TBird SlotA & Freespeed

[rocahopo]

Can anyone confirm that a Tbird Slot has the magic Goldfinger connection for a Ninja Freespeed?

What sort of overclocking could I expect from an 800Mhz Tbird SlotA

Cheers
rocahopo

[Lolboy]

Welcome to the board :xwavey:

It does have a GFD connector and I would expect 150/200 meg over core speed.
Do you know what core it has?

Lolboy.

[rocahopo]

I am trying to upgrade my system to an Athlon classic 800 but they are hard to come by at a reasonable cost so I am investigating wether a Tbird SlotA 800.

Thanks for the advice, it does have a GFD.

My current system is a K7 500 Classic / K7M, I can can get it upto 735M with an FSB=105 and 7X multiplier using a freespeed
with 1.8v Core.

I have learned from this forum that I can maybe go a little further by changing the L2 cache to 2/5 - Cool!, I will give this a try soon and maybe I wont need to go for a new Athlon after all.

Cheers
rocahopo

[Lolboy]

This just leaves the question of how you're gonna change your L2 cache to 2/5 cos the K7M hasn't got the option in the bios.

Lolboy.

[Berkswolf]

Does the cahce on the slot T bird not run at core speed? As I recall it needs no changing to allow higher clocking. Just change the multplyer and off you go :)

Someone correct me if my memory fails me here.

[Lolboy]

Yes Berks, the cache on a T'bird does run at full speed but he's talking about his old 500 at the moment. :rolleyes:

Lolboy.

[rocahopo]

mmm!,

How about I use mathlon for the cache change to 2/5?, If this pans out I may go for a soldering job but I am not so sure my shaky hands could take the stress.

rocahopo

[Lolboy]

You could try using Mathlon, but in experience it isn't very good especially on the K7M mobo. I used to own one and tried it but couldn't get any joy which is why I learnt how to solder it.

Lolboy.

[Johnny5]

I had a K7M with a Classic 600 and I had to solder the cache to get past 800mhz. Mathlon works after the computer boot, but before the OS. If the cache is running to fast, you won't be able to boot, hence not letting Mathlon start. Kind of like a Catch-22.
After I soldered the cache I was able to gain about 100mgz more.
Good Luck , if you try to solder the cache, it was very difficult.( the resistors a small)

PS. I *retired* the K7M to my wife.

[Longshot421]

All this talk of soldering on the proc. makes me want to ruin my CPU too! ;) What soldering equipment is required? I suspect my comparitively speaking enormous 25W job from Radio Shack is a little on the large size. :xmad2: Anyone got some CPU's they want to donate for me to practice on? :D Probably not, but I would like to know what kind of torch/iron you recommend.

[Lolboy]

Good idea to practise first but it isn't that difficult just nerve racking.

Follow this link: http://uk.geocities.com/lolboy_ninja

Lolboy.

[Longshot421]

Thanks Lolboy. I have a couple of dumb questions: If I use a FreeSpeed to overclock the Athy, does it affect the L2 cache speed too? Is this why we want to change the cache speed? For example, let's say I have a 750 that I clock to 900, meaning I have multiplied the proc. speed by 1.2. So does that mean the L2 that had been set to 1/2*750=375 would now be 450, so to keep below the magic 380, we change the cache to 2/5 so we get 900*2/5=360? This makes some kind of sense to me, is it right? :) Now what about voltages, why do we want to adjust these? Overclocked processors draw more power or do we reduce the voltage to control heating? Man, I feel like a dumbass asking these things, but hey, I'm new to this hotrodding thing. ;)

So, as always, your help is much appreciated.

:xnewbie:

[Pistol]

yup your right about the cache thing,Overclocked processors draw more power,thats also a yes,and there not dumb questions at all

[Longshot421]

Thanks Pistol, it's nice to know I'm on the right track. Now, if the folks I bought my new case from on eBay would just get their act together and ship it out, I can build my first overclocked Athlon box. :)

[Lolboy]

Dont' worry about asking dumb questions - we all had to start somewhere - you questions aren't dumb.

If you up the speed of the core then you will most likely have to up the core voltage which will in turn create more heat. You will have to get yourself a decent cooler like the VOS32 if you start going over 1.8v.

You're spot on with the cache divider calculations but bear in mind some people have run stable cache speeds of 425meg! I myself have managed 400 (800core and 1/2 L2 divider) so a bit of trial and error is the way to go.

Lolboy.

[Longshot421]

Thanks. I guess I need some of the monitoring software to know how my tweaks are working (like Motherboard Monitor and wpcpuid) Are there any others?

[Lolboy]

3Dmark2000/2001 are a couple of graphic benchmark tools which are fairly popular. If your PC can get thru these two then it can do just about anything. Get these from www.madonion.com

You could also download and install Sisoft. This is a package full of benchmark and information tools. http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/index.htm

If you decide to use WCPUID be aware there are two versions. Version 3 will give you the speed your cache is running and version 2.8 will show the divider setting and whether it is being set by hardware (soldered,standard) or software (mathlon,bios) If you have trouble finding both versions give me a shout. (Check this earlier thread for an example: http://ninjamicros.com/vbulletin/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=4074 )

Lolboy.

[Gibbon]

I use cpuz (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.htm)

Its simple, but nice :)

Gibbon

[Longshot421]

Thanks Gibbon and Lolboy, appreciate the help, advice etc. :xbthumb: