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Do Nforce 2 boards unlock Athlon XP Procs???

J

jpbushido99

Senior member
Just wondering if the new Nforce 2 boards will manually unlock the Athlon XP procs, so that I won't have to do it my self??????

I've heard somewhere that these new boards will have this feature.



************************************************************************
Abit-KRZA Raid
Athlon XP 1700
OC 512MB DDR PC-2700
MSI Geforce 3 Ti-200/oc to Ti-500

🙂
 
Welcome to the forums 🙂 I think this is another case of someone willfully spreading misinformation, the XP is physically locked so I can't see how the board could circumvent it, and I've heard no such rumors, although I confess most forums I visit put a heavy smackdown on FUD 😉 Would you have a link to this speculative data perchance?
 
OK, 1 refers to the T-Bred specifically and the fact that some boards only allow access to certain multipliers when unlocked and the other mentions physically unlocking an XP with just a pencil and a few bridge cuts, your 1st post suggest that you expect the board to make all the multis available with no phyiscal alteration of a XP which won't be the case with non-T-breds.
 
I read a review of the new ASUS board that says it will be able to manipulate the multiplier on all XP procs that are 2400+ and higher. I have no confirmation of this as yet, but when my A7N8X arrives I'll post here and let you know if it is true.
 
The Ausus board is the one that I am going to get, please send info on the unlocking status, I would love to know. I can get a Athlon 2600 XP with 333fsb, and OC to 2.9Ghz, maybe.
 
Found this on other message boards:

Probably right. I actually spent $300 on the Radeon 8500 when it first came out to "have the best." And I have 3 motherboards in my closet, 2 of which are KT333, because as better ones were released I wanted "the best." Why, just to "Keep up with the Hochio's." To squeeze another 100pts out of 3DMark2001SE.

Might be an answer to these questions: Here is the link

null
 
Originally posted by: jpbushido99
The Ausus board is the one that I am going to get, please send info on the unlocking status, I would love to know. I can get a Athlon 2600 XP with 333fsb, and OC to 2.9Ghz, maybe.
Click to expand...
Sure with the T-bred but you just said XP in your first post and presumed you meant all XPs 😉 as to it being unbelievable, don't forget it wasn't long ago the 1.2-1.4 T-Birds were all factory unlocked and any good overclocking board would give access to all the available multipliers, it just looks like AMD is targeting the enthusiast market where they've been loosing ground to to the Northwood's overclocking potential by giving us back a feature they took away for awhile. Now with a 1/6 divider and some XMS 3500 people should be getting awesome overclocks and better bandwidth to go with it right outta da box without the tedious unlocking process, I'm glad AMD is getting back to what made them great 🙂
 
Sorry Wrong quate Here it is again:


"However, the reason I've been so adamant is due to my purchasing PC3200 about 7 months ago, and now I have 1GB of PC3500. So in actuality all I want to do is run that at spec. Problem is spec would mean very high FSB to run the memory at 217MHz. The advantage of the nForce 2 is that it comes with the most extensive CPU😛CI divider's of any mobo, up to 200%. So I don't have to unlock the CPU, and it may be factory unlocked anyway. I've been reading more and more, that these recent KT400 chipset's can manipulate the multiplier in BIOS. If I could lower the multiplier, I wouldn't be taxing the CPU that much. Plus I never leave my system OC'd anyway. "
 
1:- Mobos don't "unlock" Multipliers, all they can do is send 4 or 5 HI/LO signals thru "closed" L1 bridges to "modify" AMD's default 5 bit/signals setting.

2:- Palominos' Multipliers were locked because the L1s were "open", so user had to close them.

3: Tbreds' Multipliers are "unlocked" because the L1s are "closed"

4:- Older mobos had problems with Multipliers >13X because they were only capable of coping with 4 signals, while 5 are required for 13X and up.

5:- Newer mobos have no problems with Multipliers because they are capable of coping with and sending all 5 signals.

6:- Please don't confuse an "older mobos vs newer mobos" issue with "unlocking the Multiplier". Just because a new mobo has no problem with a 2400 Tbred while old mobo had a problem with very same 2400 Tbred, does not mean the new mobo "unlocked" the very same Tbred's Multiplier.
John C.
 
OK so do you know of the new XP Procs will come unlcoked are will they just need one bridge to be connected (for 2400 and up)???
 
Originally posted by: jpbushido99
OK so do you know of the new XP Procs will come unlcoked are will they just need one bridge to be connected (for 2400 and up)???
Click to expand...

1:- Only AMD knows for sure whether the L1 bridges will continue to be closed, ie, Multiplier unlocked...but guess yes, they will be closed.

2:- Only older mobos should continue to have problems with 13X Multipliers and higher...for which the "workaround" has been to close the 5th L3 bridge to "fix a mobo incompatibility". It's not a CPU problem.
John C.
 
this just in from a review of the new Asus Nforce 2 board: Here is the link, check it out for your selves. It think the boards will allow us to manipulate the multipliers in some XP Procs. Here is the link.

Asus A7N8X link

This board A7N8X has quite a good feast of features and they include SerialATA, Dual network ports, Dual channel DDR400 support, ATA133, Dolby sound and firewire on board. The BIOS also allows users to tweak the settings to maximum compatibility or performance. Some of these are like 1Mhz FSB steppings, various Async memory settings like DDR333, DDR400 and others. There is also voltage control for Vcore, VDimm and Vagp.
 
Originally posted by: jpbushido99
this just in from a review of the new Asus Nforce 2 board: Here is the link, check it out for your selves. It think the boards will allow us to manipulate the multipliers in some XP Procs.
Click to expand...

From the link...quote
Using a Throughbred 2400+, you do not need to unlock the processor as it is possible to change the multiplier of the CPU within the BIOS....end quote

This is still "misleading". Yes you don't have to unlock a Tbred 2400 because the Tbred's L1 bridges are CLOSED...AND this bios can apparently send its own signals to over-ride the default Multiplier signals without the 5th L3 mod that some older mobos required. But this is "normal"...how it should be...nothing special. Its the older mobo/bios which were the "exception/problem".

But how about Palominos with OPEN L1 bridges, you know darn well that users will have to close those L1s, UNLOCK, in order for this mobo/bios to make any changes.

That's the problem with sloppy language about "unlocking". What ASUS and/or the reviewer should have written is "You only need to close any open L1 bridges to change the multiplier of the CPU within the BIOS". That clearer/simpler statement is probably true for that mobo for all Socket A CPUs, Tbirds, Palominos, Tbreds.
John C.

 
Got it, so in order for me to change the FSB I will have to Unlock the proc. But most new mobo's automatically allow me to adjust the multiplier, but that sucks because I won't be able to truly max out my proc. I upgrade every 6 moths, so I don't really worry about frying my proc. But it does suck because if I don't unlock my proc correctly, I will be out 150 to 250 dollars. I wish there was some retailer that sells unlocked procs. Thanks for the info.
 
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