Can you tell what the core in an Athlon is?

[Noriaki]

My Athlon is a 550 and the cartridge is marked as such, but I've also been told that many Athlon's of the time (January '00) were higher spec'd cores than the final unit was shipped as.

I've been told my 550 has 650 core in it, I'm just wondering if there is anyway to check that? (Either before or afther I take off the cartridge casing, it's on now, but i'm going to order a GFD so it's coming off soon enough).

Thanks guys.

 

[Budman]

I doesnt matter what the core is,knowing what it is actually will not improve it's ability to go higher.

The cpu will do what it can.

But if you MUST know then you'll have to open it up & see for yourself.

There's no real way to know until you actually open it up & remove the heatplate.

 

[Czar]

My 550mhz athlon is 650mhz core.

Ripped it open and looked for myself.

 

[zippy]

Budman, not entirely true. If you get a higher core you are more likely to be able to not only hit that speed, but surpass it considerably. So, say its a 550 with a 550 core...say it'll do 800MHz. But, if it was a 550 with a 650 core, you are much more likely to get above 800MHz (that 800MHz number was just a random number). However, I'm sure people with 550's with 550 cores have gotten higher than people with 550's with 650 cores, however it is harder and rarer.

To know what core it is, you must open up the casing and remove the heatplate as budman said.

Good luck.

zippy

 

[Budman]

Zippy i was not talking about a 500 with a 900 core. he might have better he might not,

I am just saying that there's no way to tell what the core is until you open it up & see.

But opening it up & not opening it up will not MAGICALY make that peticular chip go faster.

That cpu he has will do what it can regardless of you knowing what core is really in there.

 

[zippy]

Budman, gotcha'. I see what you mean now. Its true, however, for selling purposes it may add a few bucks to the selling price. Plus, if its OEM, what does he have to lose?

 

[Noriaki]

Yeah I know that knowing won't make a difference, I'm just curious.

But if I pull off the heatplate the chip will say on it what it is?
Cool.

Any recommend a good guide for pulling off the casing, at least enough to get a GFD on?

 

[Ulysses]

Proceed at your own risk.

 

[medic]

A safe procedure (IMO) is the method I have used to remove over a hundred of them without incident in the last year. This method doesn't destroy the clips like other how-to's on the net.

Copied from a post of mine on May15

Be wary of those articles, most I have seen show some idiot using a big muckin screwdriver, shoving it in and twisting.
Then they used pliers and forcibly ripped the heatplate clips off, rendering them useless if you ever need them again.

Here's how I do it:
My second choice is a medium flat blade screwdriver, my first choice is a pair of commonly available reverse pliers (big hardware store, less than 7 bucks) these have flat smooth jaws and open when you squeeze the handles.
BE ElectroStaticDischarge SAFE!! (and try to handle only by the edges!)
Insert the flat screwdriver or pliers at one of the corners and insert it NO MORE THAN 1/4 inch! Twist slightly or open the corner up a little, don't pop the corner fully, work all 4 corners like this until it comes off.
Only the 4 corners attach the plastic front cover.
Remove the retention clips by first placing a thick piece of plastic or heavy cardboard around or near the two pins in the direction your tools may slip and destroy the PCB..using a VERY SMALL flat screwdriver, awl or even better are miniature needlenose pliers (another method that works good is to use a pair of sidecutter pliers and holding them up and down, lower them to the 45 degree tab and as the jaws close on the tab, the tab will open up) and bend the 45 degree tabs upwards a sixteenth (NO MORE) do this to all eight and the clips will come off easy.
Replace them if need be by rebending the tabs slightly back to their original position.

 

[Budman]

good info CRV that's the way it should be done.

also for a corner that's hard to pop i hear putting the cpu into a freezer for a few minutes will make the plastic harder & will pop off with less force.

 

[Noriaki]

thanks for the help guys.