PP Mguire
Build Guru
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A Phenom 2 555 is a Phenom 2 955 with 2 locked cores from the factory. You use a thing called ACC in the motherboard bios to unlock the locked cores. The problem is, it's a 50/50 gamble whether the extra 2 were locked for stock or locked because they weren't completely stable. You could start to have BSOD issues with nothing wrong simply from taxing the 2 unlocked cores too hard and they become unstable. It's a risk you take from using an unlocked CPU. When you buy it, you can turn off ACC if you want.