![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, January 05, 2000
- Author:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
Outside Loop's Gold Finger OC Device for Athlons
Master, Frag Master, but you can call me Kyle. Shaken not stirred and all of that. Remember those whacked out James Bond movies? They rock don't they? Well that has absolutely nothing to do with what we are going to talk about. In fact the only tie-in here, is the "Golden Fingers" of the AMD Athlon CPU. Pretty nifty chip straight off the shelf. We have seen how it can be incredibly hard to Overclock though. Now, one company has come up with an OC solution that is not only NOT your everyday piece of hardware, but they did a damn fine job of putting it together.
Here is the Gold Finger Adapter from Outside Loop Computers. It attaches to your Athlon after you remove the casing. Be advised this does void your warranty.
Outside Loop Computers sent us what they term at the "Afterburner". It is a simple add-on card that just snaps onto the Golden Fingers of your AMD Athlon, and kicks your Athlon into high gear very easily.
It almost looks too simple doesn't it?
There is some competition in the market place, but from what I have been exposed to personally, there is no doubt that this unit from Outside Loop Computers is the most professional Golden Fingers OC unit we have seen. The best thing about the Afterburner is the fact that there is NOT much to it. What NOT? Not a bunch of dipswitches, not a bunch of wires, not a bunch of electronics, just basically not a bunch of crap hanging off of it making it look like a high school science project. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just like the "less is better" approach with the Afterburner.
Ok, so let's see exactly how this beauty works. Remember this pic from the previous page? (if not I suggest you put the booze down and get sober soon)
The Afterburner simply snaps onto the Golden Fingers. There is a small adhesive pad that acts as a retention device as well as a spacer. I did not expose the adhesive and it stayed on our Athlon rock solid. We even played catch with it for a while and had throw the CPU well over 35 yards before we could dislodge it. (do not try this at home).
See how it fits on?
I don't really know what more we can say about that, except this one little fact. To use the Afterburner, you will have to crack open the case of your Athlon. This will blow the warranty straight to hell, but if you are an OCer, you most likely don't care anyway. Here is our "old" how-to on getting the case off your SECC CPU. This was originally written for the PII, but the cartridge is exactly the same in how it is removed. As far as this goes, simply take your time and do not rush getting the case off.
The Afterburner also comes with a 12 Volt supply lead that you will have to plug into the Power Supply. This is how the unit regulates the voltage to the resistors I would guess, so that they can emulate the desired setting the CPU is wanting....
I don't see any dipswitches? How the hell do I use the thing?
I am glad you asked. One thing that this unit has going for it is the absence of the dipswitch. I personally think they suck and Outside Loop really had a stroke of genius on this. Instead of those hindrances, they used dials. Hmmm, "Dial-a-Burn".
Here we show you the dials. These things are kickass to use. Simply power down, dial in your new voltage and clock speed settings and power it back up.
One issue we need to discuss here, is the fact that using a "simple" mod like this does not allow us to manipulate the MHz of the L2 Cache of the CPU. Gotta give up something for it to be this simple right? Well, hopefully WRONG. I got a mail from Scott Wasson of the Tech Report this morning, telling of a new H. Oda program (he was the dude to come out with the softFSB stuff a while ago) that will possibly allow us to change the Cache divisor via a small software proggie. I have not seen this yet so it is all pie in the sky. Scott usually has his sources in line so hopefully this will come to pass. (much like a kidney stone)
Did it work?
Damn right it worked, and without one problem. Wish I could say that of my Athlon mainboards we have been fighting with. In the second picture you can easily see where we have the alternate power source hooks in with a 3 prong plug.
Conclusions & Delusions:
If you want to OC your Athlon without the risk of destroying it, I would say that this is what you want. As long as the specs stay the same on the K7, which it most likely will for a little while, the Afterburner is an upgrade you can take with you to your next CPU. We were able to dial a 500 to 800MHz and a 600 Athlon to 750MHz quite easily while applying voltage tweaks along the way.
One other thing that should be VERY IMPORTANT in your decision is whether or not you will have room in your case for a Golden Fingers mod. Every other mod I have seen on the market is designed so that it sticks up instead of lying across the top of the processor like the Afterburner. Now in a full tower this may not be a problem, but with a mid or mini, you may find your power supply or something else in the way. I would be very careful about this.
One last argument is gonna be the price on this baby. It is surely not cheap but neither is the quality of the product. One does not go out and have a professional printed circuit board made in small quantity for no cash at all. Rest assured that you will be getting a good unit for your greenbacks though. And as with all things, someone is bound to come whore up the market for the honest folks sooner or later anyway.
You wanna OC your Athlon? The Afterburner is something you don't want to be without.