Highest non-locked AMD XP chip?

[xerocool]

What is the highest speed AMD Athlon XP chip that's not locked? Did the 3200+'s come out in time before AMD started locking them?

Also, how do I check to see whether the chip is locked or not? Is there a batch or serial number sequence I should look for? If so, what is it and where do I find it on the chip?

I know most people use 2500+ but I want to push the clock speed as high as I can with good stability using air cooling. Has anyone had any experience with stock 2800+, 3000+, or 3200+ chips being overclocked to their max? Like I haven't heard anything about the 2800+ being overclocked, is that because the 2500+ overclocks higher than the 2800+? So then how much have you guys seen these chips overclocked to? What temps are you running at and how stable is your system?

Thanks! :beer:

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, from what I've read, the 2800+ is not that great of an overclocker. Everything I've seen show the 2800+'s seem to max out around 175-ish FSB. The owner of a local computer shop that I use has a 2800+ and a watercooling setup and he can only get 180 FSB out of his chip.

I would suspect the higher chips (3000+ and 3200+) would have similar results.

 

[aka1nas]

In general, the fastest chips aren't likely to be huge overclockers. Usually, one would buy a cheaper model using the same core and try to clock it to the speed of the faster model CPU as they are in this case the same actual chip. I.E. A barton is a barton, just some specific chips will perform better than others due to manufacturing irregularities and other reasons.

 

[loafbred]

I just got a Barton 2400-m mobile, after reading about others using them in nForce2 boards. Mine is Prime95 stable at 200*11 with 1.60v and 211*11 with 1.75v. Multipliers are unlocked and adjustable in nForce2's, but I don't know how it behaves in others. NewEgg had 2500's also, but they're gone right now. Ignore most of the product description, as it's fubar. They showed the 2500-m as having 256K L2. The 2400-m should have an actual clock of 1.80 GHz with 1.55v, and it's my understanding that all mobiles are rated using 266 bus. Both 2400 and 2500 models are definitely 512k L2 model Bartons. A few online retailers of laptop parts have all XP and Barton mobiles, but are a bit higher than NewEgg. The one pictured at NewEgg is week 30, but I got a week 25.

I'm using an SLK-700 cooler with good case ventilation, and 211*11 with 1.75v runs at 38*C idle and 46*C while running Prime95 "blend".

 

[Abhoth]

I'll assume you're talking about Barton chips eh? Running a 2800+ Barton here at 10.5 x 200... it'll go higher but the northbridge has certain stability issues. So, until I address that issue I'll suffer with the present setup.
And generally you'll get a higher yield from the lesser chips, IF you get a good one... unlocked or not.

 

[xerocool]

so there's no real way to check to see if it's locked or not? and there's no way to see if it's a "good" cpu that can be overclocked well?

 

[aka1nas]

In general, post week 39 bartons are locked. This doesn't help you of course unless you can see the markings of the chip before you buy it. Computer shows are an ok place to handpick a cpu if you know what you are doing. Google up a t-bred or barton stepping guide and you can figure out what all the codes mean. Lower voltage cpus usually overclock better than a cpu that runs at a higher voltage, all else being equal.

I.E.
My 1700+ tbred runs at 1.6v. There are some that were made after mine that run 1700+ at 1.5volts. The lower voltage models are more likely to be better overclockers as they are likely to run faster at 1.6v or above, whereas AMD decided my 1700+ needed 1.6volts to run reliably.

 

[Sid59]

most likely (as everyone as said), all AMD CPUs are gonna be locked. try your hand at the FS/FT forums when you get a certain CPU in mind.

 

[loafbred]

It's my understanding that the mobile cpu's have to be unlocked for speed throttling in laptops, so they will remain unlocked.

 

[aka1nas]

It's not that they have to have their multipliers unlocked, it's that they have two different mutlipliers settings and bridge groups. One is the regular multiplier one, which is the starting mutliplier, the other is a max multiplier that the clock throttling can achieve. This is why people are using this technique now to bypass the locked bartons. They L5 mod the chip into a mobile barton, then use CPU MSR to change the multiplier in software once they boot into windows.

 

[loafbred]

I can only vouch for multipliers 5, 10, 11, 11.5 and 12 working on my 2400-m. I just haven't tried any others. It booted by default at multiplier 5.

 

[loafbred]

WARNING!!!! I just discovered that performance drops off when using 11.5 and 12.0 multipliers. See the the photos below:

11X

11.5X

3DMark 2001 shows the same degradation.

Any ideas welcomed.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: xerocool
so there's no real way to check to see if it's locked or not? and there's no way to see if it's a "good" cpu that can be overclocked well?

I bought my DLT3C 1800+ 1.5V Athlon at www.excaliberpc.com. They specifically sell unlocked AMD chips. I tired accessing the website today, but it was broken.. goodluck!

 

[xerocool]

awesome link! :beer:

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: xerocool
awesome link! :beer:

C'mon, he's a newbie, give him a break, man. Here's your link.