Hot hot hot! The new CPU AMD can be unlocked to 4 core!

[drizzt5]

Not again..... lol now I just gotta wait for the PhII single cores....... jking of course

[informal]

Yea, exactly.

If the chip is so bad that 2 cores are faulty/not up to spec, wouldn't the chances of it being exceedingly unstable with +2 cores be quite high?

It may be that the 2 cores are truly defect in some way.But looking at the X3 Phenom IIs,there is a solid chance the cores are just not up to spec(OCs on these "unlocked" X4s are indeed generaly lower than on normal X4s though).

Oh that is real credible considering your posting history.

Fail comment .Move along

[alfaunits]

You didn't understand one important bit when it comes to "tuned for performance".If a die fails to meet the targets and was made on the wafer with before mentioned optimization,it will fail either as high TDP part or a low EE part.AMD does have certain TDP segments and it can't go beyond them due to design constraints on the motherboard level.

They had that fiasco with some boards in the Phenom I days, IIRC, that some mobos didn't like 140W Phenoms.
I think the situation is different now - considering how cool most PhIIs run, the cores would have to be so f***ing bad not be able to meet 125W, which I doubt is the case.
We'll see if this holds any ground though when we get some temps from the DC<->QC chips.

[Easybeat]

Read my previous post to see why AMD is not losing money on this chip.

I read it, I agree with the reasoning behind why they turn quads into duals but I don't agree with the financial aspect for the simple reason that AMD have posted quarterly losses for 2 to 3 years.

If AMD had a product or range of products that were making them a healthy profit margin then maybe just maybe they could still turn a profit on a defective quad to dual however there is no indications of that at all thus I believe they are simply making less of a loss.

[rk7p5]

This is very cool, especially if you're an enthusiast.

[leoy]

But there is definetely a smaller o/c on average against an x4 cpu...
For example my friend's 720be does max 3.6 @ 4 cores, while @ 3 it reaches easily 3.8-9....
And what we also experienced is that it needed a big bump in nb voltage(1.45v) to be stable @ 3.6 + the no temp readings...
So, u pay what u get with an interesting bonus , but seriously, it ain't as good as a proper x4...

[Particle]

Heck, this makes a better quad than either my 945 or 955.

[Manicdan]

it could be they want to sell cheap cpus to make some money on the motherboards. get people into their platform and keep them there.

[mrkram]

what proc is this?! what mobo does it unlock on?! and when can i get it?!

[kl0012]

I smell here a big opportunities for dishonest computer sellers...

[Mats]

I thought AMD changed the cores after the X3-to-X4 unlock became popular and that it doesn't work on those newer than 0904? Someone please help me out?

I'd guess it's the 550 BE given the unlocked multiplier. Currently at €98, after launch on tuesday it will probably drop more. X2 250 at €90. Look here

550 BE also here, €94

[Hornet331]

I smell here a big opportunities for dishonest computer sellers...

dingdingding, same thing happend with the old pentiums where the multis still where open.

Thought i think when such thing ever happens they most likely will surface in asia.

[Mats]

I smell here a big opportunities for dishonest computer sellers...

They need SB710 or SB750 for that, plus the right BIOS. It will cost more than the average low end board, especially if there's no budget SB710 board that can do it.

[ILikeCosmosS]

that is pretty cool, i going to get one for my cousin then cheap and is a quad

[GeorgeStorm]

I tihnk this is great news
And ofcourse, by making their duals/tris/quads from exactly the same wafer/process will only mean that all of the products will mature more quickly, and surely the overclockability etc of them will all improve more quickly?
I think this is great for AMD, bring more people to go with them now, and then hopefully stay.

[naokaji]

This is BS (as an idea I mean). It would be better of being sold as 150W QC than a DC of any kind.

Of course, but even better is selling something at all and the market for quadcores is still rather small, while cheap dualcores still sell in recordnumbers, in short, they are better off selling them as x2 rather than piling up a mountain of x4s.

[alfaunits]

I don't think AMD can even make enough X4s to match the demand.. even then they'd be better off selling it as the lowest grade quad core Opteron rather than a dual core desktop part. Don't tell me it can't match those TDPs

[perkam]

I don't understand the negativity. The insinuation that a dual core that can unlock as a quad should be sold as a quad is as absurd is the insinuation that a cpu that can clock to 4Ghz should be sold as a 150W 4Ghz CPU.

It is just another feature that us enthusiasts can take advantage of, just like overclocking, which is also never stable at high clocks and no two chips clock alike.

As for me, I want to know how they clock on two cores on air

Perkam

[generics_user]

If they don't have a separate mask for Duals, and when one takes into account Duals currenty sell in far greater number than quads, then AMD's yield of Quads must be pitiful or they have been forced into using perfectly good quads as low ASP duals.

They have their own DualCore K10 mask by now, and if you take into account that amd sells multiple opteron quad core processor lines and quad core desktop chips it's quite obvious that there will be some (enough) chips with defective parts leftover to produce and sell such an extreme low volume chip (black edition is low volume)

the bulk of 45nm Dualcores (more than 95% ?!) will be made on their own dual core 2x1mb mask without any L3 cache

[alfaunits]

I'm saying I doubt the two cores work correctly, as I find the TDP to be a likely limit for PhII. For tri-cores.... OK I'll bite.. not for DC!

I don't understand the negativity. The insinuation that a dual core that can unlock as a quad should be sold as a quad is as absurd is the insinuation that a cpu that can clock to 4Ghz should be sold as a 150W 4Ghz CPU.

[haylui]

oh noes...i just got my 720BE a few days ago

[initialised]

Sweet, we need a list of board/BIOS combos this and the Tri-Core unlock on.

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

Can you unlock only one core? Ie. make the dual a tri? That way if only one of the 2 spare cores is cr@p, you can still get a tri.

[lockee]

I don't understand the negativity. The insinuation that a dual core that can unlock as a quad should be sold as a quad is as absurd is the insinuation that a cpu that can clock to 4Ghz should be sold as a 150W 4Ghz CPU.

It is just another feature that us enthusiasts can take advantage of, just like overclocking, which is also never stable at high clocks and no two chips clock alike.

As for me, I want to know how they clock on two cores on air

Perkam

The negativity is due to it being an AMD announcement. Start an Intel thread stating the Core i5 line will have a dual core chip that unlocks to a quad and you'll get rainbow and lolly pop responses.

[paulhamm]

AMD cost per deneb/shangai die is

300mm wafer area 70,683mm^2/243mm^2 die area=290 max dies per wafer
20%waste and 65% yield gives them 151 functional cores at a wafer cost of $5000USD that is $33.11 per die.
To make a fifty percent profit margin they need to sell their chips at an average cost of $66.22. If %20 of all the dies are some form of salvage call it 30 and you just dump them in the trash the price per core goes up to $41.32 per die. This means they must sell each chip at an average price of $82.64 to make the same %50 profit margins. Dual core and tri core make excellent economic sense.

If you dislike my numbers show me yours.

The die cost for the 955=940=810=720=710=550. The are all deneb/shangai, the only difference is the bin they get dumped into.