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AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Review 6 Weeks Before Release
Mathew Solnik writes: "Tom's Hardware has a review of the AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 6 weeks prior to its official release. This review shows how to unlock the multiplier on the AthlonXP and how to reach AthlonXP 2000+ speeds easily." Note that by doing so, you are voiding any warranty you may have started with, risk blowing up your eyeballs, etc; do proceed with caution.
someone explain to me why they had to choose that name.
As far as I can tell, one product named XP is one too many.
I am just more and more impressed with the way AMD is going with there technology ... I just hope that keeping the same "basic" archtecture doesn't hurt them in the long run. I am looking forward to AMD chips in the future
... considering that THG just had that infamous test like "what happens when the cooler dies?"
And AMD's processors literally went up in smoke!
No doubt you should have a fire extinguisher near!
:-)
Note that by doing so, you are voiding any warranty you may have started with, risk blowing up your eyeballs, etc, do proceed with caution.
We're all (most) adults here, there's no need to remind us of the consequences of our actions. If you put up warnings for this, you should put up warnings every time a kernel release story is out - "caution. This kernel may cause unstability, security holes, poor performance, oily discharge, etc".
~z
sig?
Another XP! It was bad enough when Windows went XP. Is AMD trying to associate itself with a software company out of Redmond?
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Bypassing this security mechanism is stealing, pure and simple. At least that is what some people say. But, when you buy a CPU you are not buying a service. If I want to buy a new car and then bore out the cylinders to get a little more horsepower, it is okay. Why don't car manufacturers put a big padlock on the engine compartment, then they could require you to take it into the dealer when you needed any kind of service. etc. I'm sure the people at AMD would differ with this opinion.
Sean Lane Fuller - The truth is out there!
So I don't see why this had to be posted at here. If you're interested about overclocking you computer you also prolly read those hw sites.
I've seen those sort of tongue-in-cheek warnings on "new cool software" too.
Best Slashdot Co
as has been stated on
they stand for different things, etc.
try doing a little investigation before you just blurt out some random stupidity.
...dave
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
Tom's Hardware has been getting a lot of bad press these days. Thier burning Athlon videos caused a lot of controversy, and regulars at some other tech sites (*cough* Anandtech *cough*) have a strong dislike for Tom's work.
But this article just goes to show you why Tom's Hardware is the best hardware review site out there, just like it has always been. Over the years, Tom has written some of the best articles for hardware enthusiasts and has pushed "overclocking", a term which was once mysterious, into one of the big issues of modern computing. Motherboards are now being designed specifically for overclocking, and this has lead to huge increases in performance. Most people forget that Tom's Hardware has been one of the most influential sites as far as this is concerned.
It's good to see what is undesputably the best current article on technology. I hope even those who hate Tom's Hardware will see the light. No other tech site has anywhere near the ability to do stuff like this.
-NeoTomba
I might just wait for a awhile. I am posting this on a new K7s5a with a 1GHZ AMD, MDK8.1 and this things is smoking already. I dono how much faster I could get!
With the down turn in the economy, and there not being a great deal of software that non computer savy people use that require processors of such speed do people think that there will be a great demand for this chip in the consumer market?
I assume you are from the US...
...
The country the introduced explaination (graphical & text) on toothpicks boxs
Also the first to write "Don't dry your cat/dog in the microwave"
So please reconsider 8)
(this is where my sig is to the point 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Now all that is quite an achievement, that they figured out all what's involved, but let's face it: Overclocking an Athlon XP 1900 to 2000 won't do anyone any good. That's like 2% more performance and at what kind of expense and risk? What would be informative and what wasn't provided would be if an Athlon XP 1500 (1.33GHz) can be rigged to reach 2000+ (1.66GHz) that way. It's all about how much headroom the CPU-core has and the price/performance overclocking provides. ... at least until they go 0.13micron.
Tom's article shows that the Athlon XP clearly doesn't have a lot of it. We can expect the Palomino core to stick around the 2000-rating (1.66GHz) for a while
I think it's cool that AMD has made it so easy to make this chip overlockable. According to the article, all you have to do is connect the L1 contacts, and that's it.
although, keep in minde this is not for the faint hearted. you will also need a conductive lacquer to connect the contacts, tape, super glue, a scalpel, and multimeter. I don't know about you guys, but I think when all this is required to overclock your CPU, it's a bit much for the rewards you get.
Also, for most users, the faster processors like this new AMD are so fast anyways, that overclocking them will probably give a faster experience only in benchmarks, and not in real user experience. It's a cool article, none the less - but if you just bought one of these babies, would You want to pull out all these tools to overclock it?
I would play it safe and be happy with my already fast computer.
Moon Macrosystems. Sun's biggest competitor.
that means even more room to overclock when it'll shrink to .13 microns.
:)
I didn't think the current process would go above 1.5 with standard cooling, this is good news
Now where are those Nvidia boards...
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
i just hate that it's called XP...makes me not want to buy it. that is an acronym to be feared and avoided.
I have never seen such info? Please link?
shouldn't that read "from the chips-to-HEAT-up-your-neighbor dept."?
It's a few hours of work besides, and they run the risk of destroying a piece of expensive hardware to do it.
This space for rent.
There. There is a fish. Where? There!
Their. The dogs ate their food. Not mine, theirs!
They're. They're nice. They Are nice.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
with my homemade "equivalent" dollars. Really, Mr. Dealer, one MyDollar® is the equivalent of $3USD.
was originally an abbreviation for as in Christ.
In addition, since it makes Ahtlons explode it can be construed as a terrorist act under the recent counter-terrorism act.
In short, Tom will be shot at dawn.
Also, bear in mind that not only will your warrenty be void, but some people have said you may be liable to penalties under the DMCA, since the clock multiplier lock is considered a form of 'encryption' and the increased processor speed gained by unlocking it can be seen as 'copyrighted software'.
Quite how this can be the case is beyond me, surely the speed at which I run my software is down to me, but you never know with these DMCA issues. It can all get a bit surreal at times.
If you read through the article, it points to several pictures where things went awry. One such example is where the superglue ran under the scotch tape onto the contacts and couldn't be scraped off.
Some superglue manufacturers offer a thicker type that doesn't run quite as eagerly as the liquid type. It is more the consistency of model airplane glue so you have more control as to where the glue actually goes. It can be found at hardware stores and any place that offers a decent selection of adhesives. This may be a better solution than hoping and preying that your masking job is adequate and liquid superglue does seem to have a mind of it own sometimes as my fingers will testify.
Well, duh!
That was my first response.
Now consider that Tbirds and P4's produce the same "horsepower" or have the same "oomph" despite one being 2Ghz and the other 1.4+.
Ok, with that in mind, don't forget that the acutal size of the processor. The actual chip part of an athlon is, what?, 1/4 the size of a p4?
Not only that but the p4 has a heat spreader (or first stage heatsync?) where the Athlon does not (almost typed in doe snot..heh, I love typoes).
I'm sure thermodynamics ~= a simple physics question:
Which exerts more force an elephant with a foot that has a 6" radius or a 100lbs female in high heel shoes (down, boy) with a 1/4" wide heel?
The hinting was at which would hurt more, in essence. It went against most ppl's intuition.
More force (or pain.) would be delivered by the 100lbs female on that 1/4" surface area.
Similar reasoning applies to the Athlon. All that heat, on that small area. Did not help that the thermal shutdown sensor on the MB's did not poll quick/good enough (maybe the MB's were made in Florida, dunno. Cheap shot, sorry).
Funny thing is this: if you did overclock, most likely you would leave the case's side off and would notice. And it is getting to the point with heat syncs that either liquid cooling systems are going to be needed soon, or anchoring it to the MB, a la p4's, is the next step.
Either way I am going to build an AMD system soon before prices go up...only drawback is how to muffle the sound of dual 7k rpm fans w/o putting the thing outside.
Cheers ppl.
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
Since you're going to the trouble to buy silver laquer (in either the bottle like Tom's used, or in an applicator pen) you might as well go to the trouble of buying conformal coating material in a bottle or applicator pen- it's not THAT much more expensive. While it's cure time is a lot longer than superglue's, it's designed for this sort of thing and it's at least a little easier if you fsck things up with your end run around AMD's overclock blocks (because it's laquer and will give you some options to carefully scrape any overflow off of the lands.).
By the by, this all seems like a lot of effort for little payback. Some of you may not want to do this.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I'm trying to think: what is more useless than a review of a product that isn't on the market yet? Anybody have any ideas? Sunglasses inside a cave at night on Pluto, maybe.
I can't wait to see someone show up for work with processor stuck to their fingers.
I'm sure the song by Huey Lewis "Happy to be stuck with you" will surge in popularity for a brief moment.
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
Connect the pins with a pencil mark? Use superglue as an insulator? Normally I would shy away from attempting such a hack, but those mangled processor shots make me think - YOU CAN DO IT!
The name has to do with marketing. Right now AMD is trying to market its CPU as more of a main stream product. By labeling it XP I assume their goal is to make the CPU seem like it was designed for Windows XP. As scary as this may sound, consumers might be more inclined to by computers with this CPU because of its name.
I think there numbering system though is a bit subjective. Consumers probably won't understand what 1600+ really means.
-Blake
And I'm sure if that plane was Russian or something and happened over in Moscow, you wouldn't be giving a damn right now.. Well, news for you, not all of us are american either.
To be blunt, there's some dickwaving going on here, as always. 1900 to 2000? Big whippity whoop, especially considering the effort and cost dangers.
Tom's Hardware is also using the wrong tools for the job. Even other overclockers know better. There are pens for writing PC board traces with conductive ink. Using conductive paint and tape is doing it the hard way.
I read the article and found it interesting, but I fail to see why most people would want to spend the time and effort to do this. Why not just wait a few months for the next generation of CPU's to come out?
Also, how reliable would this overclocked CPU be after a few months? What if the superglue or L1 contacts overheat and breaks a connection?
From the article:
However, the maximum setting is currently limited to 12.5X, which allows you to reach a clock speed of 1666 MHz (12.5 X 133 MHz = 1666 MHz) without having to increase the front side-bus clock speed
Or maybe what is being said is that the Athlon XP's are wickedly fast
You be the judge
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
"we managed to prepare a clear, step-by-step guide so that all you ambitious PC users can crack the Athlon XP processor"
I didn't need any help doing that. I've managed that my self before!
"we also show benchmark results that demonstrate the jump in the performance of the Athlon XP/MP"
Mine performance jumped right into the trash can after I "cracked" it.
Can we get over this DMCA nonsense.
Who care about any filthy vodka swilling Russians? They're just a bunch of brutal thugs who will provide the "antiterrorist" goon squads to enforce Emperor Bush II's "UN" New World Order. All right thinking people know that it will be Americans that will be calling the shots.
And that is only proper.
They overclocked a presently available processor, making it equivalent to one that will be released in 6 weeks.
--
The Cap is nigh. Time to get a fresh new account.
I would have liked more results with overclocked FBS. If I got XP, I propably wouldn't bother to connect the L1-bridges just to gain few % of additional performance. I would increase the FSB. Easier, and it gives you more performance.
I think XP is just begging for more FSB. Cranking it up to say 300Mhz (2x150MHz), would increase the actual MHz of the CPU, and it would nicely increase you bandwidth (both memory and FSB).
Of course, I would much rather have the Clawhammer with it's 800MHz FSB...
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
...And by overclocking our CPU, we find that it does not have adequate heat protection. This is terrible, AMD should do something about this, right away! And what's with this warranty, that says, "Don't FUCK with things you shouldn't!"? That's just stupid! I'm a moron, I have a right to overclock without increasing my heat solutions, and damnit, by God, I have a right to run my computer without a heat sink at all!
Tom = Troll.
i'm too busy, lazy and apathetic to bother.
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
"Which exerts more force an elephant with a foot that has a 6" radius or a 100lbs female in high heel shoes (down, boy) with a 1/4" wide heel?"
The elephant foot exerts a lot more force. The heel exerts more pressure (even when you account for the fraction of the weight resting on the toe).
Interestingly, if you work it out, the elephant's foot places about the same pressure on the ground as an automobile tire.
A ferrari vs. lambo vs. porsche shootout is pointless, yet many magazines do them. How to build a $10,000 small block engine is pointless, yet there is at least one or two per year in hot rod.
Many publications do pointless things. Not always is the point "this matters". Sometimes it is "isn't this some cool shit?"
Like the Linux kernel source. I'm not going to monkey with it, but a handful of others will.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
The one is a measure of quality, the other of time.
:)
Not that I ever saw a 286 boosted more than 4 MHz, but that was still a 33% increase. Testing? Who needs testing?
Overclocking was never so fun after you started being able to do it all with jumpers (or, God forbid, in the BIOS). And once the Celeron 300A came along... well, it just lost all its mystique. Remember, geeks lose interest in popular things. I haven't overclocked since a brief stint with an old K5-100 at 150. (Very brief.) You mark my words, Linux will lose friends quickly if it ever sits on more than 10% of the world's PCs...
...eXpensive Processor.
Other possibilities:
eXcessive Promotion
eXtensive Patchwork
eXplosive Packaging
eXtremely Patronizing
eXecutes Poorly
eXecutive Pacifier
And of course,
eXPires in a month.
Note: I'm a huge fan of AMD (I'm soaking in one right now!), but this whole name thing is a riot.
XP XP Bo Bex-P, Banana Fana Fo Fex-P, Fee Fi Mo Mex-P... XP!
Sing with me!
Athlon Athlon Bo Bathlon, Banana Fana Fo Fathlon, Fee Fi Mo Mathlon... Ath-lon!
But the test chip was a 1900+, and there were no details of how much you could boost other chips in the range. Did YOU even read the article?
That is, remember, what the fool saieth in his heart.
I actually live in finland, that's a lot closer to Moscow than NY. And I don't care so much about victims' nationality or religion. I just think it's sad that so many people died.
And you're right I wouldn't prolly give a damn if someone would die in a russian plane crash. That's because I think flying with russian aeroplanes is a suicide.
...that the WHOLE POINT of the thermal pad, or of heat transfer compound, was to make up for the residual roughness of the heatsink base. Just shows how wrong you can be, eh?
I don't know why people think that Tom's is a particularly good source anymore. These days they really seem to be slow off the mark...
That is all.
If you had read the article you would have understood that there are two points:
- overclock the processor. OK that's geeky, not that much a performance gain compared to the old-days, but that's still funny. That's like this guy who put his PSX into a portable console. Not many people will do it, but that's fun
- second point and that's why Tom's principaly did it, is to be able to test the XP 2000+ 6 weeks before it is out. Isn't that a nice thing to know?
Even for AMD the news is good: it creates publicity 6 weeks before their processor is out, 'against' their will (didn't they protect the processor against overclocking?) and the risk of people overclocking the thing is small.
Sneak teach kids Algebra using a game
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
That was at the inquierer - they're as bad as the register. There are NO other sources that agree, and there is no reason for AMD to hide a move to .13, since that would be excellent marketing:
"We at AMD have moved to a better manufacturing process that Intel that produces cooler, faster chips!".
Isnt it just the best feeling when, you post a new news article.... Only to be rejected. And then someone posts the same article later the same day and gets accepted!?
I submitted this story at like 1am last night with an almost identical commentary
Can anyone explain this?
"We deal in lead" - Roland of Gilead
I'm assuming based on your language usage that you are from a part of the world where you need to unplug the Microwave when it's not in use because the unstable surging power infrastructure would destroy it otherwise.
Also, I assume that you're from a part of the world where you regularly cook dogs/cats in the microwave, of course killing and dressing the carcass.
Enough said.
I find it amusing that Tom's Hardware went through "
several dead processors" before they figured this out. Especially since other hardware sites had posted this a week or two ago. Guess they had to read the articles and find out how to do it.
Check out VR Zone's method. Much better and reversible.
http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/AMD/AthlonXPUnlock/
Tech Stats
http://www.oc-athlonxp.com/bridges/
I boosted my Athlon to 2.45 GHz and now I can defrost dinner while I hack.
Actually, it would take much longer than an hour to do that. You would have to drive to one or more stores to find the necessary items (super glue, silver stuff) and spend your hard earned cash on those items. After following all of those steps your CPU might just be destroyed if you make a mistake. If it does work, you are only looking at a 2%-5% increase in performance. This isn't a very realistic modification.
XP = chi rho = "Cairo"
cpeterso
and the 2000+ is also just a coincedence?
http://on.to/netone How do they have it?!
I'm in the market for a new cheap fast machine. Which is better: a P4 mobo with SDRAM or an Athlon mobo with DDR ram? RDRAM is too damn expensive.
I think those are referrerd to as 'British Pounds'...
VR-Zone ran an overclocking article several days before Tom. While it didn't have the detailed explanation of why graphite won't work, it did have a easier (and probably safer) method for filling the laser pits. They suggest that you use non-conductive silicone based thermal paste to fill the gaps instead of superglue. Otherwise, the methodology is pretty much the same. I don't know if it works as well, but it seems to have less potential for damage.
k /
http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/AMD/AthlonXPUnloc
The AMD Athlon "XP" modifier is designed to convey the extreme performance AMD Athlon XP processors deliver for the upcoming Microsoft Windows XP operating system.
I honestly don't see the problem people around here have with the XP name. There are a hell of a lot more Athlons running Windows than there are running Linux. The thing that gets me is "QuantiSpeed (TM)." That's even stupider than Itanium.
you would definitely win the 'i'm a gigantic fucking moron prize'..
of course it's intended to refer to the p4 2GHz, that is no coincidence, that's a referrence in a competitive sense.
Think different? I'd be happy if most people would just think...
its no mystery that amd and microsoft are bedfellows, especially after intel decidedly helped the linux community with its compilers for the 64bit itanium...
We're like rats, in some experiment! -- George Costanza
Well, this guy is only making a point.
And he's true about the graphics on toothpicks...
So, is he modded down only because ot the critic, or because you don't have a sense of humor ?
For this is worth +1, fun, or +1, insightfull...:)
also, considering what happenend to him/her for blatant truth, I'll post as an AC.
Best Regards, your Censorship...
I'd kill to have a Dual 2000+ MP system...
According to my AMD source, it's marketing BY stupid people.
Think about it, as bad as Intel's marketing is, AMD's is worse.
Hey, what does this button do? Woops....