home / Advice/ Which gives an unlocked CPU multiplier. Unlocking Intel Processors - Now It Is Possible! Increasing the power of the power supply

What the unlocked CPU multiplier gives. Unlocking Intel Processors - Now It Is Possible! Increasing the power of the power supply

Introduction

Our readers are probably familiar with the overclocking potential of processors. AMD Phenom II. We have published many tests, reviews and comparisons, various detailed guides that allow you to get similar results at home (for example, "").

But for our tests on Socket AM2 + or AM3 platforms, overclocking AMD processors with extreme liquid nitrogen cooling we used the Black Edition Phenom II models for a good reason. These unlocked multiplier processors are specifically aimed at the enthusiast looking to get the most out of a purchased CPU.

But this time we will focus on overclocking the processor with a locked multiplier. And for our task, we took a triple-core AMD Phenom II X3 710, which costs about $ 100 () and runs at 2.6 GHz. Of course, we cannot say that the processor lacks performance in the normal mode, and even three cores provide good potential. However, the processor multiplier is locked, so overclocking it is not as easy as the Black Edition models (the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition with an unlocked multiplier operates at 2.8 GHz and costs from 4000 rubles in Russia).

What is a locked multiplier processor? You will not be able to increase the multiplier above the nominal value, and also, in the case of AMD processors, also the CPU VID (voltage ID).

Let's take a look at the standard formula: clock speed = CPU multiplier x base clock. Since we cannot increase the CPU multiplier, we will have to work with the base frequency. This, in turn, will lead to an increase in the frequency of the HT (HyperTransport) interface, northbridge and memory, since they all depend on the base frequency. If you want to update the terminology or frequency calculation schemes, we recommend that you refer to the article " Overclocking AMD Processors: The THG Guide ".

To cool the retail version of the Phenom II processor, we decided to abandon the "boxed" cooler included in the package and took the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. However, in the hopes of overclocking the processor as much as the Black Edition model, we wanted to find a motherboard capable of delivering a high base clock. Following our Comparative Testing of Motherboards for AMD Processors the winner in this area is the MSI 790FX-GD70, so it should allow us to push the limits of AMD's air-cooled processor.

In this article, we will take a closer look at different ways overclocking the processor with a locked multiplier, including the usual overclocking via BIOS, via the AMD OverDrive utility and via the proprietary MSI OC Dial function motherboard 790FX-GD70. We will consider in detail all three methods, compare their ease and the results obtained. Finally, we'll run some small benchmarks to see the gains from overclocking the CPU, Northbridge (NB), and memory.

In each overclocking scenario, we first disabled Cool'n'Quiet, C1E and Spread Spectrum in the BIOS.

This is not always required, but when determining the maximum base frequency, it is better to disable all these functions so as not to understand the reasons for unsuccessful overclocking. When you increase the base frequency, you will probably have to reduce the CPU, NB and HT multipliers, as well as the memory frequency, so that all these frequencies do not reach the limit value. We will increase the base frequency in small increments, after which we will conduct stability tests. In the 790FX-GD70 BIOS, MSI calls the HT base frequency "CPU FSB Frequency".

That was our plan, but first we wanted to see what the "Auto Overclock" option in BIOS with a nominal 200 MHz base frequency can do. We set this option to "Find Max FSB" and saved the BIOS changes. The system then went through a short cycle of reboots, and after 20 seconds it booted up with an impressive base clock of 348 MHz!

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After successfully confirming the stable operation of the system at such settings, we realized that the value of the base frequency will not be a limitation for a given combination of CPU and motherboard.

Now is the time to start overclocking the processor. In the Cell menu, we set the values back to their default values. Then we set the "CPU-Northbridge Ratio" and "HT Link speed" multiplier to 8x. FSB / DRAM divider was lowered to 1: 2.66, memory latency was manually set to 8-8-8-24 2T.

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Knowing that the CPU would run stably at 3.13GHz (348 x 9), we immediately jumped to a base clock of 240MHz and successfully passed the stability test. Then we started to increase the base frequency in 5 MHz steps and test the stability of the system each time. The highest base frequency we got at nominal voltage was 265 MHz, which gave us an impressive 3444 MHz overclock without any voltage increase.

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Reducing the HT multiplier to 7x did not allow for an increase in overclocking, so it was time to raise the voltage. As we mentioned above, the CPU Voltage ID is locked and cannot be raised above 1.325 V, so the BIOS can set the CPU VDD Voltage from 1,000 to 1.325 V or set the automatic value to "Auto". However, the CPU voltage on the motherboard can still be changed by setting the offset relative to the CPU VID. The offset is set in the MSI BIOS by the "CPU Voltage" parameter, where values of 1.005-1.955 V are available for a processor with a VDD of 1.325 V.

We set the CPU voltage to a fairly modest 1.405 V, and then continued to ramp up the base clock in 5 MHz increments, reaching a maximum stable value of 280 MHz, which gave a processor frequency of 3640 MHz, a HT Link frequency of 1960 MHz, a northbridge frequency of 2240 MHz and 1493 MHz for DDR3 memory. Quite normal values for long-term use of a 24x7 system, but we wanted to achieve the best.

We continued our tests by lowering the northbridge multiplier to 7x and then increasing the CPU voltage to 1.505 V. The actual CPU voltage dropped to 1.488 V during load tests. At this voltage, the Phenom II X3 710 processor achieved a stable 3744 MHz clock rate from a base clock of 288 MHz. In our open bench, the CPU temperature during the stress test of Prime95 hovered around 49 degrees Celsius, which is 25 degrees above our room temperature.

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If you are not familiar with the AMD OverDrive utility, then we recommend that you read the article " Overclocking AMD Processors: The THG Guide". Today we will go straight to Advanced mode to the Performance Control menu.

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Overclocking a Black Edition processor via the AOD (AMD OverDrive) utility is pretty straightforward, but now we're dealing with a locked multiplier. First, we need to lower the NB and HT multipliers, as well as the memory divisor. The "CPU NB Multiplier" parameters on the "Clock / Voltage" tab, as well as the "Memory Clock" parameters on the "Memory" tab are highlighted in red, that is, they will change only after the system is restarted. Remember that the HT Link frequency cannot be higher than the Northbridge frequency, and changes to these "white" multipliers are not automatically made after a reboot, unlike the "red" values. We avoided this problem by making changes to all of these values in the BIOS beforehand.

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We quickly discovered that the base frequency changes with the AOD utility were not performed even after pressing the “Apply” key. You can see this if you compare "Target Speed" and "Current Speed".

To start overclocking, in the BIOS, you must first change the value of the base frequency to any value relative to the default 200 MHz. Any value will do, so we just set it to 201 MHz.

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After making the above preparation for overclocking, we started to increase the HT frequency using the AOD in 10 MHz steps. Everything was great until we unexpectedly hit the 240 MHz threshold. After that, the system either "hung" or restarted. We did some fine tuning and then found that the problem starts after 238 MHz. The solution turned out to be setting the base frequency to 240 MHz in the BIOS. Then we raised the HT base clock in 5 MHz steps, after which we again hit the 255 MHz level. After setting 256 MHz in BIOS and loading, we were able to get the same maximum frequency at nominal voltage as before.

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Please note that due to processor blocking, the CPU VID engine is already set to the maximum of 1.3250 V. To raise the CPU voltage, you need to use the CPU VDDC engine, which sets the bias voltage. In addition to setting 1.504 V for the CPU VDDC, we increased the NB VID and NB Core voltages to 1.25 V. This allowed us to increase the HT base frequency to 288 MHz without any problems.

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Besides the rather rich multiplier and voltage adjustments in the BIOS, the MSI 790FX-GD70 has other overclocker-friendly features. Pay attention to the keys and the OC Dial located on the bottom of the board. The power and reset keys will be useful for those testing the system outside of the PC case, and the depressed clear CMOS (Clr CMOS) key is also more convenient than a regular jumper. MSI OC Dial function consists of OC Drive knob and OC Gear key. They allow you to change the base frequency in real time.

The OC Dial function is activated via the "Cell" menu in the BIOS. The OC Dial Step can be increased if needed, but we used the default 1 MHz step. The OC Dial Value indicates the changes made with the OC Drive knob. The "Dial Adjusted Base Clock" value indicates the current base clock, that is, the sum of the FSB Clock + OC Dial values.

Again, we prepared for overclocking by lowering the NB and HT multipliers in the BIOS, as well as the memory divider. The OC Drive knob can be rotated from the BIOS screen, but under operating system OC Gear key acts as a toggle. After holding OC Gear for a second, appears and the OC Drive knob starts to operate. The knob has only 16 positions, which allows you to increase the base frequency by 16 MHz in one turn. After completing the adjustments, pressing OC Gear again will turn off the function, which is recommended to protect stable performance.

We started overclocking by turning the OC Drive knob and monitoring the base and other frequencies in the CPU-Z. However, after the next change, the system automatically rebooted. Upon entering the BIOS, we found that the reboot occurred after the same 239 MHz base clock that we had problems with in AMD OverDrive.

After this small glitch, the system booted into Windows without any problems at the base frequency of 239 (200 + 39) MHz. We continued to increase the OC Dial value up to 65 MHz, then a voltage increase was required.

We have increased voltages and decreased multipliers. Under Windows, we controlled the OC Dial in 10 MHz increments. The system started to "crash" after reaching the base frequency of 286 MHz, while the OS refused to boot when the "OC Dial Value" value was greater than 86 MHz.

After setting the CPU FSB frequency to 250 MHz, we loaded the OS again. This time we were able to increase the base frequency with the OC Dial up to our maximum stable level of 288 MHz.

Squeezing out more performance: fine-tuning

With the Phenom II X3 710 running at a decent 3744MHz clock speed, it's time to squeeze some more performance out of the system.

We started by overclocking the north bridge, which improves the performance of the memory controller and L3 cache. By setting the CPU-NB Voltage to 1.3V and the NB Voltage to 1.25V, we were able to increase the northbridge multiplier from 7x to 9x, resulting in a northbridge frequency of 2592 MHz.

A further increase in voltages still did not allow Windows to load with a 10x NB multiplier. Remember that because of the base frequency of 288 MHz, each increase in the NB multiplier results in a 288 MHz increase in the northbridge frequency. The chipset heatsink stayed pretty cool to touch, but reaching 2880 MHz on the northbridge would most likely require a higher CPU-NB voltage boost than we wanted. In this regard, Black Edition processors certainly offer a lot of flexibility. By using a combination of a multiplier and a different base clock, we could get a higher clock speed on the northbridge with a similar CPU overclocking. For example, at a base frequency of 270 MHz, the system was completely stable with the north bridge at 2700 MHz, but without the possibility of increasing the multiplier, the CPU overclocking dropped to just over 3500 MHz.

Of course, you can get a small performance boost by increasing the frequency of the HT Link interface, but 2.0 GHz already provides enough bandwidth for such a system... Here, increasing the HT multiplier to 8x will result in a 288 MHz increase in the HT Link interface clock rate, which will result in 2304 MHz - higher than we usually set, and stability will certainly be lost.

Instead of wasting time increasing the HT Link frequency, we decided to overclock the memory. In this case, a 1: 3.33 divider would cause our Corsair DDR3 modules to run at too high a frequency of 1920 MHz, so we decided to tackle the latencies. We found 7-7-7-20 latencies to be completely stable in Memtest 86+, Prime95 and 3DMark Vantage benchmarks. Unfortunately, the Command Rate 1T gave stable four cycles of the Memtest 86+ without errors, but resulted in a loss of stability in 3D tests. The result of our subtle overclocking is shown in the following screenshot.

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Although we manually adjusted the memory latency for the current overclocking test, additional tests showed that the "Auto" setting did not affect the result. With a memory divider of 1: 2.66, setting the DRAM Timing delays in the BIOS to the "Auto" position led to the 9-9-9-24 mode. Interestingly, the "Auto" delays with a 1: 2 divider led to the 6-6-6-15 mode, and at this frequency the 1T Command Rate parameter gave stable operation.

In performance tests, we'll take a look at our overclocking efforts separately. First, we'll look at the performance gains from increasing the frequency of only the northbridge, then we'll examine the effect of memory frequency and latency on performance.

Test configuration

Hardware
CPU	AMD Phenom II X3 710 (Heka), 2.6 GHz, 2000 MHz HT, 6 MB L3 cache
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70 (Socket AM3), 790FX / SB750, BIOS 1.3
Memory	4.0 GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D, 2 x 2048 MB, DDR3-1333, CL 8-8-8-24 @ 1.65V
HDD	Western Digital Caviar Black WD 6401AALS, 640 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3.0 Gb / s
Video card	AMD Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5, 750 MHz GPU, 900 MHz GDDR5
Power Supply	Antec True Power Trio 550W
Cooler	Xigmatek HDT-S1283
System software and drivers
OS	Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, 32-bit, SP1
DirectX version	Direct X 10
Display driver	Catalyst 9.7

Tests and settings

3D games
World in conflict	Patch 1009, DirectX 10, timedemo, 1280x1024, Very High Details, No AA / No AF
Applications
Autodesk 3ds Max 2009	Version: 11.0, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV)
Synthetic tests
3DMark Vantage	Version: 1.02, Performance Preset, CPU score
Sisoftware Sandra 2009 SP3	Version 2009.4.15.92, CPU Arithmetic, Memory Bandwidth

Overclocking modes
	Stock (full-time)	Stock VCore OC (stock without voltage rise)	Max OC (maximum with voltage rise)	Tweaked OC (maximum after fine tuning)
CPU core frequency	2600 MHz	3444 MHz	3744 MHz	3744 MHz
Northbridge frequency	2000 MHz	2120 MHz	2016 MHz	2592 MHz
HT Link Frequency	2000 MHz	2120 MHz	2016 MHz	2016 MHz
Memory frequency and latency	DDR3-1333, 8-8-8-24 2T	DDR3-1412, 8-8-8-24 2T	DDR3-1546, 8-8-8-24 2T	DDR3-1546, 8-8-8-24 2T

Performance Results

This article was intended to be more of an overclocking guide rather than a performance test. But we decided to run some tests anyway to show the performance gains after our overclocking efforts. Take a look at the table above for a detailed explanation of each test configuration.

In the Sandra Arithmetic test, the results increase after increasing the CPU clock speed, and the Tweaked OC did not show any benefit from the overclocked northbridge.

On the other hand, overclocking the north bridge gives a serious increase in memory bandwidth. Thin overclocking (Tweaked OC) is in the lead, and a slightly lower frequency of the northbridge at maximum overclocking (Max CPU OC) yielded less results than when overclocked with stock voltage (Stock Vcore OC).

Overclocking our Phenom II processor resulted in a noticeable improvement in the CPU benchmark in 3DMark Vantage. The additional throughput due to the acceleration of the north bridge significantly increased the result.

World in Conflict is highly dependent on CPU performance. We tested it at low resolution without anti-aliasing, which allowed us to expose very high details, but at the same time we did not run into the performance of the GPU Radeon HD 4870. Not surprisingly, as the CPU frequency increases, we get an increase in the minimum and average frame rates (fps). But notice the substantially better minimum frame rates after overclocking the northbridge. The performance of the memory controller and L3 cache is very important for this game, as overclocking the northbridge yielded the same 6fps increase in minimum frame rate as the CPU overclocking at 1100 MHz.

Overclocking the CPU drastically reduced render times in 3ds Max 2009. Memory bandwidth is not that important here, as overclocking the Northbridge gave a gain of only one second.

All tests were performed after setting the BIOS to 8-8-8-24 2T delays. In the diagrams, we used the "Tweaked PC" fine overclocking setting of 3744 MHz for the core, 2592 MHz for the northbridge, and 2016 MHz for the HT interface. We tested the four stable modes of memory operation, which we talked about in the article.

We see no difference in the CPU arithmetic test. However, the low latency turned out to be slightly better than the high operating frequency.

Here we see that the bandwidth has increased after increasing the memory frequency. With a divider of 2.66, we see very little difference between Auto (CAS 9), CAS 8 and CAS 7 low latency.

Here, the leaders are our two manual mode, although the difference in the 3DMark Vantage CPU test is negligible.

The scaling in World in Conflict seems almost perfect, the minimum delays are leading, which gave an increase of 1 fps in the minimum and average frame rates. Note the noticeable drop in the minimum frame rate as you lower the memory frequency.

Tighter memory latencies on an overclocked system did not benefit 3ds Max 2009 rendering times.

Overclocking without increasing the voltage gives a pleasant performance increase compared to the standard settings and at the same time much better efficiency than with maximum overclocking (with increasing voltage). Also, note that the performance gains from increasing Northbridge frequencies are not "free".

Some readers like to overclock without increasing the multiplier, which allows enabling Cool'n'Quiet technology without noticeable loss of stability.

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Conclusion

The Phenom II X3 710 processor delivers an impressive return for its $ 100 () price tag. However, locked Multiplier and Voltage ID values result in a loss of overclocking flexibility compared to Black Edition processors. However, if you get an overclocking-friendly motherboard (for example, the MSI 790FX-GD70), the X3 710 can provide the same core frequency as other air-cooled Phenom II processors.

Of course, your overclocking results may differ. This is especially true for overclocking a processor with a locked multiplier by increasing the base frequency. If you are planning to overclock a locked Phenom II processor on a tighter budget, we recommend that you carefully select your motherboard so that it allows you to add an offset to the CPU VID and can handle a higher base frequency. However, if you plan to overclock the processor on an inexpensive motherboard or want to squeeze the maximum out of the CPU on an enthusiast motherboard like ours, it is better to pay another $ 20 and take the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition processor (from 4000 rubles in Russia), work with which is much easier.

AMD's OverDrive utility has been quite useful in the past for overclocking Black Edition processors, but in this configuration it is no longer so ideal. Of course, none of the problems we encountered were critical, but we would not recommend doing any serious overclocking with AMD OverDrive on our motherboard with a locked processor. However, the utility is still useful for monitoring voltages and temperatures, or even for preliminary testing of small changes in the base frequency, in order to enter them into the BIOS later.

MSI OC Dial technology is also not flawless, however it performed better in our case than AMD OverDrive. In addition to the "Auto Overclock" option to find the maximum base clock (Max FSB), MSI OC Dial technology can save you a lot of time when you need to quickly change the base clock. The biggest problems will be how to get to the MSI OC Dial adjustments after installing the board in the case, since it will be quite crowded in systems with a bottom power supply and several video cards.

As a result, if we consider overclocking a locked processor, then it is impossible to bypass or replace the adjustments through the good old BIOS. Thanks to easy navigation and a wealth of multiplier and voltage adjustments, the 790FX-GD70 has shown its best side. Will you be using the OC Dial function or software utility AMD OverDrive, overclocking of a locked Phenom II processor will still start and end in BIOS.

Introduction Overclocking has long ceased to be an art for the elite; today it is a massive phenomenon, in which not only computer enthusiasts are involved, but also manufacturers and sellers of hardware. The army of overclockers is so numerous that even such giants as Intel cannot ignore it. As a result, in the last few years we have been able to observe how various companies manufacturing components, not only actively adapt their products for overclocking, but also master the production of specialized overclocking products. In particular, in the processor market, such specialized products are, first of all, processors with an unlocked multiplication factor. They provide an easy way to increase their clock speed, which eliminates the additional requirements for the rest of the platform and can ultimately lead to the conquest of record overclocking peaks.

Until recently, AMD has especially shown its favor towards overclockers. Its range includes several Black Edition processors (with an unlocked multiplier) belonging to different price categories. Moreover, this company even offered specially selected TWKR-modifications of processors, capable of working with a very aggressive increase in the supply voltage. Intel was more conservative with regard to overclockers: specialized offers companies over the past few years have been limited to extremely expensive $ 1000 CPU models with unlocked multipliers.

But the realities and the massive interest in overclocking forced the microprocessor giant to toss and turn. About a year ago, in order to study demand, Intel conducted an experiment and offered an inexpensive LGA775-processor Pentium E6500K with an unlocked multiplier factor in the regional Chinese market. The experiment apparently yielded positive results as the decision was made within the company to expand this initiative. And in the very near future, and more specifically at the upcoming Computex exhibition, Intel intends to announce at once a pair of widely available overclocking processors with an unlocked multiplier for the most relevant at this moment LGA1156 platforms.

Will be presented - a quad-core Core i7-875K and a dual-core Core i5-655K. From the point of view of formal characteristics, these CPUs will become analogs of the long-supplied Core i7-870 and Core i5-650, but unlike them, they will offer a freely changeable multiplier, which opens up additional opportunities for overclocking. What is especially pleasant is that Intel is not going to consider overclocking models as exclusive offers, and they will be set at a very affordable price, which differs from the cost of "regular" models by no more than 20-25%.

As a result, enthusiasts will have a very extensive selection of unlocked multiplier processors, which will now be available for almost any current platform.

As you can see, the new items fit quite organically into the structure of existing overclocking offers. Nevertheless, the release of the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K is unlikely to cause any serious changes in the market: so far overclockers have successfully used Core i7-860 and Core i5-650 to overclock, and new models are more expensive. Yes, they can be overclocked by simply changing the multiplier, but overclocking by increasing the frequency of the base clock generator in most cases gives quite normal results. In other words, the release of the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K is a great image step that enthusiasts-record holders engaged in extreme overclocking and really face with the instability of motherboards due to an excessive increase in the frequency of the base clock generator can really rejoice. But are these processors really needed in conventional overclocked systems?

Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K Specifications

From the point of view of formal characteristics, the new overclocking processors cannot boast of any features that distinguish them from their counterparts. Clock frequencies, the number of cores, the size of the cache memory, proprietary technologies, the calculated heat dissipation - everything is exactly the same as in the well-known Core i7-870 and Core i5-650 processors.

It is difficult to notice the differences from the available models from the screenshots of the diagnostic utilities. For example, in CPU-Z, new processors are allocated only with an identification string with a name.

Please note that the Core i7-875K is based on the B1 stepping core, while the Core i5-655K is based on the C2 stepping core. This means that these processors use the same semiconductor chip versions as the common, common models. Consequently, new overclocking processors are unlikely to be able to offer their owners any special frequency potential, and their only distinguishing feature is a free multiplier.

Nevertheless, Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K act as products of a special kind, they do not replace, but complement the existing the lineup LGA1156 processors. To accentuate this, the new items will be delivered in special packaging, on which the word "unlocked" will be highlighted.

By the way, overclocking processors will be sold without a traditional cooler. Intel rightly judged that enthusiasts purchasing an unlocked multiplier processor would prefer to choose their own cooling system.

Intel officials promise that the new processors won't have any compatibility issues with existing motherboards. Which, in general, is not surprising at all, because there is nothing really new in them. However, in order to get full access to the ability to change the multiplier, updating the BIOS on the motherboard may not be superfluous.

Overclocking experiments

Although the new Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K processors with an unlocked multiplier do not promise any breakthrough in overclocking, it is still interesting to look at their frequency potential. For a practical acquaintance with the new products, a test system was assembled consisting of:

ASUS P7P55D Premium motherboard (LGA1156, Intel P55 Express);
Memory 2 x 2 GB, DDR3-1600 SDRAM, 9-9-9-24 (Kingston KHX1600C8D3K2 / 4GX);
ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card;
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS hard drive;
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU cooler with Enermax Everest fan;
Power supply: Tagan TG880-U33II (880 W).

The purpose of our testing was to determine the maximum frequency that can be achieved when overclocking the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K processors by changing the multiplier.

Core i7-875K

When installing this processor in test system immediately attracted the attention of the metamorphosis that occurred with the BIOS of the motherboard.

The CPU Ratio Setting, which is responsible for setting the multiplier, now allows the choice of any values from 9x to 63x, but this was quite expected. A much more interesting event was the appearance additional parameters TurboMode x-Core Ratio Offset giving full control over Intel technology Turbo Boost.

These settings give you the ability to control the processor frequency limits within Intel Turbo Boost Technology. That is, for a processor with an unlocked multiplier, you can manually set the scale of the clock speed increase in turbo mode when 1, 2, 3 or 4 cores are active.

Unfortunately, the pleasant surprises ended there. The Core i7-875K does not provide any additional multipliers for setting the DDR3 memory frequency, or the ability to change the operating frequencies of the Uncore part of the Core i7-875K processor. This means that the Uncore frequency is tightly coupled to the base frequency (BCLK) and, using its nominal value of 133 MHz, equals 2.4 GHz. The choice of memory frequencies at the nominal value of BCLK is limited to a set of 800, 1066, 1333 and 1600 MHz.

Let's go directly to overclocking. Core i7-875K provides full access to the multiplication factor, and its increase does not entail any changes in the operation of any subsystems except for the computing cores. So the overclocking algorithm is completely elementary, it does not require changing the memory frequencies or increasing the voltage on the Uncore part of the processor. It is enough just to increase the multiplier and raise the processor voltage.

By increasing the processor voltage to 1.35 V, which can be considered a completely safe level when using air cooling, we managed to achieve stable operation of the CPU at a frequency of 4.0 GHz.

This is a completely normal, but not outstanding level of overclocking for processors based on the Lynnfield core. However, we did not expect anything else, because the Core i7-875K is just another representative of a familiar family. So, only one thing is remarkable in the result obtained - to achieve it, we did not increase the frequency of the base clock generator BCLK, and, therefore, did not impose any additional load on the motherboard.

Core i5-655K

The unlocked dual-core Clarkdale as well as Lynnfield provides full access not only to the "base" multiplier, but also to Turbo Boost technology, allowing you to use different arbitrary multipliers, selected by the processor depending on the load of its cores. That is, in this respect, the capabilities are the same as when using the Core i7-875K. However, unlike a quad-core processor, the Core i5-655K also offers extended memory frequency settings.

Conventional, non-overclocking Clarkdale processors, when using the nominal base clock frequency (BCLK) of 133 MHz, can clock memory as DDR3-800, DDR3-1066 or DDR3-1333. Lynnfield processors, including the Core i7-875K, add DDR3-1600 to this list. In the Core i5-655K, the coefficient that forms the memory frequency was completely unlocked, thanks to which the memory controller of this processor can clock the memory as DDR3-1866 or DDR3-2133 without increasing the BCLK frequency.

As for the actual overclocking, with an increase in voltage to 1.35 V, the Core i5-655K processor was able to operate at a multiplier of 33, that is, with a frequency of 4.4 GHz. The system in this state remained completely stable, which was confirmed by testing using the LinX 0.6.3 utility.

And again we see quite ordinary overclocking, despite the fact that a special overclocking processor was used in the test. This once again confirms that Intel does not select semiconductor crystals in any special way for the production of its unlocked new products. In terms of their frequency potential, the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K are fully comparable to other variants of Lynnfield and Clarkdale. So, apart from free multipliers, these processors cannot boast of any other obvious advantages.

Consequently, the use of the new Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K processors in overclocking systems can be justified only when overclocking by increasing the multiplier factor, for some reason, does not fully reveal the full frequency potential of the CPU. And this is possible only in two cases. Or when using a "bad" motherboard that does not have required settings to change the BCLK frequency and voltages on memory and Uncore. Or with extreme overclocking of the processor, when it comes to increasing its frequency by more than 50%, which requires raising the base frequency of the BCLK far beyond the 200 MHz line, after which stability problems associated with the motherboard inevitably arise.

Which is Better: BCLK Frequency vs Multiplier

The appearance on the market of the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K will lead to the fact that in the vast majority of overclocking LGA1156 systems, if we are not talking about using extreme cooling methods, overclocking can be performed with equal success both by increasing the clock generator frequency and by changing multiplication factor of the processor. Naturally, in this state of affairs, a quite reasonable question arises - which overclocking option is more profitable.

To be clear, we decided to test the Core i7-875K operating at 4.0 GHz in two versions: when the BCLK frequency is increased to 200 MHz to achieve this milestone, and when the BCLK remains at the nominal 133 MHz, and the multiplier is increased. It should be noted that in the case of overclocking by increasing the frequency of the base clock generator, we even slightly lowered the multiplier to 20 (this action can be performed in any system, even with an unlocked processor) in order to achieve full compliance with the memory frequency. As a result, two similar systems participated in the comparison:

Core i7-875K processor @ 4.0 GHz = 20 x 200 MHz, DDR3-1600 memory (9-9-9-24-1T)

Core i7-875K processor @ 4.0 GHz = 30 x 133 MHz, DDR3-1600 memory (9-9-9-24-1T)

The screenshots show that the difference in approaches to overclocking entails a difference in the frequencies of the Uncore and the QPI bus. An increase in BCLK above the standard 133 MHz leads to a proportional increase in the frequency of these nodes. It is these factors that determine the performance differences observed in the tests.

As the benchmark results show, the difference in overclocking methods really affects performance. And overclocking turns out to be more profitable by increasing the BCLK frequency, and not by changing the processor multiplier. Which, however, is quite natural, considering that the frequencies of the QPI bus, memory controller and L3 cache are tied to the frequency of the base clock generator. A particularly strong difference in performance can be seen in the example of a synthetic test that measures the speed of memory and L3 cache. However, in real applications, overclocking via BCLK gives a performance gain of the order of 1-2%. This, of course, is not an impressive speed gap, but to enthusiasts tweaking systems, such an advantage may seem significant.

conclusions

In the announcement of the processors Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K, which have an unlocked multiplier, the very fact of their release is of interest first of all. Indeed, the advent of inexpensive Intel LGA1156 processors, purposefully designed for use in overclocked systems, is akin to a small revolution. Even if Intel recognized the existence of overclocking as a phenomenon, then no one should have any doubts that overclocking has finally and irrevocably left the computer underground and is now a generally recognized and global trend. His adherents got their hands on another ready-made and simple tool that will allow them, on the one hand, to conquer new heights, and on the other, to attract new supporters to their side. And from this position release by Intel The Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K processors are a great marketing move.

At the same time, it should be understood that processors with an unlocked multiplier are more of a highly specialized product, and not a common solution. Yes, using processors like Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K greatly simplifies the overclocking process and removes the requirements for the rest of the platform. But on the other hand, in most cases, overclocking conventional processors with a locked multiplier by increasing the clock generator frequency gives no worse results. And therefore, since all the differences between overclocking and conventional CPUs are limited only by the possibility (or impossibility) of changing the multiplier, there is generally no point in overpaying and purchasing unlocked models. Moreover, overclocking by increasing the base frequency, all other things being equal, allows you to get slightly higher performance.

However, there are particular situations in which unlocked processors like the Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K can become really necessary components of the system. First, there is no doubt that these processors will become heroes of extreme overclocking. A significant increase in the processor frequency, which becomes available when using advanced cooling methods, often rests on the capabilities of LGA1156 motherboards, which are unable to provide stable operation of the platform when the clock generator frequency is greatly exceeded. In this case, the free multiplication factors offered by the new products are a kind of panacea. Secondly, Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K can be safely recommended to novice overclockers who do not want to master all the intricacies of fine-tuning the system at the very first steps when overclocking by increasing the BCLK frequency. And thirdly, the unlocked multiplier can be useful in systems based on motherboards that do not provide the user with the necessary tools for decent overclocking.

Features of unlocking various series of processors

Here are some examples of AMD series of processors that can be unlocked, as well as their characteristic features of this process:

Athlon X2 5000+ - cores # 3 and 4 (individual copies)
Athlon II X3 series 4хх (Deneb / Rana type core) - core # 4 and cache memory
Athlon II X3 series 4хх (core of the Propus type) - core №4
Athlon II X4 6xx series (Deneb / Rana core) - only L3 cache
Phenom II X2 5xx series - cores # 3 and 4
Phenom II X3 7xx series - core # 4
Phenom II X4 8xx Series - Only 2MB L3 cache can be unlocked
Phenom II X4 650T, 840T, 960T and 970 Black Edition - cores # 5 and 6 (individual copies)
Sempron 140/145 - core # 2

Which chipsets support unlocking processor cores?

It should be noted that not all motherboards support the ability to unlock AMD processor cores. You will only be able to unlock kernels if your BIOS supports Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) or similar technology.

ACC technology is used in the following chipsets:

GeForce 8200
GeForce 8300
nForce 720D
nForce 980
Chipsets with south bridge type SB710
Chipsets with south bridge type SB750

There are also several AMD chipsets that do not support ACC technology, but instead support similar technologies. These chipsets include chipsets with south bridges of the type:

SB810
SB850
SB950

The methodology for unlocking cores on these chipsets varies depending on the motherboard manufacturer.

Unblocking technique

To unlock the cores, the user needs to contact BIOS tools... If the motherboard supports ACC technology, in most cases it is enough to find the Advanced Clock Calibration parameter in the BIOS and set it to Auto.

In the case of motherboards from certain manufacturers, some additional steps may also be required. On ASUS motherboards, in addition to ACC, you must enable the Unleashed mode option, on MSI boards - the Unlock CPU Core option, on NVIDIA boards - the Core Calibration option. On Gigabyte boards you need to find the EC Firmware Selection option and set it to Hybrid.

On those chipsets that do not support ACC technology, the unlocking method depends on the specific manufacturer. Let's briefly list the options that must be used in the case of each specific manufacturer:

ASUS - ASUS Core Unlocker
Gigabyte - CPU Unlock
Biostar - BIO-unlocKING
ASRock - ASRock UCC
MSI - Unlock CPU Core

Unlock check and core testing

In order to make sure that the unlocked cores of AMD processors really work, it is best to use information utilities such as CPU-Z. However, even if you make sure that the unlocking was successful, this does not mean that the unlocked kernels will work without problems. In order to fully check their performance, it is recommended to thoroughly test all processor parameters. Also, the failure of the unlocking process may be evidenced by malfunctions of the computer, and sometimes the inability to load it. In the latter case, you will have to resort to clearing the BIOS memory and resetting it to the factory default state (we described how to carry out this process in a separate article).

In the event of a malfunction of the new cores, the user can disable them at any time using the BIOS options. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the operation of unlocking processor cores works only at the BIOS level, and not at the level of the processors themselves. In the event that you put a processor with unlocked cores on another motherboard, they will still be locked.

And I would like to note one more point. While unlocking the processor is not equivalent to overclocking it, increasing the number of working cores in your processor will automatically increase the heat dissipation of the processor die. Therefore, perhaps, in this case, it makes sense to think about upgrading the processor-cooling cooler.

Conclusion

Unlocking the cores of AMD processors is a simple step that can nevertheless help the user to realize the full potential of their computing equipment. This operation is carried out by enabling the necessary BIOS options. Although unlocking the cores is not always guaranteed to lead to success, nevertheless, it is not associated, like overclocking, with significant risk, and can be tried in practice by any user.

Date of publication: 01.04.2015

We all know that computer hardware manufacturers put a lot of capabilities into their components. But greedy marketers sell it in chunks, turning off many features and hiding blocks from use. Let's learn how to enable hidden features.

ENABLE AMD PROCESSOR CORE

Many processors contain hidden cores

Almost all AMD processors, especially the Phenom II X6 and FX-series, are subject to this modification, since they have hidden cores.

As a rule, 1-2 hidden cores are turned on, and in the case of FHs, quad cores become FX-4300 => FX 6300 with six cores, FX 6350 = FX 8320 with eight cores, and FX 8350 => FX 9590 5GHz becomes a top processor !!! To do this, enable the UCC Unlocker function in the BIOS.

ENABLE INTEL PROCESSOR CORE

The same thing happens with INTEL processors, with the only difference that the L3 cache is often also enabled on lower processors. To activate, you need to update the BIOS to unlocked Unlock intel BIOS and enable the corresponding checkbox.

Overclocking CPU Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 without multiplier "K"

Alternative BIOS allows overclocking all Intel processors

Everyone also knows that Intel processors with an unlocked K multiplier are absolutely no different from those without a multiplier, except for an overpriced. However, they can be overclocked with the bus by increasing the base FSB from 100 MHz up to 200 MHz (i.e. 2 times!), Or open the multiplier by updating the BIOS with the same Unlock intel BIOS

INCREASE HDD CAPACITY

It's no secret that the platters for hard drives are made of STANDARD volume. Then WHETHER, you say, are multiple HDD capacities, say 750GB ???

That's right - the manufacturer simply blocks the volume on one or several plates hard disk, which you can and SHOULD unlock!

To unlock, we need the Acronis program.

1.) You should first change the type from MBR => GPT in the disk settings and make it dynamic so that hidden areas can be freely addressed by the operating system.

2.) You need to demagnetize your hard drive with a powerful magnet to erase the factory lock code.

3.) Using the Acronis utility, select any desired HDD size.

DISCONNECTING HDD BITLOCKS

It's always nice to programmatically fix the hard drive

The same manipulation, only in reverse order, should be performed to block the broken areas. In this case, even a sprinkled hard drive will work like a new one. That being said, remember that it is easy to recover any lost data on the HDD, as it is always backed up to hidden factory partitions. To do this, again, you just need to enable them as described in the chapter above.

ENABLE ALL SHADERS ON THE RADEON VIDEO CARD

R9 290X unlocked from a simple Radeon HD 7730 1Gb

Radeon and GeForce graphics cards, among other things, differ in that Nvidia is not lazy for each new graphics card to make a separate chip, but AMD usually simply turns off some of the shader units of older video cards to make the younger ones. Judge for yourself, video cards such as the Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 have the same chip, and the shaders are 1440 and 1600, respectively. The same goes for the R9 280-280X, etc.

To enable all Radeon shaders, you need to install a GeForce driver on it in safe mode as on a standard VGA device (reboot by pressing F8).

Unlocking significantly increases the speed

ENABLE ALL CUDA Cores NVIDIA VIDEO CARD

Here it will be more difficult ... It is necessary to close the jumpers on the VGA port with penny resistors as shown in the figure.

This manipulation includes all blocks of GeForce graphics cards

The resistor parameters do not matter. This method also makes professional TESLA series out of all video cards, and also fights artifacts.

INCREASE IN POWER SUPPLY POWER

High voltage can KILL! Don't do this))

Almost all Chinese power supplies differ only in the size of the cooling radiators. Therefore, it is enough to simply open the lid and install another fan on the power supply unit, and you can even hang the SLI GeForce 780Ti or lower-end video cards unlocked before it on a 400W power supply unit.

Do not forget that the article was written solely as an April Fool's joke :) and we are not chasing the ball. It should be noted that in skillful hands, some things really do succeed. But there is much more benefit if you correctly configure the configuration and select the components specifically for your task.

Spring mood for you!

Introduction

Our readers are probably familiar with the overclocking potential of AMD Phenom II processors. We have published many tests, reviews and comparisons, various detailed guides that allow you to get similar results at home (for example, "").

What is a locked multiplier processor? You will not be able to increase the multiplier above the nominal value, and also, in the case of AMD processors, also the CPU VID (voltage ID).

Click on the picture to enlarge.

In this article, we will take a closer look at different ways to overclock a processor with a locked multiplier, including normal overclocking via BIOS, AMD OverDrive utility, and MSI's proprietary OC Dial function on the 790FX-GD70 motherboard. We will consider in detail all three methods, compare their ease and the results obtained. Finally, we'll run some small benchmarks to see the gains from overclocking the CPU, Northbridge (NB), and memory.

CONTENT

What the unlocked CPU multiplier gives. Unlocking Intel Processors - Now It Is Possible! Increasing the power of the power supply

Core i7-875K and Core i5-655K Specifications

Overclocking experiments

Which is Better: BCLK Frequency vs Multiplier

conclusions

Other materials on this topic

Features of unlocking various series of processors

Which chipsets support unlocking processor cores?

Unblocking technique

Unlock check and core testing

Conclusion

Introduction

Password recovery