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Phenom II "B" processors

1K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  drmrlordx 
#1 ·
I'm looking to upgrade another rig I have laying around. It has a Athlon II of some sort I dropped in as a temp CPU. I really want to upgrade the CPU and GPU to run more modern games. I was thinking of just getting a Phenom II X3 because they are cheap and still offer good performance for gaming.

However I notice ebay has lots of Phenoms that are B models(B75, B73 etc). They are cheap as hell. I assume they are OEM CPUs with locked multipliers? Would they work on a standard AM3/AM3+ board? Are they compatible? The board is a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P I picked up for 20$ at my old job at an electronics reseller.

Thanks for anyone who can help.
 
#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Megaman_90 View Post

I'm looking to upgrade another rig I have laying around. It has a Athlon II of some sort I dropped in as a temp CPU. I really want to upgrade the CPU and GPU to run more modern games. I was thinking of just getting a Phenom II X3 because they are cheap and still offer good performance for gaming.

However I notice ebay has lots of Phenoms that are B models(B75, B73 etc). They are cheap as hell. I assume they are OEM CPUs with locked multipliers? Would they work on a standard AM3/AM3+ board? Are they compatible? The board is a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P I picked up for 20$ at my old job at an electronics reseller.

Thanks for anyone who can help.
They will work fine, I had a Phenom II B97 3.2GHz X4 running on both a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 AM3+ motherboard and an MSI 970A-G43 AM3+ mother board with no issues.
 
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#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by famous1994 View Post

They will work fine, I had a Phenom II B97 3.2GHz X4 running on both a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 AM3+ motherboard and an MSI 970A-G43 AM3+ mother board with no issues.
Ok cool. Just thought it was worth looking into since they are all super cheap compared to the consumer versions.

+REP
 
#4 ·
"B" stands for "business", in the sense that these are being made available for a longer period after the consumer models discontinuation, so that businesses who bought them have replacement parts.

They are normal Athlons/Phenoms in every aspect. I had dual-core 3 GHz Athlon II, bought on eBay for $10. It worked perfectly in AM3 motherboard until I gifted it. It had unlocked multiplier.
 
#5 ·
A lot of B chips can have their locked cores unlocked. For example the B59 3.4GHz becomes a 965 so it's best to make sure you can get one of those unlockable chips, that way you get even more out of the CPU.
 
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#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Liranan View Post

A lot of B chips can have their locked cores unlocked. For example the B59 3.4GHz becomes a 965 so it's best to make sure you can get one of those unlockable chips, that way you get even more out of the CPU.
Awesome advice! I need a cheap AM3+ CPU to work on a board thats having issues. B59 is like $20 shipped on eBay. Winner winner, chicken dinner...
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+rep
 
#8 ·
The "B" on those chips are when regular Phenom II's have their cores unlocked. I had a Phenom II 555 and it would change to a B55 in cpuz when I unlocked and of the locked cores. Search for the CPU Unlock List. xd & I did a lot of research into them and found many chips that unlock.
 
#9 ·
Know that some of the "B" chips are based on the Regor core, these only have two native cores on them so you can't unlock anything because there is nothing to unlock.
I have one of those (Athlon II X2 B22) but it's the same thing as a standard X2 Athlon based on a Regor core like the others are respectively to what they are based upon.

Just be sure you know what you are getting if looking for one to unlock cores with.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kryton View Post

Know that some of the "B" chips are based on the Regor core, these only have two native cores on them so you can't unlock anything because there is nothing to unlock.
I have one of those (Athlon II X2 B22) but it's the same thing as a standard X2 Athlon based on a Regor core like the others are respectively to what they are based upon.

Just be sure you know what you are getting if looking for one to unlock cores with.
Good way to tell? Is it in the steppings code?
 
#11 ·
Yes, the stepping code can tell you what actual die you have under the lid.

It isn't a "B" CPU, but I got an x2 220 on eBay about two years ago that was a quad in disguise. It was CACDC, and I looked it up here:

http://www.cpu-world.com/step_codes/C/CACDC%20AC.html

It unlocked to a tri-core (fourth core was bad) with a full 6 MB L3 cache. Pretty spiffy.

Always get a good look at the IHS before buying one of these used CPUs.
 
#12 ·
Actually I believe what's in the model name is more likely to let you know what's there, stepping itself is an indicator of how well it may do for OC'ing.
The chip's date is normally a sign of your chance of success in unlocking core(s) and stepping does figure in on that too.

The chip's model name of course is the thing - Note my B22 is a 22 by name, some here have been shown to be a B55, B59, B75 ect..... Be sure to checkout the CPU World database to identify any potential purchase for unlocking cores.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kryton View Post

Actually I believe what's in the model name is more likely to let you know what's there, stepping itself is an indicator of how well it may do for OC'ing.
The chip's date is normally a sign of your chance of success in unlocking core(s) and stepping does figure in on that too.

The chip's model name of course is the thing - Note my B22 is a 22 by name, some here have been shown to be a B55, B59, B75 ect..... Be sure to checkout the CPU World database to identify any potential purchase for unlocking cores.
This is basically what it is, two CPU's of the same stepping can yield different results when unlocking cores so it is luck of the draw mostly as far as I know.
 
#15 ·
If your chip is CACDC then it's a failed 965/910e so it might unlock.

If your chip is AACDC it's a failed 975 and it might also unlock.

Sometimes chips from a particular model will have an unexpected stepping (example: my x2 220 officially isn't supposed to have any CACDC chips, yet I have one), so you may have a different stepping. You'll have to look at the IHS.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Liranan View Post

This is basically what it is, two CPU's of the same stepping can yield different results when unlocking cores so it is luck of the draw mostly as far as I know.
Actually I was getting at what was under the lid of a chip, as said some chips are Regor core and there's nothing to unlock with those.

Stepping itself is really more of a performance indicator than anything else.

Stepping can be an indicator for unlocking because the date range it would fall into, the actual date being more important related to unlocking because it's known that certain batches do much better than others do and the date is a good indicator.

For example my 555BE is a 1004 dated chip, those are known to have a high success rate for unlocking even though it's one of, if not the oldest of dates for a Callisto chip and mine unlocks fully - 100% stable without the need for extra voltage or anything.

It was also speculated the reason for such a high unlock success rate with that date was AMD purposely disabled good cores that would have passed for a Deneb and simply made these into Callisto chips due to the high demand for those chips at the time.
That's just rumor mind you, nothing more.
 
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