T-bird O'Cing

[ExtremeOC]

Am gonna be getting a 1.2Ghz T-bird ina bout 4 months.... i wont O'C for a while, but i just wanna know; is it unocked?? or is it a lock .18 micron processor..? i'll be getting the Socket a 462pin board; Probably get the DFI AK74-EC

[Rob Cork]

It's mutliplier locked, but you can get around that with the pencil trick:
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q3/000711/index.html
http://www.athlonoc.com/unlocking.htm
In four months time, KT133a and DDR boards will be readily available - the KT133a chipset allows you to keep your normal ram, but run on a 133MHz fsb - so the processor runs on a 266MHz DDR fsb effectively, instead of the current 200. DDR boards obviously will require DDR ram, but if you're buying the whole system from scratch that won't be a problem. There's a whole bunch of posts and articles around on DDR and KT133a if you want to know more - if you're going to wait four months anyway, don't get a KT133 board (I haven't heard of the DFI AK47-EC, but I'm guessing it's KT133 based).

[ExtremeOC]

it's a chip, not a slot. i've heard of drawing the cache lines be4, but i thought that was only for the slot. how much will a DDR mem baord and DDR mem be, (canadian plz if possible. if it's over 250 for the board, then there no way.) but i like your ideas about the ddr and the normal ram. they should have a MB that can do the DDR and the SDRAM so it's a bit easier on the pocket.

[Rob Cork]

This trick is for the socket a cpus - it doesn't do anything with the cache. The L1 bridges control the mutliplier on the cpu - if they are broken, you cannot change the mutliplier, if they are connected, you can, simple as that. I have no idea of prices on the DDR stuff, as it isn't really out yet, but the new KT7a, KT7a-RAID and A7V-133 are all out now, costing 20-30 bucks more than their KT133 equivalents. That's worth the little extra bucks I'd say. Plus they'll probably be down in price a bit when you come to buy them.

Ages ago when DDR was first being talked about I remember hearing plans for boards that had dimms for DDR and for SDRAM - dunno whether any are actually going to be produced though. If you are going to wait that long I wouldn't stress too much over deciding now - four months is an awful long time to plan ahead for in this business.