Just ordered my Athlon XP 1800+, is it worth it to unlock?

[jediphx]

If it is what is the cheapest and easiest way to unlock it?

 

[TerryMathews]

This is a relatively simple topic, so I'm going to start off at the top. Hope I'm not starting too low.

This is all assuming that your motherboard supports changing the multiplier setting. If it doesn't, there is no point in unlocking your Athlon.

CPU speed is made up of two components: bus speed and frequency multiplier. Your 1800 runs at 1.53GHz, or a 133Mhz bus speed * 11.5x multiplier. The Athlon does not really run at a 266MHz bus. Well, it does in the same manner that DDR Ram runs at 266Mhz. It doesn't by the pure definition of clocked timing, but effectively it does.

To overclock, to say 1600MHz, you have two choices: Set the multiplier up to 12x, or leave the multiplier alone and increase the bus speed. A 139MHz bus speed * that 11.5x multiplier would also yield 1600MHz.

Increasing the multiplier only adds increased stress to the CPU, but does not increase the speed of other periphals and only yields performance boosts on CPU-bound tasks.

Increasing the bus speed will yield performance boosts across the board, but causes increased stress on RAM, video card, and all other PCI devices as well as the CPU.

Increasing the bus speed is preferable if all of your components can handle the stress. Some cannot. The only real way to know for sure is to test.

Hope this helps.

 

[CrazySaint]

Also note that many motherboards have either a PCI/AGP lock or an increased divider so that you can either keep your PCI/AGP busses locked at spec or very close to it, meaning that you only stress your CPU, motherboard, and RAM, and none of the other devices in your system. Also, expanding on what TerryMathews said, supposing you get a CPU that won't overclock to high clockspeeds, you can actually reduce your multiplier and then increase your FSB which will increase bandwidth and improve overall system performance.

 

[CelticDemolition]

Originally posted by: jediphx
If it is what is the cheapest and easiest way to unlock it?

i bought the athlon xp unlocking kit from here for like $12 or so and it worked wonderfully. unlocking your xp is really very easy if you just follow the instructions and take your time. it took me only two tries, although im pretty sure that failure the first time was due to my friends mobo unable to adjust the multiplier. id say do it just for kicks... if you do it right theres no danger of killing your cpu at all and it only takes 20 mins or so. if you decide to try it let me know and i can give you tips on what i did.

 

[CelticDemolition]

tell you what. for you and for anyone else who wants to use the unlocking kit to unlock their athlon xps, i'll go ahead and post my tips now, since im gonna be away from my comp for 24 hours or so. *GASP*

1. put the gap filler in at least 2 or 3 times, just to make sure that the gap is completely filled. you have a ton of it anyway.

2. use the pin tip to smooth the scotch tape down over the filled gaps, when you remove the gap filler there should be no residue left outside of the laser pits.

3. get as little conductive grease on the head of the pin as is physically possible. its still more than you need. otherwise, you'll smear it, connect more than one bridge, and you'll have to restart.

4. dont be afraid to restart by washing the surface with the cleaning solution. once youve done the gap filler step (and let it dry slightly), washing with cleaning solution wont remove it. all you'll take off is the conductive grease.

5. dont let your dumbass friend spill the cleaning solution (hehe).

6. i recommend the 1700+ for this, because should you mess up and short the bridges (very hard to do this, but still possible) then you will permanently lock your multiplier at 11x, which, as you know, is the multiplier on the 1700+ anyway. plus, if you get a good stepping its a damn good overclocker.

k i gg now... leave any questions if you have them.