Colossus
[HF]
Unlocking the X2 555BE
Introduction
The other week saw several AMD chips released, and we found a couple to be very good overclockers and offer some great value for your money, particularly the Athon II X4 635. But there was one CPU noticeably absent from our tests: the Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the chip at that time but we've got things ready to rock now and you're in for a real treat today.
So let's get right to it. How does a full-featured Phenom II Quad Core CPU for $99 sound? AMD's new dual core hotrod, the X2 555 BE, is a special chip under the hood; in fact, it's actually an X4 and just needs a bit of help to unlock those two extra cores for all the performance goodness you can dream about at bargain prices. Does AMD want this to become widely known? We're not sure to be honest; on one hand, this could really spur a surge in sales but on the other hand it could poach their Phenom II X4 lineup. Either way, we successfully unlocked the X2 555 BE and we'll tell you how today and show the resulting performance increase.
Not only that, but man did this chip overclock like a champ. 4.0GHz on air? Not a problem. Higher? Oh, now you're talking.
Let's take a closer look at the AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE and unleash the untapped power inside.
Specs: Can You Spot the Difference?
Take a close look at the specifications below, there's something very interesting going on here.
* Model number & Frequency: Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (Codename “Callisto”)
* Clock Frequency: 3.2GHz
* Part number: HDZ555WFK2DGM
* TDP: 80W
* Cache: 64KB of L1 instruction and 64KB of L1 data per core (256KB total per processor), 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1MB total per processor), 6MB of L3 (shared)
* Process Technology: 45-nanometer SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
* Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
* HyperTransport Technology Links: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
* Memory Controller: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
* Types of Memory: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)
* Transistors: ~758 million
* Max Temp: 70°C
* Packaging: Socket AM3 – 938-pin organic micro Pin Grid Array (Micro-PGA) (Backwards compatible with AM2+ 940 pin)
Now, since you may have skimmed over those specifications, allow me to draw your attention to something for a moment before we move on. Notice anything unusual with those specifications? 6MB of L3 cache and 758 million transistors for a dual core? That's our first hint there's more than meets the eye here with the X2 555 BE chip.
The Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition has the new C3 silicon and is AMD's fastest-ever dual core desktop CPU with a TDP of only 80W. In the part numbers, the stepping can be deciphered by the last character. The chips ending in “M”, HDZ555WFK2DGM, are of the new C3 stepping. Chips ending in “I” are of the older C2 stepping. Along with enhanced power phase switching, the C3 stepping also brings along enhanced overclocking on 64-bit setups, which we will soon explore.
Another notable bit of information is that both DDR2 and DDR3 Dual Channel memory continue to be supported, thus allowing AM2+ motherboards (with either Phenom or Athlon CPUs) and DDR2 to be utilized. However, moving to DDR3-capable boards later is also an option as well, so the flexibility that AMD is known for continues as usual.
The X2 555 BE will be compatible with the upcoming 800-series chipset, and are compatible with current AM2+ and AM3 motherboards, though you may need a BIOS update in some cases, so be sure to check your manufacturer's website for updates.
Unleashing the Beast Within
Let's quickly compare the difference between the Athlon II and Phenom II chips in order to understand why the 555 BE can be unlocked. Below is a die shot of an Athlon II quad. Notice only two cores are present.
Now take a look at a Phenom II X4 die shot below. See the difference? You're essentially looking at 555 BE but despite the X2 moniker, it's a quad except it's simply handcuffed (for the moment). So the X2 555 BE is really just a Phenom II X4, but with 2 cores disabled. As we can see in the die shot, 4 cores are present. A Deneb with 2 cores disabled is codenamed Callisto, but it can easily be unlocked, as we'll see. It features all the L3 cache of Deneb, and has all cores present, it's just that two are disabled.
Ok, so now the big question: How to unlock those two extra cores of juicy computing power? Well, as much as we'd like to say it's a deep secret in the dark arts, it's not. In fact, it is a rather simple thing to do. The key is your motherboard; you must have one that has Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) available in the BIOS. We went into BIOS and enabled ACC, and set it to “Unleashing Mode”, as it is titled on our ASUS Crosshair III Formula testing board. Reboot. The result? An unlocked quad for $99. Unleashing, indeed. Can you say "Booyah"?
When unlocked, the name of the chip changed from Phenom II X2 555 to Phenom II X4 B55. Interesting. Now, beyond the ACC requirement, there is one other caveat that needs mentioning here briefly. In the $100 price range, an unlockable Deneb is likely, especially with these newer chips, but you have to run the luck gauntlet; you may be able to unlock the chip, you may not. There is no guarantee, but if you're a betting person, we say go for it.
With that said, let's get to the real fun stuff now: overclocking.
To 4.0GHz and Beyond
With the 555 being a Black Edition, we were excited to start overclocking it. Black Edition chips feature fully unlocked multipliers, allowing for the CPU-NB and HT link to be clocked very high without having to increase the HT bus. All overclocking was done via multipliers.
The CPU-NB, when overclocked, shows noticeable increases in performance, as the CPU-NB clock affects the speed of the cache and the integrated memory controller. We clocked it to 2.8GHz.
Being fully aware of the shortcomings of overclocking while in a 64-bit environment, we decided to use a 32-bit version of Windows Vista for testing. We were able to clock the chip up to 4.3GHz max while running this version of Windows, which is 200MHz higher than we got with other chips on a 64-bit instance of Windows. It's possible that heat was holding us back at this point, but we're still quite happy with the results. We settled on 4GHz for our benching speed.
As X2
As X4
Volledig artikel http://www.pureoverclock.com/images/review/processors/amd_x2555be/amd_x2555be_maxocquad.jpg
kortom leuk om mee te gaan OC-en, LN2/Dice erop voor die 100 euro p.s. dat ze kosten is dat iets beter te doen dan een 965 BE slopen
Introduction
The other week saw several AMD chips released, and we found a couple to be very good overclockers and offer some great value for your money, particularly the Athon II X4 635. But there was one CPU noticeably absent from our tests: the Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the chip at that time but we've got things ready to rock now and you're in for a real treat today.
So let's get right to it. How does a full-featured Phenom II Quad Core CPU for $99 sound? AMD's new dual core hotrod, the X2 555 BE, is a special chip under the hood; in fact, it's actually an X4 and just needs a bit of help to unlock those two extra cores for all the performance goodness you can dream about at bargain prices. Does AMD want this to become widely known? We're not sure to be honest; on one hand, this could really spur a surge in sales but on the other hand it could poach their Phenom II X4 lineup. Either way, we successfully unlocked the X2 555 BE and we'll tell you how today and show the resulting performance increase.
Not only that, but man did this chip overclock like a champ. 4.0GHz on air? Not a problem. Higher? Oh, now you're talking.
Let's take a closer look at the AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE and unleash the untapped power inside.
Specs: Can You Spot the Difference?
Take a close look at the specifications below, there's something very interesting going on here.
* Model number & Frequency: Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (Codename “Callisto”)
* Clock Frequency: 3.2GHz
* Part number: HDZ555WFK2DGM
* TDP: 80W
* Cache: 64KB of L1 instruction and 64KB of L1 data per core (256KB total per processor), 512KB of L2 data cache per core (1MB total per processor), 6MB of L3 (shared)
* Process Technology: 45-nanometer SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology
* Total Processor-to-System Bandwidth: 37.3GB/s total bandwidth [Up to 21.3 GB/s memory bandwidth (DDR3-1333) + 16.0GB/s (HT3)]
* HyperTransport Technology Links: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.0GHz full duplex (2.0GHz x2)
* Memory Controller: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
* Types of Memory: Unregistered DIMMs up to PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) -AND- PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz)
* Transistors: ~758 million
* Max Temp: 70°C
* Packaging: Socket AM3 – 938-pin organic micro Pin Grid Array (Micro-PGA) (Backwards compatible with AM2+ 940 pin)
Now, since you may have skimmed over those specifications, allow me to draw your attention to something for a moment before we move on. Notice anything unusual with those specifications? 6MB of L3 cache and 758 million transistors for a dual core? That's our first hint there's more than meets the eye here with the X2 555 BE chip.
The Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition has the new C3 silicon and is AMD's fastest-ever dual core desktop CPU with a TDP of only 80W. In the part numbers, the stepping can be deciphered by the last character. The chips ending in “M”, HDZ555WFK2DGM, are of the new C3 stepping. Chips ending in “I” are of the older C2 stepping. Along with enhanced power phase switching, the C3 stepping also brings along enhanced overclocking on 64-bit setups, which we will soon explore.
Another notable bit of information is that both DDR2 and DDR3 Dual Channel memory continue to be supported, thus allowing AM2+ motherboards (with either Phenom or Athlon CPUs) and DDR2 to be utilized. However, moving to DDR3-capable boards later is also an option as well, so the flexibility that AMD is known for continues as usual.
The X2 555 BE will be compatible with the upcoming 800-series chipset, and are compatible with current AM2+ and AM3 motherboards, though you may need a BIOS update in some cases, so be sure to check your manufacturer's website for updates.
Unleashing the Beast Within
Let's quickly compare the difference between the Athlon II and Phenom II chips in order to understand why the 555 BE can be unlocked. Below is a die shot of an Athlon II quad. Notice only two cores are present.
Now take a look at a Phenom II X4 die shot below. See the difference? You're essentially looking at 555 BE but despite the X2 moniker, it's a quad except it's simply handcuffed (for the moment). So the X2 555 BE is really just a Phenom II X4, but with 2 cores disabled. As we can see in the die shot, 4 cores are present. A Deneb with 2 cores disabled is codenamed Callisto, but it can easily be unlocked, as we'll see. It features all the L3 cache of Deneb, and has all cores present, it's just that two are disabled.
Ok, so now the big question: How to unlock those two extra cores of juicy computing power? Well, as much as we'd like to say it's a deep secret in the dark arts, it's not. In fact, it is a rather simple thing to do. The key is your motherboard; you must have one that has Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) available in the BIOS. We went into BIOS and enabled ACC, and set it to “Unleashing Mode”, as it is titled on our ASUS Crosshair III Formula testing board. Reboot. The result? An unlocked quad for $99. Unleashing, indeed. Can you say "Booyah"?
When unlocked, the name of the chip changed from Phenom II X2 555 to Phenom II X4 B55. Interesting. Now, beyond the ACC requirement, there is one other caveat that needs mentioning here briefly. In the $100 price range, an unlockable Deneb is likely, especially with these newer chips, but you have to run the luck gauntlet; you may be able to unlock the chip, you may not. There is no guarantee, but if you're a betting person, we say go for it.
With that said, let's get to the real fun stuff now: overclocking.
To 4.0GHz and Beyond
With the 555 being a Black Edition, we were excited to start overclocking it. Black Edition chips feature fully unlocked multipliers, allowing for the CPU-NB and HT link to be clocked very high without having to increase the HT bus. All overclocking was done via multipliers.
The CPU-NB, when overclocked, shows noticeable increases in performance, as the CPU-NB clock affects the speed of the cache and the integrated memory controller. We clocked it to 2.8GHz.
Being fully aware of the shortcomings of overclocking while in a 64-bit environment, we decided to use a 32-bit version of Windows Vista for testing. We were able to clock the chip up to 4.3GHz max while running this version of Windows, which is 200MHz higher than we got with other chips on a 64-bit instance of Windows. It's possible that heat was holding us back at this point, but we're still quite happy with the results. We settled on 4GHz for our benching speed.
As X2
As X4
Volledig artikel http://www.pureoverclock.com/images/review/processors/amd_x2555be/amd_x2555be_maxocquad.jpg
kortom leuk om mee te gaan OC-en, LN2/Dice erop voor die 100 euro p.s. dat ze kosten is dat iets beter te doen dan een 965 BE slopen
