ATHLON XP OC Question

[Smoked1]

I just got the new MSI K7T266 Pro 2-RU and an ATHLON XP 1700+. I am new to overclocking these new cpus. I am used to jumpers and stuff. Anyways, I went into the bios and changed a FSB clock setting to levels faster and now it tells me that I have an Athlon 1800+ 1484MHz. I used the AMD CPU identify program. It seems to be running at a decent temp of 108-108 at an idle state. Like right now. Why do I need to unlock the L1 cache. I was under the impression that thats what had to be done to overclock this thing.

[Simo]

First thing you should know is that OCing the XP is very different to hot rodding the T'Birds.

Its no longer a case of simply unlocking the L1's with a lead pencil.

Before tinkering with the XPensive processors inner workings I suggest you give THIS ARTICLE (http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/01q4/011112/index.html) a very good read.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how you go!!

[Smoked1]

Wait a second the 1800+ is supposed to go 1.533 MHz. I think I see the light. Could still use some OC tips for this board and cpu

[aoC_PRoZaK]

even with the tricky unlocking amd simply rulez the O/C market. one thing that sucks is that you cannot give back an unlocked cpu to the vendor, ´cause if he looks at it he´ll see the evidence of o/cing. nevertheless, if one has the ability to adjust multiplier AND fsb, one can tweak the hell of last bit of performance outa the machine, if the mobo stands it.
so say loudly and proudly
Me oWNZ aN AMD aND iT RuLeZ ;D

[Smoked1]

Yeah AMD kicks ass. I just wish that they would make chips for overclocking. that would make everyone buy the chips. They should expand on OC technology.

[aoC_PRoZaK]

you mean they should produce cpu for o/c ing? thats crazy. how dýa wanna get a correct cpu? should there be a standard of 400MHZ overclockability? no way, thats none of their business. they could have stopped overclocking totally with athlon xp but they didn´t do completely. they want us to do nasty things to their oem stuff. we are the hardest users. if we test a board or a cpu and it has some faults, we tell everyone it´s shit. but if we like it, everyone, even our granma (who doesn´t know SPAManything ´bout computers) gets to know. wer´re the best self-further-pushing advertising machine all over the world. thats the reason why they like overclockers. 8)

[Smoked1]

I just think that should not make it difficult to OC. They shouldt make it so that you have to put gluw on it and stuff. The should try yo think of ways to make the chip more overclockable but not sell it as so

[XDiGiTaLX]

why do they put that lock so you can't oc?
:-[

[KeyserSose]

If you want to easily OC an AMD XP you need to get your hands on a SOYO DRAGON PLUS, it has multiple BIOS OC options,

;D I love my Dragon SPAM;D

Best board I ever had

Onboard LAN
Onboard RAID
Onboard 6 Channel Digital sound / optical outputs
4 IDE PORTS
AGP PRO
3 GB DDR

8) SPAMWhat a beast

[Smoked1]

I have two boards for the athlon XP as it is and i unloaked the XP. The grease collected all kinds of dust and the dust was touching. This caused the conductivity of the bridges to connect and then caused all kinds of problems. I am going to email highspeedpc and ask if they have any ideas on that. I was thinking maybe some clear nail pollish or something

[rivergod]

I read that they make the chips hard to OC because vendors could overclock a CPU, sell it at a higher price, and who would know? SPAMIt takes people like us who are willing to give a little more to get a little more. SPAMI used crazy glue to fill the gaps, and a conductive epoxy to make it pemanent. SPAMI don't like the grease, too smeary. SPAMWarranty? SPAMWe doan need no stinkin' warranty. ;D

[Smoked1]

Yeah I just got mine overclocked not to long ago. It took a dump on me though. Like you said the grease was a little runny but what happened was that because I have about 9 fans running I get a large amount of dust in my case. I keep some canned air by it all the time but the dust was sticking to the grease and the next thing I know it was so much that it was touching. Totally sucked! I took it off and have decided to use something that dries. How did the epoxy work for you? I would be affraid of messing up.

[rivergod]

I took my time, and it worked well. SPAMI had to clean and re-apply a couple times on individual bridges, but if you mask it off well, its not bad. SPAMI tried the grease, it just scared me when I saw how easily it smeared, and applying the epoxy is no different in application. SPAMMask, dip your needle, and take three deep breaths and annoint your bridges while you slowly exhale, like lining up a good head-shot in CS. ;D SPAMA link to what I used:http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=120199&Product_Code=9100

[Smoked1]

I will be getting me some of that. It's probably much better than the grease.

[rivergod]

It is permanent, or at least it is from a warranty standpoint. SPAMI have not tried to take any off after it dries, but I've touched it and it feels solid. SPAMJust remember that cleanliness is next to godliness here, make sure it is clean between the bridges, after it mostly dried, I GENTLY scraped between the bridges with an exacto knife so there was no way to have a trace crossing where it should not be. SPAMGood luck! SPAM(and proceed at own risk of course.) ;)

[Smoked1]

Since this question was asked I have overclocked that and another tbird as well. It's pretty easy. I like it better than the old jumper boards for the K6 model that I have. I also just ordered that water cooler from thecardcooler.com. I am going to use that on a project that we are working on. I am going to go with some thermal epoxy though because the grease that I had on the XP was collecting lots of dust due to the large amount of fans that I have. If you have any suddestions to stop the dust collecting of the silver grease I would appriciate it. The damn thing was running stable at XP 2000+ speeds till the dust built up.

[rivergod]

Why not insulate the cpu/hsf with a foam or neoprene ring like when a peltier is used? SPAMIt stops condensation, it should stop dust too.

[Smoked1]

Do you have any links on that?

[rivergod]

I've been looking for the link, no go so far. SPAMI saw it wandering the net reading articles, and I cannot remember the site, and I must have cleaned my history up too. SPAMBasically the guy was modding his board to prevent condensation from messing with the CPU while using a peltier. SPAMHe waterproofed (water-resisted?) the cpu area of the board with silicone spray, filled the cpu socket middle area with foam and sealed the edges with a caulking, then put a neoprene ring around the whole affair to prevent air flow from reaching the cpu socket area to stop moisture in the air from even getting in. SPAMIf I find it, Ill re-post. SPAMFor just keeping dust out, just the ring of neoprene would suffice.

[Smoked1]

Well voiding warranties is what we are all about. As soon as my debit card is activated I am getting me some.

[rivergod]

Mouse pads are sometimes made of neoprene. SPAMIf you have an old rubbery mousepad, chances are it is neoprene. SPAM(Or an old wetsuit that doesn't fit anymore)

[Grinnin Reaper]

Take a look at http://www.netsmog.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Modding&action=display&num=1021077503 that has been my answer to dust. SPAMSo far it's been working well.