The Retail Phenom II X3 720 Processor in Pictures

[Apoptosis]

I got in a brand new Phenom II X3 720 that I picked up on this deal and thought I'd show you the unboxing pictures.

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Here is the retail box that the AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX comes in. This is the full retail version of the processor, so it comes with a 3 year limited warranty, the factory heat sink and a sticker.

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Opening the box I found a week 51 of 2008 processor. The one I reviewed a few weeks ago was a week 49 of 2008, so this is a newer stepping.

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I wasn't sure what heat sink came with the retail PIB, but it was this all aluminum one. I highly suggest getting a aftermarket cooler for this 95W TDP processor if you plan on overclocking.

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It has a good number of fins on the cooler, but it isn't going to be enough to satisfy overclockers!

Hope you enjoyed this sneak peak at the Phenom II X3 720 that I got from Newegg.com on 2/27/2009.

[geokilla]

No more heatpipe heatsinks? Awww.

Does your Phenom II allow operation of the 4th, disabled core?

[Apoptosis]

No more heatpipe heatsinks? Awww.

Does your Phenom II allow operation of the 4th, disabled core?

I've tried all afternoon to 'unlock' my fourth core and have come close I think, but haven't figured it out on the boards that I have. On the Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H motherboard with BIOS F3 I was unable to find Advance Clock Calibration (ACC) in the BIOS in order to set it to Auto. I then downloaded AMD OverDrive v2.1.6 set it to advanced and turned on ACC.... Nothing happened.

I switched over to the MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard with BIOS v1.6 and found that Advance Clock Calibration (ACC) is in the BIOS under the Cell Menu, but entering windows and firing up CPU-Z, Prime95 and task manager still showed just three threads installed. I once again installed AMD OverDrive v2.1.6 and set Advance Clock Calibration (ACC) to auto, per core and all cores and saw something I think is interesting... When I set it to 'per core' it shows four cores are available. I saved the settings and restarted the system. I went into the BIOS again to see if the four cores showed up there and sure enough they do:

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I then went into Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit and saw this:

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Looks like the processor does have four cores (in AMD OverDrive), but the two boards I have don't seem to be able to enable the 'extra' core. I have a couple more boards, so I'll try again tomorrow.

[geokilla]

That is so weird. People just changed the ACC to auto then the 4th core seems to show up. Maybe if you stress test the system using OCCT, you'll see 4 threads instead of 3....

[Apoptosis]

That is so weird. People just changed the ACC to auto then the 4th core seems to show up. Maybe if you stress test the system using OCCT, you'll see 4 threads instead of 3....

I wish... it seems those that have it working just set the ACC to auto and it shows up as having four cores in CPU-Z and all other applications. No stressing needed.

[Apoptosis]

I've tried three motherboards with no luck:

Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H
MSI DKA790GX Platinum
ASUS M3A78-T Deluxe

[geokilla]

So....Overdrive and BIOS sees the 4th core, but Windows doesn't recognize it? That sucks

[DMB2000uk]

Wonder if you need to reinstall windows after the unlock?

Dan

[Apoptosis]

Wonder if you need to reinstall windows after the unlock?

Dan

hum... i hope not... i was doing fresh installs, but i can't remember if was with auto or per core enabled...

[geokilla]

Hmm, this guy got a 100% overclock on his Phenom II 720 with 4 cores enabled. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=219366

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=219087 Hope this CPU list helps.

Edit: Just saw Apop's post.

[Apoptosis]

Well i found on out the ASUS M3A78-T motherboard you have to use BIOS M3A78T-0023a.rom in order to unlock the fourth core. It unlocks it, I just can't get Windows to load with all four cores on my processor... Still tweaking around on the system, but raising the CPU voltage has no impact.

[stopthekilling77]

Seems like maybe your processor is one of the quads that may have been binned as a triple core due to one of the cores not functioning properly?
At least that's speculation from the peanut gallery

[Apoptosis]

Seems like maybe your processor is one of the quads that may have been binned as a triple core due to one of the cores not functioning properly?
At least that's speculation from the peanut gallery

It boots up as an X4, but can't load windows... just keeps running on the load screen...

[stopthekilling77]

Seems like maybe your processor is one of the quads that may have been binned as a triple core due to one of the cores not functioning properly?
At least that's speculation from the peanut gallery

It boots up as an X4, but can't load windows... just keeps running on the load screen...

There's got to be some trick to it then

[geokilla]

Maybe Apop was just that unlucky . Have you tried using the latest BIOS, chipset drivers, fully updated Vista or XP, or even format?

So much work to do just to try and get that 4th core working correctly.

Another successful 4th core unlocking.

[Apoptosis]

I've talked with AMD and it seems these are all pretty much failed quad-core parts... You might get lucky as some might have failed due to needing too much voltage for example. If you get one of those you can increase the voltage do the ACC trick and poof have a quad core. For those processors that had a defective core the ACC trick will leave you with a faulty processor that won't work - this happened to me.

Remember the triple-cores do better in many games as each core has more cache. Unlocking the fourth core might actually lower your gaming performance since you'll have less cache per core...

Meaning Gamers Would Want Triple-Core
Photoshop Users Would Want Quad-Core

I just wanted to see if I could unluck a retail processor and spent $152 to find out that I couldn't...

[geokilla]

You could always sell that 720. Heck I'd buy it if I had money and needed a new rig and what not.

[stopthekilling77]

I've talked with AMD and it seems these are all pretty much failed quad-core parts... You might get lucky as some might have failed due to needing too much voltage for example. If you get one of those you can increase the voltage do the ACC trick and poof have a quad core. For those processors that had a defective core the ACC trick will leave you with a faulty processor that won't work - this happened to me.

Remember the triple-cores do better in many games as each core has more cache. Unlocking the fourth core might actually lower your gaming performance since you'll have less cache per core...

Meaning Gamers Would Want Triple-Core
Photoshop Users Would Want Quad-Core

I just wanted to see if I could unluck a retail processor and spent $152 to find out that I couldn't...

And then there are folders who want a cheap quad too you know

[geokilla]

Apoptosis, thilan suggested that you try pressing the CTRL+F1 to access the Advanced Settings on the Gigabyte. I dunno if Gigabyte still requires you to do that, but my own EP35-DS3L didn't need me to do that.

Also, it seems that others have the dead core just like your situation.