AMD including hidden overclocking functionality in tri- / quad-core Phenoms?

Straight up, this one sounds just too bizarre to ever be true, but we suppose (almost) anything goes when talkin' AMD. Now that you're suitably skeptical, word on the street has it that AMD's triple- and quad-core Phenom processors posses a half dozen "hidden pins" which can enable painfully easy overclocking when paired with the right chipsets. Yeah, this sounds way too much like some sort of Up / Down / Up / Down / Select / Start fantasy boost, but apparently a 2.8GHz Black Edition CPU can be taken to 3GHz with a SB700-equipped motherboard or an even more tantalizing 3.2GHz when used with a SB750. As expected, the release date for this tech is listed as unknown, but maybe that's just some code trying to tell us we're really stuck in the Twilight Zone.

[Thanks, kris120890]

[Kizorblade @ Jun 6th 2008 4:25AM]

I also heard that the sun is green, but the government has a orangish disc in front of it.

Oh, and the earth is flat.

[Bufsabre @ Jun 6th 2008 4:28AM]

my 4800+ with a amd 580 and sb600 easily oc's from 2.5 to 3.2 stably and with only a +10c heat increas (32c to 42c) so i dont find this hard to believe at all

[polobunny @ Jun 6th 2008 5:09AM]

Not talking about the frequency, but the fact it might have hidden pins to get unlocked in a near future.
Who knows, maybe. If this is true, you can bet your ass a lot of people will try manually shorting their pins with conductive pen or something like it.

[Eli Gundry @ Jun 6th 2008 10:57AM]

I have a 4800+ (65 w, right) and I can only get it to 2.8. What mobo are you using?

Asus M2R32-MVP with the AMD 580 chipset.

[Bufsabre @ Jun 6th 2008 1:14PM]

msi k9a platinum 4gb ddr2 800 default 4-4-4-12 upped to 5-5-5-15, multiplyer 12 x 267

[VooDooRoo @ Jun 6th 2008 4:32AM]

I have a Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition and this can be overclocked to
3.20 GHz, from 2.60 GHz with 2 little changes to the bio`s!

So not new and I encourage my friend to get a " Black Edition"


info here how to do it if you have a black

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-overclocker,1708-2.html

V D R

[Minilap @ Jun 6th 2008 4:38AM]

My old Asus S939 had such functionality where you could OC by percentage, and the max was %10.

[Juaquin @ Jun 6th 2008 5:20AM]

Not the same - that was simply an overclocking feature of the mobo. You could have done it manually to a higher speed. The feature in this article is a function of the CPU, when paired with the correct mobo, it will automatically overclock itself. Still, you could push higher manually if you wanted to. Kind of a "meh" feature.

[Oinquer @ Jun 6th 2008 5:01AM]

last sempron i got 2.8Ghz could increase to 3.1 (around it) stable and stock cooling....just messing with the bios Mhz bus no voltages...

[Kurian @ Jun 6th 2008 5:38AM]

Coooooool. NOT. It doesn't even outperform a Penryn at 2.66GHz when OCed to some insane speed with phase cooling.

[Jokke_r @ Jun 6th 2008 6:23AM]

Wow, that is sooo not impressive, my 3,0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 8400 EASILY goes up to 3,6GHz with stock cooler without any other tweaking than increasing the FSB speed in bios from 333MHz to 400MHz, and it can easily get up to 4GHz with miniscule voltage increase, but would recommend a better cooler then. You do that and your 150€ processor just became a 400ish€ processor, nice eh?

[Anthony @ Jun 6th 2008 6:27AM]

lol wow did i call that or what?!?!

AMD's draws their BIG METAPHORICAL FOOT back and aims straight to INTEL's NUTs... *fades to black

Will AMD kick INTEL's NUTs to save itself, or will INTEL bust out the Metal Cup?

tune in next episode....

[Anthony @ Jun 6th 2008 6:28AM]

lol ^^ that was fun =]

[Silverfrog @ Jun 6th 2008 8:29AM]

Engadget, you're not geek enough. The code is: Up, Up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.

[Bizam! @ Jun 6th 2008 9:18AM]

Guess you never played two player... select start...

[kal326 @ Jun 6th 2008 9:23AM]

A,B,A,C,A,B,B is a much better code...

[Silverfrog @ Jun 6th 2008 9:38AM]

Yeah, and don't forget A, B, B, A.

[Jhongerkong @ Jun 6th 2008 7:12PM]

Or L+Up+A?

Very hard cheat for Tetris Attack

[sjdurfey @ Jun 8th 2008 8:26PM]

30 live cheat in Contra on NES: up, down, up down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b, a, select start :) i havent touched that game in 15 years?

[kal326 @ Jun 6th 2008 9:28AM]

Its a black edition, its already unlocked for overclocking. Why would a different mobo with an AMD chipset unlock some special higher oc ability. I call BS. It seems more like there is something in the bios limiting OC unless you get the more expensive chipset/mobo offering.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Jun 6th 2008 9:40AM]

For the first time they listened to me.

if this is true, then i might buy an amd phenom. Iknow it might not be as good as intel but theyre still slightly cheaper than intel quads in the uk.

[I Cook on My Notebook @ Jun 6th 2008 11:13AM]

This reminds me of when AMD told everyone about this when first released.

They even have a page on there website about this Black Edition enhancements.

[Joshua Walters @ Jun 6th 2008 12:33PM]

My Phenom is sexy, but its also full of headaches.

I think using the stock cooler for six months might have actually caused the thing to burn out (I thought Vista was crashing from bad drivers...now that I pay attention to my heat, it was probably over heating). I put a Blue Orb cooler on it the other night, but I havent had much time to see if its damaged.

If not, I would definitely be into some easy over clocking! With the Orb, Ill definitely be able to cool it enough to!

[akosiebet @ Jun 6th 2008 1:37PM]

@silverfrog

it's still not geek enough...

it's up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,B,A,B,A,[select],start

(select is optional)

[futurepastnow @ Jun 6th 2008 2:15PM]

Woohoo, 3 GHz out of a 2.8 GHz processor. That'll show Intel.