Overclocking Socket A?Greebe,anyone?

[Alfie]

I'm sure many of you have seen the furor caused by AMD stating the Socket A cpus are multiplier locked.
Tom's Hardware had shown that with the Asus A7v mobo that dip switches were included to over ride these settings,apparently this may no longer be possible.
Tom's hardware, as you may have already seen,has laid out all the little bridges present on the CPUS and which should be open or closed to achieve the desired mhz settings.
This bit of info has everyone drilling, cutting,and disfiguring their CPUS in every possible way.
As shown closing the bridge is no big deal,opening them is the problem!
At Anand's site he has a Fic mobo
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1277&p=1
which had the contact points for a similar type device as found on the Asus mobo.
He carefully soldered pins onto the contact points and voila,almost.
According to him the cpu would not overclock as it was multiplier locked!

My question after this long build up is:
If all the bridges were closed on the cpu,could multiplier manipulation then be executed from the jumpers as shown on the Fic mobo or the Asus mobo,and does this sound like a more logical approach,could a dip type switch be connected to the pins on the backside of the mobo(the ones responsible for the different multiplier settings or the traces on the mobo?
Beats drilling,sawing,etc.!if possible

[Greebe]

If the cpu's coming are multiplier locked then this won't be possible at all (well if someone wanted to really dig into the cpu and write a proggy it might be possible, any takers?)... thus the MB manufactures would most likely remove it (cutting costs). If they aren't locked, the manufactures have it in their best interest to keep it there.

[RAB]

Some info on overclocking Duron and T-bird is starting to appear. Start at Amdzone and keep reading. Basicly, you have to "connect the dots" on the top of the CPU with a conductive ink pen (or install jumpers if you are adventurous enough to solder that small and expensive an item). So all hope is not lost. It even looks easier than GFD's.

RAB

[paulcs]

Soldering on jumpers, I believe, only enables multiplier settings on FIC motherboards, and it won't work if the CPU's multiplier is locked. Physically altering the CPU seems to work, but it doesn't look like fun.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Himself]

Anand has another article up, there are another set of pins that have to be set, that's all, overclocking still works.
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1282

[paulcs]

I just saw the article and came right back here. Hopefully, motherboard manufacturers will implement the necessary switches, and AMD won't disable the pins. Possibly, this is why Asus is releasing early versions of their Socket A board without multiplier settings, while claiming they may add the feature in the future.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Alfie]

When it rains it pours!
Here I was felling rejected(nobody answered my post)and now I feel redeemed!
The locks AMD has put on are defeatable,but if altered will be quite obvious,which should limit remarking for profit,but still allow the individual to alter their cpu.
I wish Greebe would put together a device that would work on any mobo! (hint!hint!)

[Helevitia]

Since I'll probably be O/C'ing my t-bird, I just wanted to run this by you folks to make sure we are all in agreement. this is in very simple terms because I want everyone to understand and give me opinions.

L1 = In series to L3/L4. If L1 comes laser cut, then use conductive pen to close circuit.

L2 = unknown, but always closed and hasn't been an issue so far

L3/L4 = Needs to be => L6 or system won't boot. FSB multiplier

L5 = See L2.

L6 = clock multipliers
L7 = voltage

Is this right?

[paulcs]

O'kay. This is from an unnamed source who wrote into Tweaktown. The good news is, all this CPU surgery may be unnecessary. The bad news is, it's from an unnamed source, and I think it should be taken in that context. Here's the news item from Tweaktown:

#2 -Unlocked Athlon TB with ASUS A7V Boards
Just recently ASUS released its statement about its new A7V motherboard we here at Tweaktown have recently received some information from ASUS and AMD. As many of us know ASUS plan to make a 2 versions of the ASUS A7V. One with no multiplier jumper block and one with the jumper block. Now this seems ok in theory but 99% of the AMD Athlon 2 (Thunderbird) will be unable to be changed, but word received from a source (who wishes to remain unknown) has stated that AMD will in the future produce a breed of Athlon 2 that will be multiplier adjustable. It will be set to a specific frequency on time of sale but with special jumper arrangements you will be able to change the multiplier.

Dear Tweaktown.

We have some information that may interest you.

AMD have announced to us that they will be introducing a special Fab of Athlon with performance enhancing cache that will be multiplier unlocked. Award and AMI have also told us that they will be helping with a new BIOS code that will prevent remarking of the unlocked Athlon with performance enhancing cache.

Also we have heard that Award and Ami will be introducing a scheme to prevent resellers relabelling the CPU. According to the information received, Award will introduce a feature that will read the AMD Athlon CPUID code and will display the actual CPU's designated Speed and the overclocked speed. Eg. If you have a Athlon 2 700Mhz and have it clocked at 900Mhz on boot up the motherboard will bios will show up as: AMD Athlon 700 at 900MHz. This will prevent resellers from relabelling the 700Mhz CPU as a 900MHz for example.

Conclusion:
This seems like quite a good idea to help the overclockers out there who want to overclock their CPU's. of course you will loose your warranty on the overclocked CPU and no shipments of Duron will be unlocked (that sux) but as the saying goes "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". Keep those excellent CPU's coming AMD!
http://www.tweaktown.com/amd_scoopage/index.shtml#2

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Greebe]

I've heard similar rumours like that also. This is one of the reasons I have decided to keep still and not atempt mods of the Tbirdies.

[paulcs]

It could be a smart move. I'm thinking out loud now, but maybe they should unlock their boxed and sealed retail processors, and lock the OEM units. Couple that with Award and AMI properly IDing the spec clock, and it should go a long way to ending AMD's remarking concerns.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Himself]

I'm waiting for Socket A board prices to come down a bit, there's no way I am spending $250 CDN on a VIA motherboard when it's $150 CDN for a BX board. I can wait for the Ali DDR boards to show up, I'd be willing to pay $250 CDN for one of those.

[Alfie]

Helevitia,
That's correct all the settings can be found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q3/000711/amd-02.html
As far as the bp_fid settings(L3-L4)it has been stated that it's possible to simply close the cuts and then with the same conductive pen short the capicitator that is in line with it(the previouly opened bridge).This will reverse the polarity (ie hi-lo)
In this way no cutting is needed there.
I'm still trying to find out if you close all,or only one,etc.
Will keep you posted.
I'm working on a way to cut the bridges,and if my creativity pays off will let all know.

[Alfie]

Another good read can be found here:
WARNING!You will probably get page can't be displayed,but keep trying refresh and detect network settings and it will load,pain,I know,but worth the effort! http://members.xoom.com/candjac/index.htm
This is where I got the info on the bp_fid settings and credit must be pointed here for the true discoverers of the bridges, settings etc.
Others may be shouting ureka,but credit must be given where it's due!

[Greebe]

I was just looking over Toms Hardware (not that I really care what he has to say) review on Moding the the Duron/Tbirds and the suggested use of an engraver, etchant, and or electrically blowing these links made me laugh and cry. What a completely irresponsible norom!

Please people don't do any of these things!

A scribe, razor knife or a fine edged diamond file would be best. I have all of these in my tools inventory