Unlocking hyperthreading in Northwood "B" processors - plz lock this thread

[stardust]

i've been reading some threads at vr-zone and thought it would be interesting to start a thread here about hyper threading
so far, to summarize events, efforts to unlock the hyperthreading feature in previous (<3.06) northwoods have been unsuccessful. There have been however comments regarding the hyperthreading feature having to do with the A31 pin on the cpu. This was found to be tied with the RESET# pin and got many people stuck. The A31 pin seems to be a switch thats encoded in a microcode in the heart of the cpu. It is controlled by the RESET# pin, but to disable that would lead to cpu malfunction because of that pin's importance to other gates. Many people have tried removing the A31 pin with no affect so efforts are now being focused on a software or bios programming way of enabling hyperthreading.

please contribute your knowledge to this thread and maybe some of you were lucky enough to temporarily enable hyperthreading on the northwood "B" processors.

 

[stardust]

Pin locations can be found here:

P4 Pins

i wanted to post this on HIghly technical but im afraid of getting locked again...

 

[adlep]

interesting....
hmm

 

[Duvie]

As far as I know from respected INtel guys the HT is physically disabled on the chip die itself and I don't think a bios upgrade is going to do jack!!!!

 

[stardust]

don't be too sure...microcodes can only be accessed from bios...and they can unlock certain gates!! the only thing needed is just the right amount of shock to temporarily break the fuse inside the cpu that prevents the HT function from being enabled.

BTW..

ur intel guy still works in intel rite? i mean...he din get fired for telling u that huh? get my point?

*edit*

jus telling you guys what i kno, sorry if i sound threatening...dun mean to attack u

 

[snowwie]

yeah, I remember following the thread on the vr-zone forums; they've been talking about it for more than six months

and the only conclusion that I could make out from it is that we are all stuck with no HT unless we pay up for a HT chip

they've been following it for so long, that if there was a possibility, it would have been found

 

[Amorphus]

it took us 30 years to develop Magnetic RAM, and its going to be 5 more years before it becomes available, but that doesn't mean it was impossible because it took more than 6 months. the enthusiast community is really not that sharp on using ideas other than the cliche'd ones presented beforehand, I've noticed. we're probably just missing something.

also, HT actually decreases performance on programs that don't support it...

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: stardust
microcodes can only be accessed from bios...and they can unlock certain gates!! the only thing needed is just the right amount of shock to temporarily break the fuse inside the cpu that prevents the HT function from being enabled.

I can assure you that a BIOS cannot make or break a microfuse on the circutry of a die. Nor could a fuse ever be "temporarily" broken. But don't confuse the ability of the BIOS to disable HT, with it's ability to enable it. What I mean is, the BIOS can disable it on a chip that has HT technology. But it cannot enable it on a chip that does not.

Originally posted by: stardust
ur intel guy still works in intel rite?

Yes, I do... As do the others that have posted here about it.

Originally posted by: stardust
i mean...he din get fired for telling u that huh?

Umm... No I din (sic). Why would've I?

Originally posted by: stardust
get my point?

Nope, not at all. Care to clarify?

At any rate... Every now and then, rumors like this come up. Unlocking cpu's, enabling HT, etc. Features that are decided on the die level aren't (feasibly) able to be switched on or off after packaging.

Originally posted by: Amorphus
also, HT actually decreases performance on programs that don't support it...

Nah. Take a look at this graph, where Anand compared HT vs non-HT in several apps. Where there is a loss, it is negligible. And of course that doesn't take into account that all of those apps would be signficantly faster with HT when multitasking.

 

[stardust]

LOL!!! i jus ment if u told us everything about this or revealed sumthing that wasn't supposed to be known to the general public, u might be condemned by intel and the court of law


*edit*

mind telling us if A31 is the rite pin? and if older northwoods did actually possess the HT ability before it was permanently disabled for retail. heh i had a feeling some ppl who claim they unlocked hyperthreading were fake, but RiSTar in vr-forums did actually do it! how did that happen?

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

afaik, as stated above by the intel guy, the "microfuse" are already broken on the die to begin wtih which enable the HT feature
all northwood B's afaik have the bridges, but only the 3.06 has them intact

you'd need to connect the bridges, which after packaging is almost impossible, and not exactly feasible...


....i wanna work for intel....

 

[Harabecw]

Intel should have sold an "update" or sort.
If you have, say, a P4 2.4B you could send it to Intel and for about $50-80 have them enable HT and set the multiplier to x12 for 800FSB.
Is that even possible?

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: stardust
LOL!!! i jus ment if u told us everything about this or revealed sumthing that wasn't supposed to be known to the general public, u might be condemned by intel and the court of law

You are right. If I told you some confidential information, I'd certainly lose my job. But I'd never do that because I love my job, and I have the utmost respect for my employer (and I'd never do anything to jeopardize their potential success.)

Originally posted by: stardust
mind telling us if A31 is the rite pin?

The right pin for what?

Originally posted by: stardust
heh i had a feeling some ppl who claim they unlocked hyperthreading were fake, but RiSTar in vr-forums did actually do it! how did that happen?

Well, if he really did it, then why haven't others simply duplicated his task? Sorry if I seem skeptical... But I am. I'd have to know a lot more details before I could even take it seriously.

Originally posted by: Harabecw
Intel should have sold an "update" or sort.
If you have, say, a P4 2.4B you could send it to Intel and for about $50-80 have them enable HT and set the multiplier to x12 for 800FSB.
Is that even possible?

Well, I suppose it's not impossible... But it's definitely not feasible. To use the tools required to perform such a task would be incredibly expensive and surely not a profitable experience for either Intel or the (relatively) very few customers who might be interested
.

 

[stardust]

I think this thread has enough information! thnks wingznut for the info and everybody else. I wasn't really excepting anyone to unlock the hyperthreading feature but just wanted to know a little more about what would have been required to do such a feat. I own both HT and non-HT processors, so you see my motives are of educational purposes.

I ditto wingznut about the possiblitity of a paid unlocking by intel because it would be pretty unreasonable when HT processors are only going to be $20 more expensive than their non-HT cousin.

RiStar was requested by intel to delete the link he had of his system screenshots and his forum at Vr-Zone was also deleted. Sensitive information may have been discussed and would only be a memory for those lucky few who have read the >100 page thread.



**Could a moderator please lock this thread so it would be FIY only?**