Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Meet Zosma: AMD's Quad-Core Phenom II X4 960T Gets Unlocked

Meet Zosma: AMD's Quad-Core Phenom II X4 960T Gets Unlocked
By

In our recent Phenom II X6 1090T review, we speculated about the possibility of a quad-core CPU family based on AMD's Thuban design. Meet Zosma. We got our hands on a Phenom II X4 960T at 3 GHz, and unlocked it using ASRock's 890FX Deluxe3 motherboard.

I’ve talked to several motherboard manufacturers about their 890GX and 890FX boards. In the fight to differentiate, many rushed to add core-unlocking capabilities, making it possible to turn some triple-core CPUs into quad-core models, or even dual-cores into quad-cores, if you’re especially lucky.

Why was Tom’s Hardware not all over this capability until now? Well, back in April of last year, I did show you how to turn a Phenom II X3 720 into a Phenom II X4 920. But I haven’t put much energy into core unlocking since then due to the following:

  1. Core unlocking is not a science. We can’t tell you how to pick unlockable CPUs, and your chances of buying an unlockable processor are, as far as we’ve been able to tell, less than 50%.
  2. The difference between a mid-range and high-end AMD CPU is usually $100 or less. With that sort of modest price spread, we continually recommend simply buying the processor you really want, rather than banking on a core unlock that you might not achieve.

The fact of the matter is that AMD can lock up the cores on its CPUs for different reasons. There might actually be a manufacturing defect keeping a core from operating properly, in which case it makes sense to turn it off and sell the processor as a triple- or dual-core model rather than toss it. Or, the company can take a functional quad-core and disable logic in order to meet demand for less-expensive SKUs.

At the end of the day, this is a less reliable mechanism for generating additional performance than traditional overclocking. It’s very hit and miss, and the gains only apply to threaded applications and workloads. I'll admit that finding a chip that unlocks feels a lot like buying a Lottery Scratcher and winning twenty bucks. Just be ready to lose more times than you win.

Six-Cores Cost More

But with the launch of its Thuban design, AMD’s flagship six-core model jumped an additional $100 over the previous quad-core king, leaping from $185 to $295. If you could turn a quad-core CPU into a hexa-core chip, there’d actually be some worthwhile savings to be had.

The problem, of course, is that AMD isn’t yet selling any quad-core processors based on Thuban. That all changes this quarter, though, when the company is expected to launch its Zosma design. Derived from Thuban, Zosma is a six-core processor with two cores disabled for one of the two reasons cited above.

We got our hands on one of the first Zosma-based CPUs, the Phenom II X4 960T, along with ASRock’s 890FX Deluxe3 motherboard, to preview what budget-conscious enthusiasts might expect to see once these CPUs become available.

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the UK Article comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 13 comments.
This thread is closed for comments
  • 1 Hide
    mi1ez , 11 May 2010 16:23
    How core unlocking works:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2010/05/04/how-amd-core-unlocking-works/1
  • 1 Hide
    mactronix , 11 May 2010 18:36
    And what im sure hundreds if not thousands are wondering is if these Zosma chips will work in AM2+ boards or not ?
  • 2 Hide
    Yoshinoya , 11 May 2010 19:16
    what i really want to know is how does the X4 960T match up against the 955/965 OC-ed. It runs at 95W TDP compared to 125 TPD but at a lower stock speed.

    However how does it look when Turbo CORE is active?
    the 965 is just a 955 with a higher clock speed but the X4 960T is a different chip all together. so if price is nearly the same how do these stack up to eachother?

    the onluck can be just an extra bonus imo
  • 1 Hide
    hundredislandsboy , 11 May 2010 22:22
    Nice very early scoop on getting your hands on the sample and doing the early testing. This is why I love Tom's Hardware.
  • 0 Hide
    wild9 , 12 May 2010 01:38
    Even if you can't unlock cores, it's not bad at all in my opinion. In the article you have the quad running at 3.9GHz on 1.432v..on air! That to me would more than make up for any failures in unlocking the extra two core's.

    I just wonder what would be the case if AMD did go 32nm, because their refinements at 45nm are very impressive. Serious processing power for a very good price.
  • 1 Hide
    mactronix , 13 May 2010 02:37
    Legit reviews reported that AMD said these quads will be OEM only and not a retail part http://www.legitreviews.com/news/8025/

    Mactronix
  • 1 Hide
    Anonymous , 13 May 2010 03:38
    AMD have been treated unfairly as far as core unlocking is concerned. The main reason they removed official support for it is that OEMs were unlocking the cores for pre-built PCs, and complaining/suing AMD when the cores proved unstable (surprise surprise!). Cores are disabled for a reason (problem with Fab/process), and if you unlock them don't be disappointed if it renders your sytem unstable
  • 0 Hide
    wild9 , 13 May 2010 05:34
    Guess it depends on the particular core and it's stepping. I unlocked an Athlon II x4 'Deneb' 620 to a Phenom II x4, and have had no stability issues.

    I'd like to know who these OEMs are, and why they would think they can take a company to court over non-existent feature sets. It's like buying a tyre that can - on paper - be inflated to 50 psi and then complaining because it blew up after you took it to 85.
  • 1 Hide
    Anonymous , 13 May 2010 19:02
    I wonder if that 2D barcode on the CPU contains the information hidden behind the black splodge...
  • 1 Hide
    aje21 , 13 May 2010 21:57
    Copyright 2009 on the chip, yet not being launched until Q3 2010.
  • 0 Hide
    hundredislandsboy , 15 May 2010 02:22
    While AMD’s 1090T jumps ahead of Intel’s $1,000 Core i7-975 Extreme, the six-core 960T falls one step behind -975.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Best sentence in the article.
  • 1 Hide
    Anonymous , 19 May 2010 00:51
    no way buying an Intel no way high price for a slight performance no sence those money aren't justified in terms of performance,no way Intel.I realy don't understand Intel fan boys this's ridiculous.
  • 1 Hide
    Alatheia00 , 22 May 2010 20:04
    I have a 1055T, but the only reason i didn't go Intel was price, their cpu architecture is a generation ahead of AMD, ideally I would of like to purchase the I7 980x however I just couldn't justify the price. I am quite lucky as i have been able to get a stable 4Ghz with the 1055T with 1.475v and this saved me money from buying a 1090T, howvever I envy the guy who has an AM2 + board and a 960T which unlocks and he can get it up to 4Ghz. I really hope bulldozer is better than Intel's equivalent and Nvidia get their act together so I can purchase a HD 5870 at MSRP.