AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-core, 16-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor

Thanks. Yes, it probably HAS been well over a decade (I actually went a couple of years without a PC the last time mine died, and when I got ready to do a build, I understood that crytpocurrency mining made components impossible to find, so I had to buy a pre-built box).

I'm actually thinking I maybe used to be familiar with this use of the term, but since I was never big on overclocking, AND since it's been so long, it just looked alien to me at this point. D'oh! //@Anonymous: You must have been away from building PC for more than a decade then. The first official "unlock" version of a CPU used in this context was the Sandy Bridge series released in January 2011.

Ever since CPU clock multiplier existed way back in the 486 era, people have been trying to use unlocked ones to achieve simple overlock. Since the mid 90s with the original Pentium, most cpu have come with locked multiplier. For the last decade, the official "unlocked" version have become more of a marketing gimmick rather than actually useful in most situations. //@Anonymous: "Unlocked?" Um, I know it's been a while since I built my own box, but are we at a point now where even CPUs are subject to licensing limitations? Holy crap! This is insane!!

common sense: CPU is NOT cell phone. “Unlocked” means “Unlocked multiplier”, it gives more flexibility for overclocking. Unlocked CPU may run faster.

You must have been away from building PC for more than a decade then. The first official "unlock" version of a CPU used in this context was the Sandy Bridge series released in January 2011.

Ever since CPU clock multiplier existed way back in the 486 era, people have been trying to use unlocked ones to achieve simple overlock. Since the mid 90s with the original Pentium, most cpu have come with locked multiplier. For the last decade, the official "unlocked" version have become more of a marketing gimmick rather than actually useful in most situations. //@Anonymous: "Unlocked?" Um, I know it's been a while since I built my own box, but are we at a point now where even CPUs are subject to licensing limitations? Holy crap! This is insane!!

"Unlocked?" Um, I know it's been a while since I built my own box, but are we at a point now where even CPUs are subject to licensing limitations? Holy crap! This is insane!!