What core is in my Athlon XP?

[Jeff7181]

Can someone tell me how to find out if I have a Polomino or a Thouroughbred core? It's an Athlon XP 1700+ that I bought within the last few months from one of those discount computer parts places I found on Pricewatch.com

 

[dew042]

most likely its a palamino core.

TB cores ar small, have all of the capacitors and what not on top and will have a little label for the stepping.

palamino has just the core and bridges on top and the stepping on the core.

dew.

 

[Jeff7181]

Ok... sounds like that's what I have then. Another question... what's with the organic "substrate" (I think that's what it's called). I thought all XP CPU's had the organic stuff instead of the ceramic... but mine is definately ceramic, unless it organic, with a ceramic coating.

Oh yeah, and as far as overclocking, i can't even get to 1800+ speeds with my 1700+ with FSB settings. Unstable. How difficult would it be to unlock this CPU? Assuming it's a Polomino core. The pencil trick won't work with this will it?

 

[SupermanCK]

maybe you should check your model serial number with amd's website to make sure
it is written on the core

 

[Jeff7181]

Can I check this using some sort of CPU ID program? Or do I have to physically look at it?

 

[grunjee]

You have a Pally, the T-Breds have just barely become available.

I don't know much about the organic/ceramic issue, sorry. 🙁

"Older" (even just a few months old) XP's aren't known for their OC'ing ability. I think the AGOGA's are exceptions, with above-average OC performance (probably 1900+ to 2000+ realistic). If you have an AGKGA (or is it AKGKA???) you're probably out of luck.

To find out your stepping you will have to remove the chip and look at the core. The second line will begin with the stepping code -- AGOGA or AROIA or similar. The first letter of the *third* line will indicate the "sub class" I guess you could call it -- usually a "Y" or a "9", sometimes a "K". In general the "Y" chips OC the best.

Also, what motherboard do you have? This is a critical factor in what kind of overclock you can get.

 

[Jeff7181]

It's a Shuttle AK31 KT266 Via Chipset. Latest BIOS updates I could get for it. I'm assuming it would be a good candidate because it has both a FSB and Multiplyer setting in the BIOS... but since I haven't unlocked my CPU, changing the multiplyer doesn't do anything.

I've been playing around and right now I have it running at 1507 MHz, FSB of 137. And I haven't gotten any errors yet, but the Case and CPU temp both increased by 3 degrees F. I haven't done any hardcore tests to see if it will handle it under load. I'm about to do that now, I'll report back and let ya know how it's going.

 

[grunjee]

You know I forgot to mention something... in my experience with about 5 different processors, burning in has helped some seemingly stubborn chips to reach good (or at least better) overclocks.

My procedure for burning in is to use Prime95 to see how high you can get the chip stable. Maybe initially run Prime for half an hour and if it doesn't quit (generate errors), try to OC some more. If you get errors then back the cpu down to the last point without errors. Set it there and let it Prime for at least 12 hours (a day or even several days is better and sometimes necessary).

Also while you're doing this, bump up the Vcore as high as you can without letting your temps get out of control.

If after burning in for a week your chip still won't budge, you either just have a 'dud' of a chip or it could be your ram holding you back... what kind of ram are you using?... if it's 'cheapo' Best Buy ram or any kind of generic, that could be your whole problem right there.

 

[Jeff7181]

It's funny you mentioned that...
I left it running right at 1507, played a few CPU intensive games, now I have it bumped up to 1540 and it's running as stable as at 1507. I have my VCore set at 1.760 right now. I know increasing the voltage will shorten the CPU's life because the extra voltage will "beat down" the logic gates after I while... at least, that's my understanding of it. But lets say I run it at 1.800. Exactly how much shorter are we talking for it's life span? Will it run for only 10 years instead of 50?
Oh... there is one other thing I changed... in the BIOS, I changed the DRAM clock to "SPD" instead of "CLK"... that limits the RAM to the speed at which it's meant to be run right? In my case, 133 MHz... where as if I left it set to CLK, it would just run at the same frequency as the FSB. Is that correct?

By the way, what's Prime95?????

 

[grunjee]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
It's funny you mentioned that...
I left it running right at 1507, played a few CPU intensive games, now I have it bumped up to 1540 and it's running as stable as at 1507. I have my VCore set at 1.760 right now. I know increasing the voltage will shorten the CPU's life because the extra voltage will "beat down" the logic gates after I while... at least, that's my understanding of it. But lets say I run it at 1.800. Exactly how much shorter are we talking for it's life span? Will it run for only 10 years instead of 50?
Oh... there is one other thing I changed... in the BIOS, I changed the DRAM clock to "SPD" instead of "CLK"... that limits the RAM to the speed at which it's meant to be run right? In my case, 133 MHz... where as if I left it set to CLK, it would just run at the same frequency as the FSB. Is that correct?

By the way, what's Prime95?????

= = = = =
Nice... see, the burn in seems to be helping 😀

Ok, if you increase the Vcore, as long as the chip is kept at safe temperatures, you will not damage the chip. What is a safe temp? I would say that for your board, as long as MBM5 (motherboard monitor 5) reads temps of 65 C or under you're good.

If you put it to 'spd' instead of 'clk' it might reduce the ram clock depending on your board. For example some boards have a 'ram divider' where if you pass a certain point (133), a 3/4 divider will kick in, so say your chip is running at 140, your ram will actually be running at 105. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. On the other hand, if you leave it at 'clk', if your FSB is 140, your ram clock will also be 140. You want to keep it at 'clk' for sure.

Prime95 is an excellent program for testing the stability of your cpu and ram. It basically run the cpu at a constant 100% load doing tons of calculations.... it measures the known results against your cpu's results and will let you know if your cpu makes an error. Just do a search for Prime95 on google and you'll pull it up. If you can run Prime95 overnight you're generally good to go. A full 24 hours is a certainty.

 

[Jeff7181]

The strange thing is that the BIOS reports 266 MHz ram clock no matter what the FSB is set at... maybe I'm missing a setting to change that???

 

[Damascus]

Yup it's probably Palomino. To date, I have never seen a T-bred under 2200+. It's a shame
because I really wanted one of those 1.5V cores. (I'm not buying a shiny new 2200 to
underclock it 🙂)

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Ok... sounds like that's what I have then. Another question... what's with the organic "substrate" (I think that's what it's called). I thought all XP CPU's had the organic stuff instead of the ceramic... but mine is definately ceramic, unless it organic, with a ceramic coating.

Oh yeah, and as far as overclocking, i can't even get to 1800+ speeds with my 1700+ with FSB settings. Unstable. How difficult would it be to unlock this CPU? Assuming it's a Polomino core. The pencil trick won't work with this will it?

organic substrate comes in two colors: brown and green. brown is older xps and green is the newer ones. its supposed to be better because it disspates heat better.

the ceramic ones are purple. if you have a palamino core with purple ceramic then it is probably a athon MP for multiprocessing. if it is ceramic it should be factory unlocked to begin with.

btw: burn in is a myth imho (over 20 overclocked amd cpus from my first duron 600mhz)

dew.

 

[Wind]

Look like u got ur self a XP MP...if it's ceramic. All XP comes in organic brown/green. XP MP is unlocked. Search around for how to unlock XP...coz the pencil trick won't work (there is pit between the 2 bridges).

O/C do shorten CPU life span...but it will still last until ur next upgrade (5 years maybe).

Setting RAM to SPD will set the RAM timing to the default...I presumed CAS3...meaning u should be able to get higher FSB.

 

[Jeff7181]

Would it hurt anything to take the heatsink/fan off to take a look at the numbers on the core like some of you suggested? I'm not using any kind of thermal paste, just the thermal pad... isn't it a bad thing to reseat those pads? Or should I do it and get rid of the pad all together and get some thermal paste?