonder whether AMD has actually planned this sort of thing. At the moment, the 7750 doesn't seem to be selling all that well. It'll soon be obsolete, replaced by dual-cores based on the Phenom II. How can they clear old stock? Well, they could drop the price, but that hurts profit margins. Alternatively they can 'leak' a method that allows the 7750 to be unlocked to 3 or 4 cores, since that'll get plenty of bargain-hunters buying the remaining CPUs. They make plenty of money, and they haven't really lost customers for the Phenom II - people who buy a 7750 probably couldn't afford a Phenom II anyway.

[randomizer]

It won't matter if it's true or not. Not many people are going to skip on a "real" quad to get this and unlock it. Plus you run the risk of buying a dual core and getting stuck with one because of defective cores.

[Archer]

I wonder whether AMD has actually planned this sort of thing. At the moment, the 7750 doesn't seem to be selling all that well. It'll soon be obsolete, replaced by dual-cores based on the Phenom II. How can they clear old stock? Well, they could drop the price, but that hurts profit margins. Alternatively they can 'leak' a method that allows the 7750 to be unlocked to 3 or 4 cores, since that'll get plenty of bargain-hunters buying the remaining CPUs. They make plenty of money, and they haven't really lost customers for the Phenom II - people who buy a 7750 probably couldn't afford a Phenom II anyway.

That hurts my feelings I bought mine to play with I mean how much CPU you need and how much you want are 2 different things.

Money is not an issue for me:cool:

[drizzt5]

That hurts my feelings I bought mine to play with I mean how much CPU you need and how much you want are 2 different things.

Money is not an issue for me:cool:
Yea, but I hear what he is saying. And your right, you don't need that powerful of a cpu for today's gaming. But an easy unlock for a quad core is very tempting.

[Archer]

When I made the decision to make this purchase I needed speed, not more cores, as I do very little that will take advantage of more than 2. I am waiting to see the new duals and hoping their performance will scale in comparison as this to phenom x3 and 4's. Notice the average for the Kuma is ~3.2-3.5 on good air which is faster than the x3-x4 could normally achieve in the same setup. I believe this is due to several issues not the least of which is core synchronization and more draw on L3, I also believe that the inactive cores contribute to lower heat but I could be wrong.

Believe me my research and testing was extensive and I can smoke any Ph1 tri or quad on air with the apps I use.

[KTE]

I wonder whether AMD has actually planned this sort of thing. At the moment, the 7750 doesn't seem to be selling all that well.
From what I know, it's probably the best seller in K10 65nm to date although it had a late entry. Price, price and... price. ;)

I might consider throwing it in my HTPC build if someone can actually show that you can reach 2.5-2.7G at 45W of power with it. That's been my only hindrance since its the same price as the 45W K8s here. I don't want to dismantle my perfectly working build to just to test this.

I really don't trust this hack this time though with a Phenom I.

[werty316]

I call BS on this claim.

[Archer]

I call BS on this claim.

No doubt it is BS or a lot of people would be posting all over the place about it and I have seen none.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I dont think its BS but I think its:

a) uncommon for this to work

b) uncommon to see because very few people use this processor... seriously what legitimate overclocker with the know how to do this uses a 7750 dual core kuma (except for archer and this asian dude ;))

[Archer]

I dont think its BS but I think its:

a) uncommon for this to work

b) uncommon to see because very few people use this processor... seriously what legitimate overclocker with the know how to do this uses a 7750 dual core kuma (except for archer ;))

From what I know, it's probably the best seller in K10 65nm to date although it had a late entry. Price, price and... price. ;)

I might consider throwing it in my HTPC build if someone can actually show that you can reach 2.5-2.7G at 45W of power with it. That's been my only hindrance since its the same price as the 45W K8s here. I don't want to dismantle my perfectly working build to just to test this.

I really don't trust this hack this time though with a Phenom I.

When I made the decision to make this purchase I needed speed, not more cores, as I do very little that will take advantage of more than 2. I am waiting to see the new duals and hoping their performance will scale in comparison as this to phenom x3 and 4's. Notice the average for the Kuma is ~3.2-3.5 on good air which is faster than the x3-x4 could normally achieve in the same setup. I believe this is due to several issues not the least of which is core synchronization and more draw on L3, I also believe that the inactive cores contribute to lower heat but I could be wrong.

Believe me my research and testing was extensive and I can smoke any Ph1 tri or quad on air with the apps I use.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4935/revs.jpg
Looking at the number of reviews I would say a lot are selling in comparison to other BE models. The 7750 has more overhead than the phenom 1 (see my quote)and is faster per cycle than the brizzy or winzer for encoding. I really dont think that it actually happened (the enabling of cores) (I could be wrong it does happen believe it or not:rofl:). I do however understand your point as this CPU is the bastard child and most just cant handle the thing (they get picked on). Read http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=593749 Starting at post #17 I did not take kindly to getting picked on. But as you can see the 7750 smokes the AMD quads in all but a couple of places due to the fact that most software cant use the cores.

[KTE]

Maybe not extreme overclockers or big spenders but pretty much everyone else with an AM2 board, a low-end AM2+ board, a HTPC and small general builds invests exactly in such a CPU model.

People don't post regurgitated details, boasts and hype about these products on such forums simply because these OC forums only cater to OC's people deem better than average, and usually, only top models and/or the models in fashion.

[Archer]

I reread and I think I missed it the first time

[Lost_In_Prague]

interesting...

I'm Building a 'Mum and Dad' PC soon, was going to use the E5200 @ 3.5 but as the 7750 cost the same here this might find it's way in if the cores can be unlocked...

[_Vi]

Rather you spend a little more on a confirmed quad, K10s are cheeap these dayz