Got an old processor around and you wanna do some OC'in to make it handle today's apps a bit better? Pray it's a thunderbird core because this mod will let you OC it on almost any mobo, locked PCI/AGP or not. 
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
I nor OC3D.net are responsible for your mistakes. Unlocking your chip can have very negative effects. You can kill your processor.
--
Step 1. Can you make use of this mod?
First check if you can even overclock. Make sure that you can change the CPU VCore, and the CPU Multiplier, and CPU FSB. If you lack CPU Vcore options, you're pretty much out of luck. If you have voltage options but lack Multiplier adjustments or FSB adjustments, don't fret.
You can usually adjust the FSB by moving a jumper or arranging jumper blocks in different patterns on your motherboard. Check your motherboard's manual, or try to scope out the jumpers and read their labels on the board. You can also adjust the multiplier on the motherboard too. Look for a large jumper block, or a set of dip switches. You can check your motherboard manual for them, too.
As soon as you've located everything, start to prepare your CPU.
Step 2. Preparing the CPU.
There's my CPU. An AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1GHz. This partictular model comes in the 100x10 config... which is a 1Ghz processor with a 200MHz FSB. Thunderbird's also has 133MHz FSB's in later models.
As you can see I've had a minor thermalpaste explosion... but it's just Arctic Silver Ceramique so it really doesn't matter. Just clean it out the best you can.
Now, find a #2 pencil. Just a regular old #2 pencil works.
Aww, best bud's already.
Step 3. Locate and execute.
Now, look at the CPU and locate the four set's of two gold dot's, labeled L1. These are the L1 bridges. They're to the right of the gold AMD logo.
Now, carefully pencil in and connect them.
Before:
L1 ::::
After:
L1 ||||
Like that. Here's what my finished product look's like, you can see they look darker now.
Guess what, you're done with the hard part.
Step 4. Keepin it cool.
Now that you've finished the mod, you're obviously going to overclock your CPU. Overclocking makes your CPU run hotter, so you'd better keep it nice'n cool. Keep these thunderbird's under 70ºC at all times. Anything below that is fine.
I have a regular old Coolermaster Aluminum heatsink that I use for my thunderbird, but I've ghetto modded it a bit.
Take a look see.
Hehe, ghetto, eh? But it works great. Just a regular 80MM fan zip-tied to the retention clips of the HS/F.
This heatsink has had a rough life as you can see. Work's great, still!
You'll see how good the temps are, especially for a Thunderbird, later on.
Step 5. Installing the renewed beast.
The culprit.
Specs:
MSI KT4V-L -- VIA KT400 Chipset (Of course it's an MSI, it's me!)
1x 512MB Centon PC2700
OLLDDD Antec Mid-Tower Case
300w Hipro PSU (Quite beastly for a 300w'er)
Hercules 3D Prophet II GeForce 2 GTS -- Pimpest GF2 you'll ever see.
4x DVD-ROM
20GB Seagate HDD
30GB WD HDD
Drop the CPU into it's socket and latch the lever down. Apply your thermalpaste.
Yes, I get happy with the Arctic Silver, oh well.
Quick shot of the beastly vid card.
All installed. It is quite hard to get the heatsink back on with the fan that way but once you do it looks kinda cool.
Remeber, you're going to be overclocking so make sure your PSU is up to the task.
That fits the applicaiton well.
Step 6. Working the Thunderbird magic.
Before firing up your newly modded rig, CLEAR THE CMOS. If you don't your multipliers will most likely remain LOCKED until you clear it.
Fire the rig up and pray. If it POSTS, you're good. If it dont, you screwed something up somehow and your chip is most likely toast. I am not responsible for your mistakes.
Moving on, once you get into the BIOS head to the PC Heath section to make sure your temp's are ok.
If they're ok, head over to the Frequency/Voltage section of your BIOS.
Change your settings to what you think will be acceptable, save, and reboot. I went from 100x10 to 133x9.
This increases my FSB a total of 66MHz and my overall clock speed a total of 200MHz, so it was necesarry to increase my CPU VCore. As you can see my BIOS is very flexable, overclocking wise. Your BIOS may not be as flexible as mine.
Once you have configured everything to your liking, save settings and reboot.
Success!!! 1.2GHz. Now, let it Boot and see if it start's windows OK. If it BSOD's or Restarts when booting windows, you either need to give your chip a bit more voltage or you're clocked too high. Remember, these chip's are based on the 180nm process, and can take a lot of voltage, but can't clock very high.
Once you get into windows, check your settings again with CPU-Z.
Step. 7. Test for stability.
Theres my CPU-Z screenshots.
It's also validated here. http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=79743
I tested stability by letting Rosetta@Home run for a while.
So there ya go!! Fully unlocked and ready for pimpage.
Good luck with yours, and have fun.
Nick
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
I nor OC3D.net are responsible for your mistakes. Unlocking your chip can have very negative effects. You can kill your processor.
--
Step 1. Can you make use of this mod?
First check if you can even overclock. Make sure that you can change the CPU VCore, and the CPU Multiplier, and CPU FSB. If you lack CPU Vcore options, you're pretty much out of luck. If you have voltage options but lack Multiplier adjustments or FSB adjustments, don't fret.
You can usually adjust the FSB by moving a jumper or arranging jumper blocks in different patterns on your motherboard. Check your motherboard's manual, or try to scope out the jumpers and read their labels on the board. You can also adjust the multiplier on the motherboard too. Look for a large jumper block, or a set of dip switches. You can check your motherboard manual for them, too.
As soon as you've located everything, start to prepare your CPU.
Step 2. Preparing the CPU.
There's my CPU. An AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1GHz. This partictular model comes in the 100x10 config... which is a 1Ghz processor with a 200MHz FSB. Thunderbird's also has 133MHz FSB's in later models.
As you can see I've had a minor thermalpaste explosion... but it's just Arctic Silver Ceramique so it really doesn't matter. Just clean it out the best you can.
Now, find a #2 pencil. Just a regular old #2 pencil works.
Aww, best bud's already.
Step 3. Locate and execute.
Now, look at the CPU and locate the four set's of two gold dot's, labeled L1. These are the L1 bridges. They're to the right of the gold AMD logo.
Now, carefully pencil in and connect them.
Before:
L1 ::::
After:
L1 ||||
Like that. Here's what my finished product look's like, you can see they look darker now.
Guess what, you're done with the hard part.
Step 4. Keepin it cool.
Now that you've finished the mod, you're obviously going to overclock your CPU. Overclocking makes your CPU run hotter, so you'd better keep it nice'n cool. Keep these thunderbird's under 70ºC at all times. Anything below that is fine.
I have a regular old Coolermaster Aluminum heatsink that I use for my thunderbird, but I've ghetto modded it a bit.
Take a look see.
Hehe, ghetto, eh? But it works great. Just a regular 80MM fan zip-tied to the retention clips of the HS/F.
This heatsink has had a rough life as you can see. Work's great, still!
You'll see how good the temps are, especially for a Thunderbird, later on.
Step 5. Installing the renewed beast.
The culprit.
Specs:
MSI KT4V-L -- VIA KT400 Chipset (Of course it's an MSI, it's me!)
1x 512MB Centon PC2700
OLLDDD Antec Mid-Tower Case
300w Hipro PSU (Quite beastly for a 300w'er)
Hercules 3D Prophet II GeForce 2 GTS -- Pimpest GF2 you'll ever see.
4x DVD-ROM
20GB Seagate HDD
30GB WD HDD
Drop the CPU into it's socket and latch the lever down. Apply your thermalpaste.
Yes, I get happy with the Arctic Silver, oh well.
Quick shot of the beastly vid card.
All installed. It is quite hard to get the heatsink back on with the fan that way but once you do it looks kinda cool.
Remeber, you're going to be overclocking so make sure your PSU is up to the task.
That fits the applicaiton well.
Step 6. Working the Thunderbird magic.
Before firing up your newly modded rig, CLEAR THE CMOS. If you don't your multipliers will most likely remain LOCKED until you clear it.
Fire the rig up and pray. If it POSTS, you're good. If it dont, you screwed something up somehow and your chip is most likely toast. I am not responsible for your mistakes.
Moving on, once you get into the BIOS head to the PC Heath section to make sure your temp's are ok.
If they're ok, head over to the Frequency/Voltage section of your BIOS.
Change your settings to what you think will be acceptable, save, and reboot. I went from 100x10 to 133x9.
This increases my FSB a total of 66MHz and my overall clock speed a total of 200MHz, so it was necesarry to increase my CPU VCore. As you can see my BIOS is very flexable, overclocking wise. Your BIOS may not be as flexible as mine.
Once you have configured everything to your liking, save settings and reboot.
Success!!! 1.2GHz. Now, let it Boot and see if it start's windows OK. If it BSOD's or Restarts when booting windows, you either need to give your chip a bit more voltage or you're clocked too high. Remember, these chip's are based on the 180nm process, and can take a lot of voltage, but can't clock very high.
Once you get into windows, check your settings again with CPU-Z.
Step. 7. Test for stability.
Theres my CPU-Z screenshots.
It's also validated here. http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=79743
I tested stability by letting Rosetta@Home run for a while.
So there ya go!! Fully unlocked and ready for pimpage.
Good luck with yours, and have fun.
Nick
