Do you have to cut the bridges to unlock an XP?

I am working on unlocking my XP. I filled in the gaps with some white paste thermal epoxy and then I cut really thin strips of alumnium foil and put them in a row on a piece of tape and then I put the piece of tape on the L1 bridges. The only reason I am doing it this way is because I do not what to buy anything unless I need to. But is it crucial that I cut the bridges before?

Thank You,
Daniel

depending on the processor and motherboard, you don't need to do anything. There are a lot of other posts on this subject to just do some research. For instance the 1700+ with the TbredB core is unlocked from the factory. You just have to have a motherboard that supports using all of the multipliers. My A7N8X will adjust up to 12.5 but my NF-7 will use all of them.

Good luck.

I have 1700+ but it is a Palomino. But it was letting me change the multiplier in BIOS but it was not showing up when I would test it using Sisoft Sandra.

Thank You,
Daniel

There are three different 1700+s.

How can you tell? CODES! click here:
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=222237

Both Thoroughbred A and B are factory unlocked. Only 1700+ Palominos are not. Also, one of the CPUs that overclocks furthest is the 1700+ T-Bred B.

Guess what? It's $49 no tax and free shipping which is why it's hardly worth it to mess with unlocking the Palomino or to buy any other CPU. The T-Bred B overclocks 300 MHz further on average than T-Bred A, and it overclocks much more than that when compared to a Palomino.

Your time and frustration is worth more than $49, get this thing & cruise to 3000+ speeds with proper equipment: http://www.gameve.com/store/gameve_viewitem.asp?idproduct=267

Palomino's are not factory unlocked. I think -It's been awhile- if all the L1 bridges are closed that will unlock all the multipliers. Search the forums or net for a guide. There are hundreds of them.

Thank You to all. I have had this CPU for two years so maybe I will retire it and save it for a folding only machine. As soon as I get some more money, about 2-3 weeks I will think more seriusly abouting getting it. But maybe I should replace my KG7-RAID and my GeForce2Ti at the same time.

Thank You,
Daniel