High-End TBird Tips

What the reviews said:

It’s not a Palomino.

All those mentioned in reviews have AXIA codes.

They perform a bit better than the 1200s.

What else you need to know

Since these are AXIAs, you don’t need to buy a 1300 or 1333 to get one, just look around for a lower-rated chip with the same code.

Since we already have some experience with how they behave, here’s a few more points to consider:

Get serious about cooling: If you spend $300 on this chip, don’t try to save $10-15 by using the AMD retail fan or something else cheap, then ask us, “Why doesn’t this overclock much?” It probably doesn’t overclock much because you tried to save $10-15. Don’t match up a world-class processor with a Mickey Mouse heatsink fan. If you’re going to go first-class, go all the way.

A wee bit more voltage may help: Obviously, this is adding fuel to the fire, and any mobo mods are strictly your responsibility, but provided you are using top-notch cooling, 1.9 or 1.95V may get you over the 1500Mhz hump.

Peltier Friendly: Earlier generations of TBirds were rather unreceptive to chilling. These seem to get more of a boost out of it. No miracles, but 100-150Mhz improvement doesn’t look to be out of the question.

Email Ed


Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply