Is unlocking the XP worth it?

[CubicZirconia]

Can I expect to obtain much higher clock speeds if I unlock as opposed to just overclocking the fsb? I'm just wondering if It's worth taking the risk of screwing up my cpu...

 

[panhead49]

it is worth it..........take your time and follow the many online guiges..........if you mess up on unlocking..not getting all traces connected.....you just will not be able to get all the muiltipliers....or it wont boot....you cant screw up your cpu....

 

[CubicZirconia]

So if it doesnt boot I can just remove the grease stuff and start over?

 

[Jeff7]

Also looking to unlock my XP? What are some good sites for guides to check out?

 

[Duvie]

The real performance will come more from boosting the fsb...you will get to increase the memory bandwidth and the bandwidth of the chip...

I think in most instances modern hardware can take moderate pci mhz boosting...crucial ram can also take a helluva boost..my pc2100 (266mhz) crucial ram ran easily at 333mhz (pc2700 levels)...I think if you keep the pci within 38mhz this should not drastically effect the harddrives or most modern pci devices...

I likely doubt you can really get high enough with most of the xp chips anyway to seriously put things to far out of spec...

I am not sure if unlocking is necessary to adjuct vcore...if it is you will need to do it regardlessly if you plan on anything likely more then 100-150mhz boost on chip.

 

[Egrimm]

It's not necessary to unlock the cpu to adjust vcore, can do that no matter what. A high vcore is necesessary to get a high fsb too, so adjusting the vcore is just as necessary when still locked and oc'ing the fsb.

And a high fsb does perform better than a higher multiplier (I'm asuming that's what you want). My Xp1600+ performs better than a 1900+ when running 1607Mhz (153fsb) for example. But a high multiplier ensures that pci and agp still stays in specs and reduces chances of corrupting the harddrive.

 

[Jwyatt]

Its good if you want to overclock without going out of spec with the pci/agp speeds as well, but others have said the real performance is with the FSB pumped to max you can get your ram to run at

 

[tboneuls]

I think that overclocking with an adjustable multiplier is a lot easier than just the FSB. you should get better results with both unlocked as well.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I've already overclocked my fsb and upped the vcore. The memory automatically runs faster when you increase the fsb right?

 

[batorok]

correct... it looks like your sig shows 1701 mhz, which should be 11.5*about 148mhz? is that the best the crucial ram can do? I'm curious because that's what I have... 1701 is a pretty good overclock for an xp, but as stated previously, you want to push the fsb as high as it will go before messing with the multiplier. Does your mobo have a memory divider? can you run the memory slower than the FSB? That will tell you if the memory or cpu is holding you back, and therefore whether unlocking it would be worth it

 

[panhead49]

its pretty much a given that your memory will do 150- 160 +......many people have gone there with crucial 2100.....you really will see a big diffrence when you unlock the chip and drop the mulitplier.......after you get through seeing how high you can get without the unlock ......see how high you can get the fsb ....it will be well worth it......

 

[jar5tyle]

Yea I'm thinking of unlocking my 1700+

There are some good guides out there, I have one printed off, so I can't remember the link, but there out there....

Also.... does anyone know of any good software that gives you options on your agp/pci speeds and ratio's to your FSB?

 

[Jwyatt]

jar5tyle,
Ive been looking for some software to show the pci/agp speeds for some time now without luck! Sisoft shows it sometimes, but when you go way out of spec I think it disables it thinking its picked up the info wrong

 

[panhead49]

jwyatt is right......i think your only choice is to buy a pci plug in card that reports your agp-pci and other bus speeds....it cost a pretty penny though....

 

[Jeff7]

Me ask again:
What are some sites with good XP Unlocking Guides?

 

[panhead49]

here is one from tom's hardware....its a 3 page guide and a video...




here's one

 

[KouklatheCat]

So you have to mask off each of the four L1 bridges individualy and connect them. What happens if you connect two of the adjacent bridges together? That is what the multimeter is for to test between adjacent bridges? What do you use to clean off screw ups?

 

[DivideBYZero]

New method involes the conductive rubber found in the LCD interface in Calculators and Mobile Phones. This has to be the easiest, safest and cleanest way.

 

[CubicZirconia]

<< New method involes the conductive rubber found in the LCD interface in Calculators and Mobile Phones. This has to be the easiest, safest and cleanest way. >>



To you have a link to a guide?