Asus Board Unlocks CPU Cores You Didn't Buy

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On Tuesday, Asus launched the M4A89GTD PRO motherboard, with a novel feature: the ability to "unlock," or enable processor cores that a user hasn't paid for.

Specifically, the motherboard will try to power up cores that AMD itself has disabled; for example, the motherboard may try to power up a dual-core chip into a triple-core or quad-core processor, or a triple-core into a quad-core processor.
原帖地�: TechSpott - Computer and technology forums http://www.techspott.com//showthread.php?p=622

The M4A89GTD PRO takes advantage of the fact that on certain chips, what is marketed as a dual- or triple-core processor may actually have other cores present on the chip. In general, however, AMD disabled those cores to deliver optimal performance. Toggling a "Core Unlocker" switch on the motherboard, however, tries to turn them on again.

AMD representatives wouldn't commit to stating that using the Core Unlocker feature would void the AMD processor warranty, but representatives wouldn't endorse it, either. "AMD does not officially support this feature," said Adam Kozak, AMD's manager of product marketing, in a statement.

Even Asus adds a caveat: "Not all processors are supported nor will all supported processors operated [sic] correctly with unlocked cores," the company added in a statement. Asus did not say which processors the Core Unlocker feature would support.