Athlon XP (palomino) unlocking kit

Mad Mike

Anyone know where I can get an unlocking kit (aka overclocking kit) for an Athlon XP (palomino).

Its basically a kit with goo that can be used to fill a laser cut trench and then safely short some tiny links (L1). I had a look to see if I could manage with ordinary "household" materials but when I saw the tiny size of the links I chickened out.

These kits cost about $11 in the US but does anyone know of a place where I can get one without having to pay UK£20 postage or something equally ridiculous (may as well save up my money for a new processor).

Failing that has any one in Ireland actually done this mod and what materials did you use?

BabyEater

If you get a back window defogger kit it will have the conductive ink and a wee brush to apply it. All you need then is something non-conductive e.g. crayon , glue, non-conductive thermal paste.

Mad Mike

Thanks for the suggestions.

Crayons, glue etc, I got. The defogger kit sounds expensive - I'll check around.

The_Bullman

I have done this sucessfully on a palominio chip. The defogger kit was about 20 euro. Thing is that they aren't really selling defoger kits anymore. There was only 1 of the 5 motor shops around town that had them so it was a little difficult to track it down.

I assume you have been to toms hardware to see how to do the job?


And pardon my ignorance.. Aren't thoroughbreds already unlocked?

Mad Mike

You are on the ball there bullman - my Athlon is in fact a Palomino not a thoroughbred.

I have edited the post to refect this (I think).

SouperComputer

AFAIK no recent athlons are unlocked.

however, quite a few (maybe all, could be wrong here) NF2 boards have the ability to unlock the multiplier in BIOS

i_am_dogboy

i think the new via chipset(400A) supports unlocking in the bios too

Flashman

All you need is your knife, and a pencil. Pencil in around the laser cuts to close.

Mad Mike

Flashman - did you see the size of those laser cuts? You would need to be very good at microsurgery to pencil around them without shorting something.

Anyway I think I am sorted. I have just invested in a silver ink PCB repair pen from Maplin. It was pricey enough at €26 but at least I didn't have to trawl around Dublin looking in every motor accessories shop. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

logic1

Originally posted by Flashman
All you need is your knife, and a pencil. Pencil in around the laser cuts to close.

Also this will not work with an XP chip. The conductivity levels through the wires was changed so lead will no longer work.

I've done several, I fill the valley with nail varnish then using a magnifying glass and tape, tape off each wire seperately and join with conductive silver (a.k.a. window defogger repair kit)

Takes a while and a magnifying glass but it's handy to do. My bottle of defogger repair solution was about 6 euro can't remember where I got it though.

.logic.

Flashman

Flashman - did you see the size of those laser cuts? You would need to be very good at microsurgery to pencil around them without shorting something.

Well I didn't do it with my eyes closed:D , but it works, I did it myself with a xp 1800. Just do it carefully, and keep a rubber nearby if you need to start again...

logic, it is possible that the lead I used had a higher conductivity, the pencil is probably over 20yrs old. Is this possible? Anyway, it worked:p