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Floppyman · 05-12-2001, 09:41 AM

Frey,

A so called "goldfinger" device is only needed on slot A athlons and tbirds. What it is, is basically a little card that plugs into a connector that's on top of the athlon, you would have to remove the front plastic casing to access it. I believe it was originally put there by AMD for diagnostic purposes. Once you plug on one of those "goldfinger" cards into the connector, you will be able to adjust the multiplier of the cpu and also the voltage. Don't know if there are a lot around anymore these days, since AMD has gone back to socket, and the technique for overclocking there is different.

The main problem with original athlons and overclocking was the cache. It ran either at 1/2 1/3 or 2/5 of the cpu speed. The cache was somewhat the limiting factor of overclocking the athlons, when you were overclocking the cpu, you in turn were overclocking the cache as well. There were ways around this, you could solder certains spots on the cpu and change your cache that originally ran at 1/2 to 1/3, giving you a better chance to overclock to a higher speed. There were also programs that changed the L2 cache speed in windows and also at boot.

On tbirds the story is different though as the L2 cache is on the die of the cpu, therefore running the same speed the cpu is. The overclocking procedure is also a little different for socket a chips. In this case the L1 bridges on the cpu need to be closed. Then jumpers on the motherboard, or the bios can be used to change the multiplier--definetely a lot cheaper than having to buy a goldfinger card, which ran up to $50 back when I bought one a while ago.

Also Ramer, I had a early tbird 700 slot a while back that I was successfully able to run at 900mhz. Depending on the week (and other factors as well) of your cpu, 1ghz may/may not be attaintable (cpu's manufactured later usually overclock better than the first batch), just remember to always use caution when overclocking.

05-12-2001, 09:41 AM	#13
Floppyman Member (13 bit) Join Date: Mar 1999 Posts: 6,791	Frey, A so called "goldfinger" device is only needed on slot A athlons and tbirds. What it is, is basically a little card that plugs into a connector that's on top of the athlon, you would have to remove the front plastic casing to access it. I believe it was originally put there by AMD for diagnostic purposes. Once you plug on one of those "goldfinger" cards into the connector, you will be able to adjust the multiplier of the cpu and also the voltage. Don't know if there are a lot around anymore these days, since AMD has gone back to socket, and the technique for overclocking there is different. The main problem with original athlons and overclocking was the cache. It ran either at 1/2 1/3 or 2/5 of the cpu speed. The cache was somewhat the limiting factor of overclocking the athlons, when you were overclocking the cpu, you in turn were overclocking the cache as well. There were ways around this, you could solder certains spots on the cpu and change your cache that originally ran at 1/2 to 1/3, giving you a better chance to overclock to a higher speed. There were also programs that changed the L2 cache speed in windows and also at boot. On tbirds the story is different though as the L2 cache is on the die of the cpu, therefore running the same speed the cpu is. The overclocking procedure is also a little different for socket a chips. In this case the L1 bridges on the cpu need to be closed. Then jumpers on the motherboard, or the bios can be used to change the multiplier--definetely a lot cheaper than having to buy a goldfinger card, which ran up to $50 back when I bought one a while ago. Also Ramer, I had a early tbird 700 slot a while back that I was successfully able to run at 900mhz. Depending on the week (and other factors as well) of your cpu, 1ghz may/may not be attaintable (cpu's manufactured later usually overclock better than the first batch), just remember to always use caution when overclocking. Last edited by Floppyman; 05-12-2001 at 11:15 AM.