L5 Mod

[Jerryhey]

Does the L5 mod still work right now? I'm thinking of putting together either a dual 2500+ or a dual 2800+ system right now, but I first want to make sure that the L5 mod works. If it doesn't I'm just going to go A64, but I man would I just love a dually.

[cmcquistion]

Yes, the L5 mod still works, but the best bet is to buy Mobile XP's and convert those. They are the easiest to work with.

[TenementFunster]

What's the easiest way to do the L5 trick? I'm not sure what's the best stuff to use for bridging the traces. I tried to use a part of some unlock kit, but the conductive grease never hardens, and smudges easily.

[cmcquistion]

What's the easiest way to do the L5 trick? I'm not sure what's the best stuff to use for bridging the traces. I tried to use a part of some unlock kit, but the conductive grease never hardens, and smudges easily.

Depends on what chips you have...

The newest L5 mod is to use mobile athlon xp's and then simply cut one of the L5 bridges (there are two connected and one is needed for SMP, the other is not.)

The old L5 mod, suitable for standard athlon XP's, is detailed in the CPU mods section of my SMP sticky. There is a link in my sig.

[emboss]

Mobile XPs:
+ Unlocked multiplier, so you can easily get the full speed out of your CPU through painting pins.
+ Generally O/C better than desktop chips.
- Needs 3rd L5 cut or a BIOS fix on some boards (K7D = bios fix, Asus and Gigabyte OK I think).
- Stability issues on some boards (K7D = bad, Asus and Gigabyte and Tyan are usually OK).

Desktop XPs:
- Multiplier locked, so need to rejoin all L5's and use boot-time PowerNow fixes to use to their full potential
- Don't generally overclock as well as mobiles
+ No stability issues
+ No need to cut any bridges

To rejoin a bridge, you just stuff conductive paint (window defogger stuff works well) into the cut.

[x-stars]

If you need a got HowTo, I found one right here (http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=2&id=393)

that's for the "old" XPs, for mobiles you need another way. Don't take "normal" XP2800+, they have an FSB of 166, so they won't run with whole Speed in an MP-System.

[Twin_Turbo]

Mobile XPs:
- Needs 3rd L5 cut or a BIOS fix on some boards (K7D = bios fix, Asus and Gigabyte OK I think).
- Stability issues on some boards (K7D = bad, Asus and Gigabyte and Tyan are usually OK).
I just wanted to add to emboss's post
Most Tyans as well as Asus, Gigabyte detect 2 cpus without cutting the 3rd L5
I've tried the 2466N, 2466N-4M and 2469 K7X Pro
All of mine are Mobile 2400s set to 16x, they POST as MP2800+, 2 cpus detected
Some people @2cpu.com have had problems when using the 2460 with mobiles

[Jerryhey]

Wait, so you're telling me that all I have to do to get mobiles running in an SMP setup is cut one of the L5 bridges, as opposed to re-filling them(for XPs)?

Because if that's so, then I'm just going to save a bit of money and get a dual 2500 or 2600 setup.

Does anyone have any guides for mobile to SMP modding?

[emboss]

Uhh, filling pits is a lot easier and safer than trying to cut a bridge :) With the mobiles (and a "mobile-in-SMP-compatible" board) you don't have to do anything with real mobile CPUs. Just drop them in (pinmodding for a multiplier) and away you go.

If you're using a board such as the K7D, you shouldn't run mobile Bartons due to stability issues, though mobile TBreds usually work OK. For running mobile TBreds you can either cut the 3rd L5 on the chip or use the patched BIOS.

If you're using a board that will run mobile Bartons stable, but doesn't like running them when they have PowerNow activated, you again have to cut the 3rd L5.

Note that you have to be very careful when cutting the 3rd L5. There is a trace that runs between the 3rd and 4th L5's, and cutting that trace will stop the CPU from working.

[Jerryhey]

^Okay then, what boards will run the mobiles without having to do any physical modding?

Thanks a lot by the way.

[cmcquistion]

^Okay then, what boards will run the mobiles without having to do any physical modding?

Thanks a lot by the way.

The Gigabyte board will and the Asus board will, if you use BIOS 1010. There may be others (Tyan boards?), but those are the two that I'm sure about.

[cV]

I just got a Gigabyte GA-7DPXW and two mobile barton 2600+s. Once I can afford to buy some registered RAM I'll post and see if the board recognizes both without the third l5 cut.

BTW, can someone post a picture or link to a picture illustrating the 3rd l5 bridge being cut? Seems hard to find, thanks

EDIT - thanks cm, I'll won't do anything to the CPUs then. :cool:

[Twin_Turbo]

^Okay then, what boards will run the mobiles without having to do any physical modding?

Thanks a lot by the way.
Here (http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52721) are all of the boards that I've tried with mobiles

[cV]

I can verify that I did not have to cut any bridges for my Gigabyte GA-7DPXW v1.0 (basic) to recognize two mobile 2600+ bartons.

I pin modded to 17x and 1.85vcore and am running at 17x140 or 2380MHz.

Twin turbo, you can add that the non-P gigabyte board works as well w/the Jul 2003 BIOS.

[Jerryhey]

I've heard a lot about how after being in dual set-up for awhile, mobiles "crap out" and stop working.

Has this happened to anyone here?

[Twin_Turbo]

I've got 9 Dual XP-Mobile systems running.
(2) Tyan 2469
(3) Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P
(4) Tyan 2466
They all have mobile 2400+ running at 2800+ or higher.
All of them have been folding for several months
The only problems I've heard are when using MSI boards or the Tyan 2460

[Twin_Turbo]

I can verify that I did not have to cut any bridges for my Gigabyte
Twin turbo, you can add that the non-P gigabyte board works as well w/the Jul 2003 BIOS.
Sorry, I can't, I've only tried the latest MB with BIOS F5

[JimInMA50]

BTW, can someone post a picture or link to a picture illustrating the 3rd l5 bridge being cut? Seems hard to find, thanks:cool:

http://hardware12v.com/overclocking/guias/mobile/imagenes/puentes.jpg

So far the only Image I could find for ya

The rest of the article is here ARTICLE (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=es_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fhardware12v.com%2foverclocking% 2fguias%2fmobile%2f1.php)

Not sure if this helps... :-/

PS: Not sure what language this Article was originally, but you can use babblefish to convert it to English. I assume they mean DESKTOP when they say TABLECLOTH :beer: :beer: