Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 Comments

Hmm, I think it would have made more sense if each motherboard was a different colour on the Performance Results graphs (Green, then Yellow, then Blue etc.), with different processors tried, being different shades of that colour.

As it is, I find it a bit confusing to read, especially with having to scroll down (on my monitor at least) to see the key for most of the graphs.

The key points with the Gigabyte are that it is quite an average AM2+ motherboard at stock speeds and overclocked although it is very cheap. Once you install a tri-core X3 and unlock the fourth core it becomes a bargain.

This board is more a gem than you realise.
I'm using the f4 bios revision and I've unlocked a phenom II x2 550 black edition up to a phenom II x4 b50. Yep I've unlocked two extra cores and it's all stable.

People need to remember with this board that it uses nvcc, not acc and as such requires an extra 0.05 volts on the vcore to stabalise all four cores on the x2 compaired to amd chipsets but the unlocking procees is pretty much guarenteed. Pluss at leat 80% of all phenom II x2 550 black editions seem to have four healthy cores so this board combined with the x2 cpu is an enthusiasts dream.

RE: The ddr2.
While ddr3 can give much more bandwidth, more bandwidth does not necisarily mean more speed especialy when you concider the latency of ddr3. I mean it's nearly double the latency of ddr2 for a small bandwidth increase so that extra bandwidth becomes sort of redundant. Thats why ddr2 is still in use and pretty much the way to go in my book. Perhaps if they can lower the lattency on ddr3 it will rule all but not untill that day.

Just to add to the above...

Given my cpu is a black edition, I'm getting an excellent overclock from my cpu, with little effort. My phenom ii x2 550 @3.1 2 core stock is running as a phenom ii x4 b50 @ 3.6ghz. Thats an everyday overclock. I've had it up to a stable 3.9ghz on all 4 cores on air cooling by increasing just the freq multiplier and a small increase in vcore.

Odviously with the above I'm using an aftermarket cooler. A xigmatek thors hammer.

To switch on all 4 cores successfully on a phenom x2 with this board I would advise setting the vcore to aprox 1.40 volts then switching on nvcc.

hey josey, can u help me out and tell me how to unlock the 2 other cores? i hav the exact same processer and motherboard