AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Black Edition Review ~ Computer Hardware Mall

Monday, May 23, 2011

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Black Edition Review

I decided to write this review for anyone out there looking for a great CPU to build a new PC around and not break the bank. I make no secret of the fact I am a hardcore AMD fan. Or the reason I don't buy Intel CPU's because their price vs performance ratio when compared to AMD is far too small to justify the inflated costs. The AMD Phenom II line of CPU's is yet another example of this and the Callisto X2 550 Black Edition (BE) dual-core alone is probably one of the best price vs performance CPU's available.

So your looking to upgrade from your old single-core or older dual-core system and you don't want to spend a lot of money doing so? Well then this is the CPU I would highly suggest you look into. The 550 BE has got overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, users, tech-heads, and overclockers alike. This baby really packs a lot of power and potential for under $100. So lets start off with the information I think most people would be interested in, gaming, multimedia, and overclocking.

Gaming:

If your like me, a hardcore gamer, you want a system that's capable of handling whatever games you want to play. However don't be fooled into thinking you need to spend $1000 to build a PC that can handle high end gaming or buy a hugely overpriced i7. A little knowledge and experience can go a long way to saving you a lot of money.

The 550 BE is a very powerful CPU running at stock speeds. It can power it's way through any game on the market without slowing you down. The thing is, for gaming, there is more to it than just your CPU. Your choice of video card and memory can have a huge effect on how well your system performs. What's great about this CPU is the fact it's costs less than $100. So you can take that money you save and use it to invest in other hardware for your system.

In order to get the maximum performance potential out of the 550 BE, I highly recommend a good name brand motherboard, good quality DDR3 memory, and a nice mid range to high-end video card. Since this would be an AMD build, it's best to stick to ATI Radeon video cards and a motherboard with an AMD northbridge. Your memory should also be of decent quality as well. I highly recommend ADATA since it has one of the best price vs performance ratios I have seen in a while. Their gaming series of DDR3 memory is highly affordable and powerful.

So to get right down to it, this is the hardware specs on the system in question, and how it performs in the games I play.

AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE CPU
ASUS M4A77TD Pro AM3 Motherboard
ADATA G (Gaming) Series DR3 1600G (OC) at 4GB
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 IceQ4+ Turbo PCIe Video Card
Coolmax 600 Watt PSU

For just over $400 at the time of the build, this system performs on par with much more expensive builds, and that's at all stock speeds. I will get into the 550 BE's overclocking potential in just a bit. Here is a list of games I have played on this system and they all run flawlessly smooth, at all max settings, and nice stable high frame rates.

ArmA 2
Stalker Clear Sky
Bad Company 2
Bioshock 1 and 2
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Serious Sam HD
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Killing Floor
Left for Dead 2
Team Fortress 2
The entire Half Life 2 series
Company of Heroes
Command and Conquer 3
Red Alert 3
Stalker series

Now that's not all the games, just the ones that are the most demanding on the system, and each and every one runs at peak performance. That's far more important to me than benchmark scores, real world results, not a number telling me how it "should" perform. This build chews up any game I throw at it without a single hiccup or slowdown! So if your concerned about this CPU "only being a dual-core" when it comes to gaming, don't be, when you couple the 550 BE with other good hardware its performance will amaze you. Like I said before, the money you save on this CPU can be put into that other good hardware for a better overall gaming build.

Multimedia:

When it comes to media, this CPU has no problems with absolutely anything you throw at it. From watching DVD and Blue-Ray movies, media files, online media like Hulu or YouTube. Everything is smooth as silk at full screen and at any HD resolution. This CPU would perform outstanding in a media center.

I also do some video editing with software such as After Effects and VideoStudio as well as run Fraps to record game footage. This things performance is amazing in all respects. Editing and capture is fast and smooth and has yet to disappoint me. So as far as general media is concerned, the 550 BE will not even break a sweat.

Overclocking:

Now this is the fun part. If your into overclocking like I am then this CPU was made especially for you! Since it's a "Black Edition" that means it has an unlocked multiplier so overclocking is quite easy. However even though this CPU has been tested stable by many users at up to 3.6+ GHz, it's real potential is in its disabled cores!

The Callisto is just a Deneb with 2 cores disabled. So the 550 BE X2 is the same as X3 or X4. The same CPU with cores disabled. Well, with the right motherboard and a bit of luck, you can unlock those disabled cores and run your 550 BE as a triple or quad-core CPU!

So why would AMD put the other cores on there if they are just disabled and make them so easy to unlock? Well, simply put, a Phenom II X2 or X3 is a quad core CPU where 1 or 2 of the other cores did not pass all the required tests to be sold as an X3 or X4. Does that mean those disabled cores are bad? The simple answer is no, it just means they did not meet the internal manufacturing standards. AMD tests their CPU's at standards well above the stock operational capabilities of the CPU. If a core fails for whatever reason, it's simply disabled and the cores that pass are left enabled. Get it?

Well, a lot of users of the 550 BE X2 started to realize that with the right motherboard, you can unlock these other 2 cores. The kicker is, in many cases, they all run stable at stock speeds! So in other words, they were getting stable quad-core CPU's out of the 550 BE X2 and saving a lot of money. As this caught on, more and more people have been unlocking their 550 BE's to quad-cores with higher and higher rates of success. I read a quote somewhere saying that about 90% of people reporting their results are getting successful stable unlocks to triple and quad-cores.

Now does this mean your guaranteed to be able to unlock your 550 BE? No, not by any means, this is a gamble and there is a fair amount of luck involved. Some of the cores will truly be defective and simply will not run. Where as some will run but not stable, especially under load. So I do not suggest you buy a 550 BE with the thought your going to get a quad-core CPU for under $100. Like I said, as a dual-core, this CPU is a powerhouse as it is. If you are able to unlock extra cores and it remains stable for you, consider it a kick ass bonus!

So how do you unlock it? Well, you need a motherboard capable of doing so, and you also need to make sure you have a decent CPU cooler such as the "Zalman 9700 CPU cooler. 4 cores obviously generates more heat than 2. Also, when you unlock your extra cores, you loose your ability to monitor CPU temperatures. Most modern motherboards however have a sensor under the socket that can be used to "estimate" your CPU temperature, in Everest Ultimate Edition it shows up as "Aux". All you do is compare the actual core temperatures to the sensor under the socket, under load, before you unlock your CPU. Note the difference so when you do the unlock, you can use the motherboard sensor to get an idea as to the CPU's temperature. If you have a good cooler installed properly, then heat will really not be a concern.

Now to find a motherboard that's proven capable of doing the unlock, your best place to start would be the AMD Phenom II Core Unlocking Guide over at Overclock.net There you will find a comprehensive ever expanding list of success and failure results on different motherboards. That is where I did all my research before making my final decision. It also gives you an idea on how to go about unlocking the cores.

So here is how my unlock went. I was one of the lucky ones who ended up with a stable quad-core unlock. To test my stability, I used Prime95 for 5 hours, this will stress your CPU quite well and reveal any stability issues you may have. Using the ASUS M4A77TD Pro AM3 Motherboard, this is how simple the unlock is, and the same is true of most all motherboards capable of doing the unlock.

Set Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) to "Auto"

That will reveal "Unleashing Mode" is disabled, Enable it:

Once you enable "Unleashing Mode", that will reveal "Active CPU Cores", set it to "4 Core Operation":

So when your all done, it should look like this:

That's it, if your lucky, you just unlocked those other 2 cores, now its time to boot into Windows and see if its stable. As soon as you apply those settings in the BIOS, your computer will power down abruptly, don't freak out, that's supposed to happen. It's simply cycling off and back on to use the new settings. On POST you should see a quad-core CPU now listed. If your PC does not post, will not boot into Windows, then one or both of the cores may truly be faulty. Simply go back into the BIOS and try to run 3 cores and see if you can unlock one or the other stable. If that also fails, then both cores may be bad and you will not be able to unlock them. However there are a few things you can try that are covered in the AMD Phenom II Core Unlocking Guide.

However if you do make it into Windows, you can download and run CPU-Z and see if your unlock is being registered in Windows. It will look like this:

Now it's time to run Prime95 and see if it's stable. If it is, congratulations! Your now running a high-end quad core for under $100. If not, then like I said above, try 3 cores, see how that holds. up. If that still fails, then either your disabled cores are not stable or there is another underlying problem.

Closing:

So I do have to say, that the AMD Phenom II X2 550 Callisto Black Edition CPU is by far one of the best I have ever used. This thing is a powerhouse at all stock settings and simply a beast if your lucky enough to unlock one or both of those other cores. So if you looking for an affordable CPU to use in your new build, this is by far the best one out there!

Rated: 10/10

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Monday, May 23, 2011