Unlocking AMD XP?

[OC Guy]

How can i unlock the xp's multiplyer? On my iwill mobo, if i change the fsb, it changes the speed etc. But if i change the multi. it doesnt do anything, it just stays the same, so i guess i have to unlock it. (Dang, 1:40am, bedtime!)

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

Its very tricky to do on the XP's. AMD put some saftey measures into play with the XP, mainly, the substrafe is electrically conducive (only slightly) to the point where a simple graphite line won't cut it anymore. Plus, there's slots with a copper ground plate in the bottom between every L1 bridge point, so there's some footwork that has to be done. There's a guide on www.tomshardware.com and it pretty much goes like this:

You have to block all the L1 bridges with tape but leave the ground trenches open. Using a tube of superglue, you have to fill in each one and then remove the excess glue by peeling the tape off and cut the rest off with an exacto knife. Then, you need this stuff called silver lacquer, which is basically paint with a high-silver (and therefore highly conductive) content. You then need to put tape over all but one of the bridges, paint the lacquer over the bridge point, let dry, remove tape and repeat until all have been bridged. You should go to tom's hardware to see the whole thing before trying it though. Good luck on your OC!

[Brangwen]

SEALTEAMTHREE:

I think my XP1900+ is looking pretty good at default 1.6 GHz right now...

Brangwen

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

True enough, especially since that 1.6 GHz beats out an Intel 1.9 GHz CPU. But if you push it to 1.7 GHz, then it beats an Intel 2 GHz CPU, and it costs much less.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

My XP 1600 @ 1.55 beat a P4 in integer, almost beats it in FPU even with SSE2 on the P4, 2Ghz is slow compared to any XP above 1800+. a 1900+ @ 1.6Ghz DOES beat a P4 2Ghz in almost any Sandra bench.

[FalcomPSX]

anything but memory, if the p4 has RDRAM...and then it's only theoritical bandwidth.

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

But what good does that bandwidth do you when the P4 loses in ever other category?

[Brangwen]

I might be interested in unlocking the 1900+, though a description that I have read of the procedure seems rather "sticky" to put it mildly... which is a bummer because my board (Iwill XP333-R) is made for overclocking.

Although with the divider options that I have in my BIOS (1/4, 1/5, 1/6 etcetera) I may be able to push the FSB while keeping other devices in spec,

I'll have to look into it a bit more...

Brangwen