Need info on T-Birds overclockablility

[PreDatoR]

Thinkin' about gettin a T-Bird setup. I've always been an Intel fan but for the price and performance i say screw Intel. Whats a good T-Bird to get for the price that will overclock the most. Want to get over a gig and more if possible. Also what a good MoBo for these with ata/100 Raid onboard that is rock stable and allows for high bus speeds. As far as unlocking the chips i know the defogger trick but what is the pencil trick? Also i've got a FOP 38, do those work with the T-Birds?

PreD...

 

[Viper GTS]

The "defogger" trick is exactly the same as the pencil trick, you're just using a different substance to close the bridges. Better conductivity, more permanent, etc.

Viper GTS

 

[PreDatoR]

I realize that but what type of pencil do you actually use to do this with. Pencil trick is kind of a generic phrase.

PreD...

 

[Viper GTS]

Just a standard pencil. Graphite conducts electricity quite well.

Viper GTS

 

[PreDatoR]

so your telling me the good ole no. 2 pencil will do the trick? Never knew those were conductive. Which method is better for unlocking them. I'm assuming the defogger one is the better of the 2.

PreD...

 

[Viper GTS]

Yup, they are definitely conductive.

As for the better of the two, the defogger paint is considered to be better. It conducts better, & is less likely to rub off, smear, or otherwise make a nuisance of itself.

Viper GTS

 

[PreDatoR]

ANyone?? i know someone must know something around here!!

 

[worms]

I did 2 chips w/ the pencil. One right after another w/o even putting down the pencil. One worked great and the other could not be made to wor even after 3 more tries. Trial and error is a real PITA w/ socket A heatsinks and grease, etc. Spend the $7.

 

[Azratax]

The MoBos based around the KT133A chipset overclock very well, and are supposadly very stable. The KT7A-Raid (abit) and the Iwill kk266-R both have raid, and support multiplier adjustment from the bios. there are feviews on the KT7A and the KK266 on the main anandtech page if you want moe info on those boards.
FOP38 will work with tbirds.
Defogger works better than pencil trick, but applying it is VERY tedious and time consuming. It took me more than an hour.
-Az

 

[worms]

Took me about 3 minutes to apply the defogger. 2.5 minutes to figure out that it just can't be done with a jeweler's screwdriver, and 30 seconds to do it with a toothpick. I used a cheap square toothpick but obviously a round one is best. Blot it once on a non-porous surface so that the drop is not too big. I did it on two chips and got both right on the first shot (although the first chip was pretty borderline). Take my advice and blot and it should go well. If it doesn't go well than you may be looking at an hour like Azratax.:Q

Pencil lead is not much of a conductor - it's more of a resistor. How much so depends greatly upon the pencil brand.

I just assembled a Abit KT7A-RAID, Athlon 1.2, Taisol heatsink (lapped and smeared) in a Antec SX830 case. Used a pair of those $85 Maxtor 30GB 7200rpm ATA100 drives from the hot deals forum (deal dead) and a pair of $90 CAS2 256Mb Crucial chips and I must say that in all my years of professionally building systems, I have never been so impressed with the quality, performance, or trouble-free setup as I was with this system. At default voltage the Athlon running at 137x9.5=1302MHz idles at 100F and picks up maybe 5-6 degrees under full load. The hard drives are silent, as is the Antec p/s, the case fans and CPU fan make only minimal noise.

 

[bonkers325]

loctite is the bomb just dont get close to it for too long :Q

 

[alarcon]

Standard pencil works great for me, also i have an ABIT KT7A-Raid and a Thunderbird 1000 @ 1200 Mhz, with an FOP38 , than already you have, so keep the FOP, it´s noisy but is a gread HSF

 

[Fermunda]

Hey, if you're looking for one thats already been tested check over on the For Sale/Trade sections of this forum... Look for Compuwiz (maybe Compuwiz1) He is an excellent trader w/many great reccomendations (sp?) The best i've seen him offer is a 1.2ghz tbird@ 1.45ghz.

He normally comes up with quite a few...all tested and ran at different speeds...and so noted. Hope this helps a little.