Well, I found out that KT7 does not like AMD TBird 1.2 or 1.4 L1 bridge locked. Which means no pencil trick... I guess I am gonna get a replacement CPU (Duron 900MHZ) instead of an upgrade...

Quote:
Well, I found out that KT7 does not like AMD TBird 1.2 or 1.4 L1 bridge locked. (

Where did you find that rumour? IMO its crap, some of the T-birds have always been factory unlocked (I have one, thats for sure).
BTW unlocked means bridge closed, locked means bridge cut. Who is going to tell the mobo that the bridge on the CPU was closed after it left the factory ? I'd say that you can safely buy the fastest CPU the newest BIOS supports and overclock the heck out of it - thats what Abit boards are made for.

And forget the shim, its for whimps and reduces heat transfer. Just be careful, you've learned it the hard way!

H.

Finally somebody answered my post. I might confused the lock and unlock. I didnt meant to say that the mother board doesnt like the L1 bridge trick but I meant to say that it might not work. The bios says 1200+ it doesnot have a specific option. And the post I read, (I dont remember now where I read but it was in the abit bios page or something), said it doesnt like it. I dont want to end up with a 1.4GHZ which I can not OC the CPU over 1.4. Do you have Abit KT7 Harry?

No Abit KT7, but one Abit KG7 (with an 133 T-bird 1400@1600), one Abit KA7 and one Abit BE6 up and running as we write. Both the latter were o/c'd in their days of glory. For overclocking, Abit is about as good as it gets.
 
Another thing is that according to a very quick look at Abits web page, the KT7A newest BIOS update doesn't support a faster CPU than 1.4GHZ, and that only on the KT7A version of your board. Now, I'm not going to read through all info on your mobo, but you should. Check, and doublecheck that your boards BIOS supports settings for a faster CPU than you are buying. If the BIOS supports a maximum multiplier of 10.5 it means that you can only o/c the bus speed (the default for an Athlon 133/1400 is 10.5 x 133 Mhz). The idea of shorting the L1 bridge is to manipulate the otherwise locked multiplier.
 
The L1 trick works on the T-birds, but nobody can ever give you a guarantee what results you'll achieve, too many variables involved. It is however not mobo dependent, as long as the bios allows you to set the multiplier and voltages correspondingly. Again, the mobo doesn't know if the multiplier bridge was shorted at the factory or at your desk - as long as its shorted properly and you don't squirrel.
 
This LINK has more info, among it a database on results for various mobo/CPU's. The Mother Of All Overclocking bulletin boards you'll find HERE. Typing "overclock Athlon" in Google will also give you lots of good stuff to read.
 
Good luck !
 
H.

Thank you Harry for helping me... The links that you provided are good sources. And one more question, which HSF are you using? Just to get an idea. I was looking to buy an ALPHA 8035, I read the reviews but I want to get others opinion also. If there are people using this heatsink, please reply. Is it woth it? any other HSF suggestions are welcome also.
 
thanks...

I use a Swiftech, but there are propably better ones by now. Alpha and Thermalright enjoy a good reputation, but at the end it comes down to how much air your fan is blowing on the heatsink. More air = more noise. This LINK contains comparisons of many coolers so you get the idea. At the main page of the site there are more links to articles than you care to read.
 
H.

That is definitely the best cooler comparison ever.