A couple questions (XP Thorton Core)

BigRod · May 17, 2004

I have a XP2400 (Thorton core) and a DFI NFII Ultra Infinity coming to me tomorrow and I have a couple questions.

First, what is the easiest way for me to tell if the Thorton is unlocked? I have read through several threads, and it seems if it was made before week 35 of '03 that it should be factory unlocked. Can someone verify that?

Second, I have read several things about unlocking the remaining L2 cache to make it essentially a Barton core (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030930171549.html). This article shows you what bridge to cross, but not what to cross it with. Can you still use a high lead pencil like with the old T-birds? Or do you have to use something like a conductive pen?

Finally, I am wondering what kind of overclock I can expect out of this chip and I can't find many resources that talk specifcally about Thorton core chips. If anyone has a personal experience or knows a website that mentions specific results, please post it for me.

Thanks!

arabarabian · May 17, 2004

FIRST question. If you have the CPU you will know that it is unlocked if you can change the multiplier, I do not know which ones come unlocked.

SECOND question. I have had not luck what so ever with the penicl method. I would recomend using conductive paint, the stuff the comes in the kit to repair your rear window defroster, or if you have a very stable hand you can solder them together. But it is very hard be warned.

THIRD question. This is a great resource.

arabarabian · May 17, 2004

Oops, here is the link

Captain Newbie · May 17, 2004

BigRod said:
Second, I have read several things about unlocking the remaining L2 cache to make it essentially a Barton core (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20030930171549.html). This article shows you what bridge to cross, but not what to cross it with. Can you still use a high lead pencil like with the old T-birds? Or do you have to use something like a conductive pen?

Finally, I am wondering what kind of overclock I can expect out of this chip and I can't find many resources that talk specifcally about Thorton core chips. If anyone has a personal experience or knows a website that mentions specific results, please post it for me.

Unfortunately almost all Thortons are super-locked, in other words, they can't have the extra L2 enabled.

Dukemurmur · May 17, 2004

i have heard of "some" of the newegg ones that can be unlocked to a barton but sometimes there r reason 4 it being locked....also if it can be unlocked to a barton them it it self is unlocked from what i have heard. As for over clocking they clock like a t-bred when they are really a barton....as they have the same pcb as a t-bred but have the Barton reject cores and such(or is it that they r FULL on barton rejects.....) any way they clock about the same a as a t-bred as that is what they "REALLY" are......

BigRod · May 18, 2004

arabarabian said:
FIRST question. If you have the CPU you will know that it is unlocked if you can change the multiplier, I do not know which ones come unlocked.

SECOND question. I have had not luck what so ever with the penicl method. I would recomend using conductive paint, the stuff the comes in the kit to repair your rear window defroster, or if you have a very stable hand you can solder them together. But it is very hard be warned.

THIRD question. This is a great resource.

I had looked into the database, but I didn't see a section specifically for Thortons. I know that Thorton's are 2400s with a 'Q' as the second letter in the stepping code, and there are a few listed in there with mediocore OCs.

Thanks for the link though.

BigRod · May 18, 2004

Re: Re: A couple questions (XP Thorton Core)

Captain Newbie said:
Unfortunately almost all Thortons are super-locked, in other words, they can't have the extra L2 enabled.

Just the cache or the multiplier too? The cache would be nice, but the multiplier is far more important.

BigRod · May 18, 2004

Dukemurmur said:
i have heard of "some" of the newegg ones that can be unlocked to a barton but sometimes there r reason 4 it being locked....also if it can be unlocked to a barton them it it self is unlocked from what i have heard. As for over clocking they clock like a t-bred when they are really a barton....as they have the same pcb as a t-bred but have the Barton reject cores and such(or is it that they r FULL on barton rejects.....) any way they clock about the same a as a t-bred as that is what they "REALLY" are......

I thought the Thorton was a Barton core cpu, not a T-bred? From what I had read, the Thorton is just a Barton with the half the cache disabled, either because it went bad during the fabrication process, or it came from a lot of CPUs that had several that went bad and were thus all transformed into Thortons.

I should get the CPU today, and I will post what I learn.

Hopefully the multi will at least be unlocked, that is all I can hope for at this point. I would really like to at least run it at 333 FSB, if not more. With the multi locked at 15 (15x166=~2.5GHz), that might be a stretch with quiet air cooling.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

kouch · May 18, 2004

dood,

I have good news and bad news for you.

Good news: with decent memory, you should get at least 200mhz memory (400 ddr) with the DFI. Usually people get much higher with decent memory (fsb's in the range of 230 and 240 are very common).

BAD news: if you expect to overclock this thorton to 2.5 ghz on anything less then water cooling, you are VERY unlikey to do so. Thortons are not known to be good overclockers and 2.5ghz is very good even on the older unlocked bartons (before the mobiles became popular).

So expect a higher fsb but a lower overall clock speed.

BigRod · May 18, 2004

Okay, well at least I am getting some idea of what is feasible. I really don't want to do anything beyond air for the sake of noise and money. I will be running it with an Alpha PAL8045 and a Spire 80mm 38cfm/25db fan.

I don't really expect to get much more than maybe 2.2, but I will just have to wait and see. If I could at least push the FSB to 150 it would be nice.

stratcatprowlin · May 18, 2004

I have a thorton superlocked 2400 and it doesnt want anything over 147 fsb @ any voltage.Tried it in my sig,

Meanwhile my superlocked 2500 does 200x11@stock voltage.

Divine · May 18, 2004

I have a superlocked thorton 2400 from newegg. I got it about 3 months ago. Mine tops out at 157fsb * 15x = 2355mhz. As stated no amount of voltage will allow it to boot at 1mhz higher on a Shuttle An-35n ultra. I found stability at 1.825 volts.

BigRod · May 19, 2004

stratcatprowlin said:
I have a thorton superlocked 2400 and it doesnt want anything over 147 fsb @ any voltage.Tried it in my sig,

Meanwhile my superlocked 2500 does 200x11@stock voltage.

Wow, mine is superlocked, got it last night. It is an AQYHA 0352. I know for sure it won't run at 166, accidently set it to that in the BIOS and it wouldn't boot

.

I am just going to up it a few MHz at a time and see how far I can get. I don't want to go much over stock voltage.

BigRod · May 19, 2004

Divine said:
I have a superlocked thorton 2400 from newegg. I got it about 3 months ago. Mine tops out at 157fsb * 15x = 2355mhz. As stated no amount of voltage will allow it to boot at 1mhz higher on a Shuttle An-35n ultra. I found stability at 1.825 volts.

Thanks a lot, it is good to hear some other people's experiences with the same chip.

What mobo and cooling are you guys using?

Divine · May 19, 2004

BigRod said:
Thanks a lot, it is good to hear some other people's experiences with the same chip.

What mobo and cooling are you guys using?

Using a shuttle AN-35N Ultra with some really loud air cooling(7200rpm delta /w Thermosonic heatsink) Idle 44c, load 47c

BigRod · May 20, 2004

Cool, at stock mine is idling around 40. Haven't loaded it up yet, but I am not at a point where I am satisfied with the cooling in my case.

A couple questions (XP Thorton Core)

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