cutting bridges on Tbred w/ 9V

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kbear2569

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Mar 19, 2003
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Ok, I'm new to overclocking and all, but considering I don't have the money for a new XP2800+, and for ~$70 I can possibly get a 1700 to overclock to roughly the same speed, I'm willing to give it a shot. I recently purchased an XP1700 TBred B for my a7n8x (should arrive monday). I plan on overclocking it to at least 1729 MHz (2100+). From all the posts I've read, it seems I need to cut the 5th L3 bridge to allow my mobo to use the higher multiples. Additionally, I realize I need to set a new default mult. I was thinking I will set it at 13X, which is 1729 so it will POST. I think that's all I have to do... If I'm missing something let me know...

Here's the thing, I've read you can cut the bridges with a razor blade OR you can "short" the bridges using a 9-volt battery and some electrodes. I have heard success stories from both sides, but I have heard horror stories as well. I know whatever I do will void my warranty, and if I damage it, I'm out $70. Oh well, I'll risk it. I would just like to choose the safest option.

Does anyone have experience using either of the two methods to cut the bridges? If so, which method is best?

Thanks


XP1700 B w/ Noise Control Silverado HSF
ASUS A7N8X
2x256MB OCZ EL PC3500 DDR
300 Watt PSU
45G IBM 7200
 
I did the knife method, though I just used my KERSHAW pocket knife 😀

I ran the point of the knife over the bridges (did two at the same time) 2 times with a little bit of pressure. It worked first time.

I had never done this before, and it worked pretty good.

Water cooling is for the weak. Get liquid nitrogen.
 
I heard about the 9V trick but I thought it was a joke. If you try it let us know if it works. (Do you have any links to accounts failed or successful?)

I used a razor blade. I couldn't do it without a magnifying glass.

Protect the pins if you use the latter method. Don't want to bend them while you make the cuts.

<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 03/19/03 01:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
 
Well, I have good news. My chip came in and I decided to try the 9-volt method to cut the bridges. So far I'm running my xp1700 @ 2.17GHz (2700+). My fsb is set at 166 and my multiplier is 13. I did have to up the voltage to 1.6 from stock of 1.5 to get it to run stable. My chip temp is 36 idle/41 load with a mobo temp of 28 (according to ASUS Probe). I plan on taking it a little higher if I can, but I'm pretty happy with saving almost $200!!

All i did to cut the bridges was the following:
I stripped the shielding off of some 14 gauge braided copper wire to expose the individual strands. I took two of the strands and cut them to about 6" length. I then took the wires and attached one to each of the poles on a fresh 9-volt battery (Duracell). Then I located the set of L3 bridges on the chip. There are two little dots that are connected by a strand of wire under the surface of the pcb - This is what forms the bridge. To cut it, all you have to do is "short" the bridge by applying one of the ends of the wire to one end of the bridge and the other wire to the other end of the bridge. You'll know when you've made the "cut" if you see a tiny flash between the two dots of the bridge. You'll also hear a little "snap" if you're doing it in a quiet place. I also read somewhere that you can use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the two points to make sure it is really cut (I didn't have one). Once you make the cuts, you're all set. (At least I was!)

I was kind of nervous considering I was applying a current to a sensitive electronic device. But I decided that I didn't need as steady of a hand to do it this way, and I felt the risk of cutting too deep or cutting more than one bridge was too high.

Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know how it went.

XP1700 B w/ Noise Control Silverado HSF
ASUS A7N8X
2x256MB OCZ EL PC3500 DDR
300 Watt PSU
45G IBM 7200
 
Thanks for the update!

I never did check your links but I'm glad to know that someone has really done the 9V trick, successfully.

Not gouging a chip makes it a lot easier to reverse the mods.

Interesting that your XP1700 has a default voltage of 1.5 while my XP1700, JIUHB 0302, has 1.6 volt. Maybe that's why mine isn't one of the better overclockers.


<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b>
 
Yeah, I picked up a JIUHB 0307, which is the lower 1.5v.

XP1700 B w/ Noise Control Silverado HSF
ASUS A7N8X
2x256MB OCZ EL PC3500 DDR
300 Watt PSU
45G IBM 7200
 
I've been trying to figure out a wire mod that I did. My old KT133A mobo had me stuck at the hardwired 15x (L3 C-C-C-0-0). BIOS multipliers didn't work. I discovered a possible workaround but didn't realize it could supposedly only pull multiplier bits LO. This wouldn't do me any good because the bridge I wanted to change (2x bit) is already connected on my CPU and I wanted it to go the other way. I did the mod anyway (brain cramp) but I also made a mistake. I connected the AN25 pin (2x bit) to AM26 which I thought was Vss (ground). Actually, AM26 is Vcc not ground. What happened is I pulled the 2x bit HI and now I have a 13x multiplier AND I can change some multipliers in BIOS. Go figure!

So what I wanted to do, I did, but I did it entirely by mistake!

It seems it's possible to mod the multipliers, up or down, without any bridge mods but you need to do the wire trick instead. At least on my mobo it's possible.

<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 03/25/03 11:35 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
The good thing about the battery method is that if it goes wrong, its impossible to see that the bridges have been broken, there is no physical damage so you would probably be able to RMA it. Nice OC BTW!! As soon as I get a good motherbaord im hoping to push mine a little further.

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5467618 " target="_new">Almost Breaking 12k!!</A>
 
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