athlon thunderbird overclocking???

Brackus2

Member
Nov 1, 2003
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Hey everyone,

I was just wondering ifanyone has done much overclocking with the athlon thunderbirdseries...

Mostly in the 1.2-1.4 ghz range I guess, I dont think they made them higher than that, or if theydid they are hard to grab... anyway, I am trying to get around 1.6-2.0 ghz outta oneof these things... possible, and if so, what do you need???

Thanks,

Dustin McCulloch
 

WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
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I had a 1.2GHz that I O/C'd to 1.33GHz. (Light O/Cing)

They were hot CPUs, but my suggestion is that if you're going to spend the money on cooling for it, may as well buy an Athlon XP CPU that'll get you guaranteed speeds.

Think that'd you get 1.6GHz max on air and that's if you're lucky.
 

KDKPSJ

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2002
3,288
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Originally posted by: Brackus2
Hey everyone,

I was just wondering ifanyone has done much overclocking with the athlon thunderbirdseries...

Mostly in the 1.2-1.4 ghz range I guess, I dont think they made them higher than that, or if theydid they are hard to grab... anyway, I am trying to get around 1.6-2.0 ghz outta oneof these things... possible, and if so, what do you need???

Thanks,

Dustin McCulloch

One of the most popular OCed CPUs at their time was Thunderbird 1GHz with FSB200. It could easily get to 1.33GHz. (again, 'their' time) Let's say T-bird 1GHz is like 2.4C or 2.6C this day. Other T-bird, such as 1.2G or 1.33G, are comparable to be 3.2C. OCed 2.4C/2.6C and Non-OCed 3.2C have almost same max speed. Same thing to T-bird. 1.33G T-bird could hardly reach 1.4G, like P4 3.2C can hardly reach 3.4G. I think even Palomino cannot reach 1.6-2.0GHz easily.
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
5,661
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I had a 1.1 that ran @ 1266 for several years @ 1.89v (and still running). You'll need some conductive ink or a window defogger repair kit to join the L2 bridges. Then you'll need a decent HSF. Don't plan on getting more than 1.4GHz out of one, however. They're darn hot.
 

WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
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Both my 1.0GHz and 1.2GHz Thunderbirds came unlocked. That or my KT133A motherboard unlocked it for me. I didn't have to join any bridges.

On the side note, the place selling the CPU was smart. They put the warranty sticker over the specific bridges!
 

soja

Senior member
Jul 30, 2001
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I had a 1.0 axia-y stepping chip that ran at 1.6ghz and a 1.33 ayhja-y that ran 1.66ghz. Both watercooled and ran on a volt modded board for 2.0v+. At 1.85v (max stock vcore) I'd get around 1.5 off the 1.0 and 1.6 on the 1.33. If you haven't bought the chips already look for these specific steppings as they were the "magic" chips. Good luck.

axia, axiar, ayhja, ayhjar
 

Nohr

Diamond Member
Jan 6, 2001
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My Tbird 1GHz 266fsb AXIA would overclock to around 1.38GHz at 1.85V. Tbirds stopped at 1.4GHz. I used the pencil trick on the L1 bridges to unlock it, worked great and lasted a long time.
 

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
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Originally posted by: ELP
I have a 1.2 Mhz (133 FSB) AXIA running at 1.38 Mhz currently.

1.2 MHz to 1.38 MHz? One hell of an overclock. No wonder those Tbird 1.4GHz chips were space heaters :).
 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
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My 1Ghz 200FSB AXIA 'Y' '9', pencil tricked, did 1.57Ghz on Air, 1.53 Stable and would post @1.6Ghz.

She was special. I still have it.
 

treckmey

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2003
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0
I to am looking to overclock my Athlon Thunderbird 1.1GHz system with 512MB Kingston SDRAM PC133.

I am new to the whole overclcoking thing and need to know pretty specific steps to do this. Where can I go to find this info (if it exsists) or can someone give me the details via the board here?

TIA
 

WobbleWobble

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2001
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Originally posted by: treckmey
I to am looking to overclock my Athlon Thunderbird 1.1GHz system with 512MB Kingston SDRAM PC133.

I am new to the whole overclcoking thing and need to know pretty specific steps to do this. Where can I go to find this info (if it exsists) or can someone give me the details via the board here?

TIA

Depends if your CPU is multiplier locked and if your motherboard is able to unlock it for you. What you can do is increment the multiplier by .5 at a time to overclock.
 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
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Originally posted by: treckmey
I to am looking to overclock my Athlon Thunderbird 1.1GHz system with 512MB Kingston SDRAM PC133.

I am new to the whole overclcoking thing and need to know pretty specific steps to do this. Where can I go to find this info (if it exsists) or can someone give me the details via the board here?

TIA

Let me know your motherboard model and make. Then I can help.

Are you confident with hardware? If we are to do this properly then we need to unlock the L1 bridges with the 'pencil trick'. Do a google on 'L1 Pencil trick'

In fact, I did it for you. This is a good L1 guide and also skims overclocking in general.
 

treckmey

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2003
8
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0
Thanks for the offer of help.

Mobo is ABIT KT7 RAID running the latest firmware.

Yes, I am fairly comfortable with hardware. I built this box about 2 years ago. I also have an Athlon T-Bird 800 Mhz chip that maybe I should "play" with first.

I will read over the article and get back to ya with questions.

TR
 

treckmey

Junior Member
Dec 4, 2003
8
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Looks simple enough.... I am assuming this procedure can be done on my 800Mhz processor. I think I would rather expirement on it first.

Also..

<<Make sure you use a good cooling solution, such as the Silver Orb by Thermaltake or an equivalent, as the CPU will need to have better cooling in an overclocked state. Use thermal grease if you have it, preferably a silver-based compound. You can see some good stuff at www.arcticsilver.com. It is messy, but it is very necessary when you are overclocking your CPU, as it makes a seal with the cooling solution for better heat dissipation. >>

Is this necessary. Right now everything is stock cooling. I know that the VIA chipset has the ability to watch the temps through it's software. What should the temp range be for both the 800 and 1.1Ghz CPU's?

 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
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If you overclock, you generate more heat. This is one area you cannot ignore.

The TBrids are also quite toasty, especially when you have them at 1.5Ghz+ like I did. They are cranking 80-90 watts of heat and they need to be tamed.

Download VIA hardware monitor to check the socket temps, but be aware that this value is often quite a few degrees off the actual CPU value, e.g. your CPU is ALWAYS hotter than the VIA HWM will report.
 

Brackus2

Member
Nov 1, 2003
48
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so then you cant really expect a thunderbird to go much higher than 1.4-1.5 anyway even after a modest overclock???