AMD athlon 1800+... why is it all wierd?

I have a green athlon XP 1800+. I was thinking about trying to overclock it, but none of the pictures i've seen in guides look anything like what the pins for my L1 cache look like. I did a crude photoshop representation of what it sort of looks like:



I can't even tell what pins are supposed to be the L1 cache, and whether it can be unlocked or if its one of those that came already unlocked and my bios just isn't letting me change anything... Anyone know whats up with this CPU? thanks...

Edit: Oh, its the same as this guy's. Thats the only other pic i've seen that has matched how mine looks so far.

Also, before I go tryin' stuff, if one were to cross connections or screw up something while trying to connect bridges, would that screw up the whole CPU entirely, or would overclocking just not work?

L1 bridges are supposed to control whether the motherboard can override the multiplier or not. L1 cache is a fixed size on all AMD cpus, but sometimes the L2 cache can be re-enabled by closing an L2 bridge.

The ones that can be re-enabled are:
Barton-cored XP CPUs that report 256K L2 made before week 39 of 2003
Thoroughbred-cored CPUs sold as Durons made before week 39 2003.

I don't think

I took the CPU out and examined further - to the left of "L1" there is actually a set of bridges that look normal-sized, maybe small, but they are very dark, sort of like they are buried underneath the surface. Then, there are those yellow pins that stick up on either side of the possibly-buried bridges. I'm confused as to A: whether the pins sticking up or the bridges buried below are what needs to be connected and B: what exactly needs to be connected to unlock the multiplier, anyway? Do I just have a wierd processor with which overclocking is impossible?

edit: here's more info on it from the stepping code:

Core - Thoroughbred-B
CPU Model - 8
Manufacturing Process - 130 nm
Approximate Transistor Count - 37.6 million
Approximate Die Size - 84 sq. mm
Performance Rating - 1800+
Working frequency - 1533 MHz
Package Type - OPGA
Operating Voltage - 1.6 V
Max Die Temperature - 90° C
L1 Cache Size - 128 KB
L2 Cache Size - 256 KB
Multiplier - 11.5x
FSB Frequency - 266 MHz
Stepping Code - SIXIB
Manufacture Year - 2003
Manufacture Week - 50
Production Batch - M
Batch Production Number - 0S80

You cannot unlock the multiplier on post week-39 chips. It is hardcoded and no amount of L1 fiddling is going to make it work. OCing is still possible through the FSB - 200x11.5 is a respectable overclock at 2300MHz if you can get that high.

You have the newer organic-type packaging which means the small darker dots underneath the first layer are indeed the actual bridges, and the gold pins are not connected.

ah, I see. Thanks. There is no alternate way to change the multiplier, right? I guess I'll just give up on that, cause I've tried increasing the FSB to 166, and that makes my monitor not respond... so I take it that won't ever work, either.

If you have a ViA, SiS or AMD760 chipset then you can adjust the multiplier on-the-fly (in Windows) using the PowerNow! features. You need to paint over an L5 bridge to make the chip think it's a mobile first though. If you want to do such a mod search around the AMD forum for L6 and PowerNow.