133mhz FSB Athlon C - necessary for KT133a?

[Diesel]

hi, i'm about to get the KT7a-RAID w/ the new KT133a chipset officially supporting 133mhz FSB and need a proper Athlon to match... I've heard that the proper Athlon to get is a new one called the Athlon-C which officially supports a 133mhz FSB as well. Where can i get an Athlon-C and do they cost the same as regular Athlons? I've looked on Pricewatch and i cant find anything that says it's the "C" version. - Is all of this correct or am I just misinformed? should i just screw it and get an old athlon (im going for 1ghz or above) w/ 100mhz FSB and somehow overclock to 133mhz FSB? (i've never done any overclocking at all... will changing from 100mhz to 133mhz FSB require alot of tricky work?) I'd rather not have to fool with any overclocking on this matter... all words of advice are highly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Guest]

Very few of the current 100Mhz bus Athlons will work at 133Mhz bus. The tech reports I have read seem to show a ratio of about 1:10. I have quite a few parts and have had better luck than that. Never the less it would be a crap shoot and I take it, something you are not willing to do. Athlon-C's will be sold at a slight price premium, but nothing that would stop you from purchasing it. All Athlon-Cs are currently beeing sold to OEM's to meet the DDR board supply (like Micron PC). My advice would be to wait for a revC Athlon if you have your mind set on buying a KT133a MoBo. If not, go for an 'older' MSI MoBo with the KT133 chipset and a current 100Mhz bus Athlon. You can save a few $$$ and still have a great platform.

<font color=green> slice-N-dice </font color=green>

Nothing travels faster than the speed of pain

 

[Guest]

I have not heard that the CPU's are different other than their clocking, multiplier setting being lower and FSB setting being higher, making them the C designation. I have also not heard that the current Athlons will not go to 133mhz, but in fact it has be reported and proven that the current KT133 chipset, not the KT133A, is not stable much over 110mhz. The Pentium III's were that exact same initially, some were set with multipliers and FSB's to run at 133mhz, some at 100mhz. All of the Pentium III's I owned with the 100mhz FSB setting would run at 133mhz with the appropriate board and PC133 memory, as this is the same in the case of the Athlon scenario, proper board and memory should allow them to run at 133mhz, but of course you may have to reset the multiplier lower to allow it to work.

 

[yoda271828]

Agreed. Everything I have read has said the same thing.

 

[IntelConvert]

"...have to reset the multiplier (on the 100MHz T-Bird) lower to allow it to work (at 133MHz)".

Reportedly doing that works, BUT in order to lower the multiplier you must unlock ir first - and doing that requires messing with the cpu! So unless Diesel is a "techie at heart", I strongly suggest waiting for the 133MHz T-Bird which should be available pretty soon (at about a 10 to 15% price increase).

 

[Diesel]

great, thanks for the tips, but just how soon is "soon" on the release dates of that Athlon-C? i dont want to wait much longer!

 

[pvsurfer]

AMD isn't commenting on that. A few dealers have listed it on their site, but it turns out they are just taking orders for the C-part. I'm guessing it will become available within the next few weeks, albeit in short supply and because of that, pricey.

 

[Mahimahi]

Hi Diesel,
I've read that the upcoming new Athlons only differ from the existand in the closed L1 bridges. So the pencil- or pen trick will do the job. (AMD knew allready it was going produce the C- types, this is perhaps the reason why the existand Athlons have them bridges cut in the first place)

 

[Diesel]

thanks for the info, i have one concern though about using the pencil trick and changing the settings to 133mhz FSB... I've never done any overclocking what so ever, will changing a 100mhz FSB Thunderbird to 133mhz FSB cause the CPU to run hotter like overclocking? Will it cause any other novelties? What important info do i need to know before i decide to go ahead and get the regular Athlon and run it at 133mhz instead of waiting for the Athlon-C? thanks so much, i appreciate your help!

 

[PatMcGroin]

toms front page has a good article about overclocking a asus board but most of the information is the same. Yes it will get warmer so you will need some extra cooling. Details can be found in the article. Since you are building your own computer now is the time to spend a little extra on cooling even if you dont overclock it. You cant be too safe at the cost of around $25.

You Dont Want To Be The Last to Know Anything.

 

[Mahimahi]

Diesel,
The new C-types will also be hotter m8 because they are the same as the old ones.
Just received my new amd 1200 and... the L1 bridges were CLOSED!