960T Unlocked

B

Blacklash

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
1,893
All 960Ts are not going to unlock and run successfully with 6 cores.

It would be useful to note any motherboards that you've seen successfully unlock the 960T.
So link to any posts you've seen anywhere with that occurring.

In addition, if you have a 960T and have unlocked it on your motherboard,
post the mobo you used and the BIOS rev.

I've seen it unlock on the Biostar TA870+
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?260071-X4-960T-X6-4050MHz-Biostar-TA870

I guess I will post this in CPUs since we're talking about a specific chip and not one motherboard.

EDIT: The list so far-

Asus M4A785-M
Asus M4A79 Deluxe Bios 4101
Asus M4N98TD Evo Bios 1301
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Biostar TA870+
Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P Bios F8n
Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H Bios F7C
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 rev 1.1
MSI 890FXA-GD70 Bios 1.9

I'll note again, there's a definite chance you may get a 960T that will not unlock properly on any motherboard
because some of the locked cores are defective.
 
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This is more dependent on the chip and not the motherboard. However that being said some boards seem to have better unlocking features than others.

you can have the best unlocking motherboard there is, and have a unlock-able chip, and well vice versa.
 
Yes, I am aware all 960Ts do not unlock successfully. I stated that in my first post.

The problem is there are motherboards out there that support core unlocking that will not
unlock a 960T correctly under any circumstance. Yes, that includes motherboards that officially
support the chip.

So you may have a 960T that would unlock however you will believe it does not unlock if used on a
mobo like the above.
 
Mine unlocked using MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard bios 1.9. 3.99ghz (210x19) 1.45V 7970@ 1200/1600 3dmark2011: P8857. I spent less then an hour messing with it, so it may have a lot more in it -- just wanted to get back to bitcoin mining. I leave at default settings 24x7

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/2741421
 
Asus M4A79 Deluxe, 790FX/SB750 AM2+ DDR2 board. Bios rev 4101
5th core unlocked, 6th core wouldn't no matter what
Default voltage
3.6ghz so far.
 
Yes, I am aware all 960Ts do not unlock successfully. I stated that in my first post.
g.gif
 
My ASRock 870 Extreme unlocks my Rana 455 x3 perfectly fine to x4. ASRock might be one of the best when it comes to unlocking because I see it obviously works for X3->x4, and x4-x6 above^^. I would also apply more voltage to the cores, and see if that makes any difference if I was trying to get cores to stabilize.

I've thought about getting a 960T myself I just don't imagine that my Single Threading performance would increase enough for the cost.

What are you guys getting on Cinebench Single Threaded CPU score? If anyone can post that info it would be great to compare the Zosma core to my Rana core for ST performance results.
 
960t on GA-970a 6 cores unlocked. Time to stress test.
 
teletran8 said:
My ASRock 870 Extreme unlocks my Rana 455 x3 perfectly fine to x4. ASRock might be one of the best when it comes to unlocking because I see it obviously works for X3->x4, and x4-x6 above^^. I would also apply more voltage to the cores, and see if that makes any difference if I was trying to get cores to stabilize.

I've thought about getting a 960T myself I just don't imagine that my Single Threading performance would increase enough for the cost.

What are you guys getting on Cinebench Single Threaded CPU score? If anyone can post that info it would be great to compare the Zosma core to my Rana core for ST performance results.
Click to expand...

I believe [H]ard reported 1.11 for a stock 1100T @3.3GHz and 1.26 for one @ 4.2GHz. I wouldn't expect there to be any meaningful variation between Zosma and Thuban in single threaded performance so you could likely use that for an idea of what the 960T would do.
 
960t is booting with 6 core at 3960mhz. Ran an hour of occt so far.
 
Yeah, I kept it 4 core and ran it up to 3.6Ghz with a stock cooler from a 965 and some arctic silver 5... temps were still tolerable... I then knocked it down to 3.2... that build was for an htpc and light gaming type machine, no need for extreme overclocks... but it definitely show promise... probably one of the best sub-$150 AMD CPUs to play around with.
 
Nside said:
Yeah, I kept it 4 core and ran it up to 3.6Ghz with a stock cooler from a 965 and some arctic silver 5... temps were still tolerable... I then knocked it down to 3.2... that build was for an htpc and light gaming type machine, no need for extreme overclocks... but it definitely show promise... probably one of the best sub-$150 AMD CPUs to play around with.
Click to expand...

I'm pulling mine back, it did not run FAH stably over night or OCCT. This build is for a server box so I need stable.
 
Only 5 cores working on Asus M4A785-M--passed nine hours of Prime 95 blend at stock speeds, but will not OC past 3.4.

I've reverted to standard four cores at 3.8.
 
Wow I must be lucky....been running all 6 at 3.8. The box runs FAH.

Just got in some FX8120's to mess with next.
 
Kind of hard to know what to expect. 1090T and 1100T processors can no longer be found new on the market so it's hard to know whether the bulk of 960T's sold actually failed 6 core validation or simply had 2 cores disabled.

My 960T does 1 hour of IBT with 5 cores at 3.8 which is more intensive than anything I will ever do with the computer.... so I'm happy.
 
What's safe for temps on these? Mine has been at 45-50c under load.
 
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Problem with the unlocked cores is that you can't monitor temps except from the motherboard sensor, which most people assume isn't accurate.
 
dook43 said:
Problem with the unlocked cores is that you can't monitor temps except from the motherboard sensor, which most people assume isn't accurate.
Click to expand...

Is the MB sensor accurate or not? This is all I have to fly with.
 
i replaced my 720 BE with a 960T but sadly windows 7 is crapping out on me (in safe mode it gets to Atipcie.sys and then reboots). Same for windows xp 64 bit.
 
I was able to retain Windows 7 installation coming from a Windsor core Athlon X2 to my 960T. I'd expect XP 64 to possibly fail. Replace your 720, uninstall your ATI drivers and see what happens.
 
Would removal of all ATI files in the system directory give the same result ?
 
Pieter3dnow said:
i replaced my 720 BE with a 960T but sadly windows 7 is crapping out on me (in safe mode it gets to Atipcie.sys and then reboots). Same for windows xp 64 bit.
Click to expand...

What board are you using? Do you have the latest BIOS? I had the same issue going from 720BE to 960T, and it was because the BIOS I was using did not support the 960T. Updating it fixed that issue.
 
Safemode and uninstall the drivers. Are you overlocking?
 
sc0tty8 said:
Is the MB sensor accurate or not? This is all I have to fly with.
Click to expand...

the PII's (deneb/thuban based chips) thermal temperature sensor were often way off anyway. many read a idle temp well below ambient. if anything the socket temperature reading is much closer to the actual.

i've tried to get a straight answer on what the correct offset for the core temp readings, tho there seems to be a lot of variation between different CPU's. can be anywhere between 5-15C. blame AMD for never correctly calibrating the diodes.

on my 1100, the difference between the core and socket is around 9-10C. i recon the socket is around 5C off the actual temp. that's just on my 1100T & my 990FX MB.
when i had a aquaero 5 fan controller (had 4 headers for thermal diode leads), i hooked a temp sensor cable up to the side of the IHS of my CPU. the reading i got was about the same as the socket temperature. with this info i surmised that the socket temperature was pretty close to spot on. course the socket and temp sensor cable still isn't near (physically) the core of the chip. from this i made a guesstimate that the actual core temp was 5C (+/-) above the socket/temp sensor cable.

there are a lot of 'guesses' and 'ifs' to get an approximation on what the real temperature inside the CPU actually was. it was certainly better that AMD's retarded internal 'way off target' CPU core readings.

overall i say use the socket at your base and add a healthy buffer on top of that.
 
chops1221 said:
What board are you using? Do you have the latest BIOS? I had the same issue going from 720BE to 960T, and it was because the BIOS I was using did not support the 960T. Updating it fixed that issue.
Click to expand...

kinda curious, was the upgrade worth it?
 
aphasia said:
the PII's (deneb/thuban based chips) thermal temperature sensor were often way off anyway. many read a idle temp well below ambient. if anything the socket temperature reading is much closer to the actual.

i've tried to get a straight answer on what the correct offset for the core temp readings, tho there seems to be a lot of variation between different CPU's. can be anywhere between 5-15C. blame AMD for never correctly calibrating the diodes.

on my 1100, the difference between the core and socket is around 9-10C. i recon the socket is around 5C off the actual temp. that's just on my 1100T & my 990FX MB.
when i had a aquaero 5 fan controller (had 4 headers for thermal diode leads), i hooked a temp sensor cable up to the side of the IHS of my CPU. the reading i got was about the same as the socket temperature. with this info i surmised that the socket temperature was pretty close to spot on. course the socket and temp sensor cable still isn't near (physically) the core of the chip. from this i made a guesstimate that the actual core temp was 5C (+/-) above the socket/temp sensor cable.

there are a lot of 'guesses' and 'ifs' to get an approximation on what the real temperature inside the CPU actually was. it was certainly better that AMD's retarded internal 'way off target' CPU core readings.

overall i say use the socket at your base and add a healthy buffer on top of that.
Click to expand...

So if the sensor reads 50 then the actual temp is higher than that? The thing I struggle with is I got a CM 212 on this beast, the temp on/around the cooler is not "hot" by feel compared to other boxes I have had/run in the past.


Pieter3dnow said:
No you don't start with overclocking :) . Safemode showed me it craps out at the atipcie.sys..

The mainboard is a gigabyte ma790fxt ud5p the bios supports it. according to the website since F2 and I am running F7 , there is a new Bios F8n (i think) but those have only support for thuban/125 Watt

http://www.gigabyte.us/support-down...73282FE33D6478A0E34&s=Socket AM3&cs=AMD 790FX
Click to expand...

Are you installing any drivers before hand or slip streaming drivers? Is this a video driver? I am not too familiar with that file.
 
hesho said:
kinda curious, was the upgrade worth it?
Click to expand...

Haven't had a chance to use it too much yet, but I ran my 720BE at 1.65V for a while and it wasn't fully stable with 4 cores anymore.

So I effectively went from X3 at 3.3GHz to X4 at 4.2GHz. Pretty noticeable difference, but probably not worth the money unless you get the other cores to unlock.
 
Pieter3dnow said:
No you don't start with overclocking :) . Safemode showed me it craps out at the atipcie.sys..

The mainboard is a gigabyte ma790fxt ud5p the bios supports it. according to the website since F2 and I am running F7 , there is a new Bios F8n (i think) but those have only support for thuban/125 Watt

http://www.gigabyte.us/support-down...73282FE33D6478A0E34&s=Socket AM3&cs=AMD 790FX
Click to expand...

I would give the new BIOS a try if it's not too much trouble to throw a Deneb back in there to update.

I was using F9 on my 790X-UD4P, which was released in November 2009. It failed to get into Windows with that BIOS. Upgrading to F10C solved the problem.

F7 for your board came out in September 2009. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it might be worth a shot to try out F8n
 
When i have my old cpu back in ill download f8n and put it on the hd which can be accessed from the bios.

*** update it seems it was the Bios , under F7 the cpu displayed on boot as AMD quad core., now with F8n it recognizes the AMD phenom II x4 960T .

Sadly removing the ATI drivers didn't help.
 
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So far i unlocked all 6 cores at default voltage running at 3300mhz still testing the system..

One thing that is a bit weird is that i can't see the right temps using AOD, 3.2 works for me (no temps Well 16C but i doubt that is true) 4.05 wont work from shortcut.
 
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