Unlocking the Duron 900

[Frodo Baggins]

BTW, read my other post on the AMD Motherboard section..

When unlocking the AMD, should you use only a #2 pencil? And what is the amount of graphite and amount of pressure you should apply on the bridges?

[i12bina3]

i ve heard a couple of times that it is better to use something else than a pencil: use a mechanical pen or paint ... but on overclockers.com there are a couple of reviews about that subject

[Frodo Baggins]

What kind of lead?

[r_stripe]

Alot of people have had good luck with using a .5mm #2 mechanical pencil. That is what i have done across all the L1 bridges. Be aware that this might not be a permanent unlock, its handy for testing and so forth. Amount?? well just becareful and scribble over the correct bridges making sure they dont contact the ones next to it. I just scribbled for 5 seconds and gently blew off the loose graphite and scribbled a few more times, your not filling a canyon with graphite, actually its a slit cut by a laser. A more permanent way is to use a fine point conductive pen *available at most any electronics store* Another alternative is to use a rear window defrost repair kit, this contains a paint like substance that conducts electricity,"but it can be a little tedious to paint over the bridges. My recommendation is to try the pencil at first and if its successful then go for a more permanent method.....Good Luck

[FRANK]

First of all, Welcome to the forums.

That being said, It would probably do you some good to go to the front page of this site and check out hte "Beginers Guides", in there you will find a very good article on closing the L1 bridges with some excelent photos. While you're there, you may want to spend some time perusing the other articles on overclocking in general.

As far as preferred methods to close the bridges, I've used both and although the generally accepted method would be a conductive pen or "rear window defogger kit", I have one of my DURON 600's running @ 1100MHz for several months now with the pencil trick, If I get a chance to make it more permanant I will, but I see no reason to remove the hsf at this time.

Good Luck!

[JAWS]

I know the pencil would be easier, but I would go with the rear
window defogger kit.

[r_stripe]

Frank,
Not to shabby....Duron 600@1100? may i ask what FSB, multiplier, and Vcore your are running? I can't tweak my voltage through my bios, so the highest I can take it is 1.85v. My 850 @ 1100 runs and boots fine, 3dmark, PI Unreal Tournament all run fine, Prime95 usually rounds off with an error around the 8 iteration....just curious.

[Frodo Baggins]

Sorry, but my question isn't answered anywhere else...

Does the Amptron K7-VMA motherboard support overclocking?
A good substitute for the ASUS? or ABIT?

Hope you can answer this question...


Oh yeah, thanks fellas for the responses

[FRANK]

Originally posted by r_stripe
Frank,
Not to shabby....Duron 600@1100? may i ask what FSB, multiplier, and Vcore your are running? I can't tweak my voltage through my bios, so the highest I can take it is 1.85v. My 850 @ 1100 runs and boots fine, 3dmark, PI Unreal Tournament all run fine, Prime95 usually rounds off with an error around the 8 iteration....just curious.

Thank's for the compliment.

I have two DURON 600's both "AKBA" stepping. I have one on an ASUS A7V motherboard with the KT133 chipset. This chipset doesn't support FSB's much above the 107 / 110 range. Ive got this one set at 110*10, with the voltage set to the boards maximum of 1.85v reported as 1.92v by the ASUS Probe.

The other DURON 600 was on an ASUS A7V133 board (since upgraded to a 1.0G AXIA). This board uses the improved KT133A chipset. This chipset has been reported to reach 150+MHz FSB. I attained my highest speed with the settings at 133*8.5, although I can reach 140MHz FSB on this board, I had to lower the multiplier. This combination has returned the best benchmarks as well as the highest overall speed. The voltage was set at the maximum on this board as well, with similar readings as the A7V.

Good cooling is a must with these CPU's. I've had good results with the Global Win line of hsf's with the WBK38 model my current choice.

[Frodo Baggins]

Thx for the tips...

The Duron doesn't have any heating problems by itself does it?
I mean...it's not like my Cyrix 166 Mhz which is a toaster

[r_stripe]

Frank,
Thanks for the info, I was just curious cuz I had seen some posts of people running there durons @ 130's and 140's FSB and no matter the voltage mine wont post over 120fsb, and thats only with a multiplier of 7 anything higher and no post.....but 116 at any multiplier works fine........I just cant figure out if its the stepping or the Mobo, or a combo of both anywho........im debating what I should do next.....I boot fine at 1100 but like I had mentioned earlier Prime95 errors out....."thats not successful to me" and also can do 1160, boots fine but of course P95 errors out. Voltage is maxed @ 1.85v....So im guessing its either cooling or just the limit of the chip. But anywho, Thanks again. Any feed back will be greatly appreciated....P.S ive backed it back down to 1000 till i try my new heatsink.

[FRANK]

It sounds like you're running into a problem with the PCI bus. With the FSB set at 120 you are running the PCI bus at 40MHz (default is 32). On most boards as you increase the FSB there comes a point where the "divisor" changes from 1/3 to 1/4. This usually occures somewhere around 132MHz, at which point the PCI bus comes back into spec. For example, when running a FSB of 120MHz you will have a PCI bus of 40MHz, however increasing the FSB to 140Mhz, the PCI bus is only at 35MHz, much closer to spec therefore, less problems with the peripherials, hard drives and nic's in particular.

Try getting over the 1/4 divisor, remember to decrease the multiplier when you get that high with the FSB.

Good Luck!

[r_stripe]

Ive tried 124 and a few other fsb but right now I am not at home, but later tonight I will rip into my bois and double check at what FSB the 1/4 divisor comes into play..............I believe I tried some higher FSB's with the 1/4, but after thinking about it I dont think I had upped the voltage then........Thanks

[r_stripe]

Well it seems I have met the limit of my FSB for my lil Duron. It wont post with any multiplier @120 or higher. So 116 is my limit there. Although I have gotten it to 1080 now :) Currently running it at 108x10. boots windows fine, even at 1200!! but prime95 errors at anything above 1090mhz. what a shame. Well thats about it for me, Frank thank you for the info and good luck with your machines.

[SickBoy]

For all you types, we've got an AMD FAQ coming soon... it's coming together nicely and we've got a lot of content. As soon as I get it finished I'll let y'all know where it is. It'll cover a lot of these questions and hopefully will be readily accessible.

SickBoy

[JAWS]

Sweet!! That's a great idea!!