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Sep 2, 2002
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VA
Im a P4 guy, and im interested in getting an AMD system next, but im not really famliar with some of these terms.. What is meant by unlocking? i never really understood it. And how does teh AMD compare to teh P4 as far as stability is concerned? any help and/or pictures is much appreciated. ty
 
well I can explain the unlocking part,
When AMDs are shipped out the mulitiplier in the BIOS is fixed to whatever say for arguments sake 12.5.
The fsb is also set say 133
Now if you do your math, you know what 12.5x133=
well you work it out.

Now that is the cpu speed.

When people refer to unlock they tend to mean that they wish to unlock the L1 bridges, so that when they go into BIOS, they may increase and decrease the multiplier, resulting in a higher then what you got it at speed.

One other thing to consider is that when you get one, look at the stepping to make sure that it is one that you may overclock, as there is nothing like getting one and finding out that it is the worst one of the bunch.

Search theses forums, to find out which is the best stepping in it class, and all your other needs..

Almost forgot, if you do overclock..REMEBER, make sure your cooling of the cpu is up to scratch as when you overclock it shall give out more heat.

Hope this helps
 
Oh and that is relevant to Palominos only - for the Tbreds (latest models) the L1's are closed and depending on motherboard unlocking may or may not be an issue (might be already unlocked especially on newer mobos). If it is then it is generally related to the L3 bridges only on the cpu.
 
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