Speed Strip - Athlon XP Unlocking Device

Manufacturer: Speed Strip
Supplied by: Speed Strip
Price: $15

By Dean Barker (10/21/2003)

Introduction

We have all seen several different models of Athlon XP unlocking kits on the market.  They pretty much all include some form of permanent conductive marking, a magnifying glass and a stick pin or something similar to apply your conductive material with.  The principle behind the Speed-Strip is that many people don't want to permanently alter their chip or may be nervous that their hand may be not quite steady enough to connect small bridges on a processor with a pin; so why not make it easier? 

So what is it you ask?  The Speed Strip is a small piece of plastic with several holes drilled in it.  Two of the holes (pic on bottom right) are coated in such as way as that the pins passing through the holes are shorted unlocking the multiplier giving you a range from 5 to a multiplier of 12.5.

     

The Speed Strip is designed only for certain AMD CPUs.  Specifically, those whose ID begins with 'AXDA'.  You can see below our test chip is an 'AXDA' style 2400 XP+ CPU.

Installation

The included directions explain how the processor is to be oriented so that the Speed Strip can be installed.  The holes are drilled so that you really can't put it on in the wrong place.  You then flip the processor and place it in the CPU socket of your mainboard.  You are asked in the installation instructions "...while pressing firmly, lock it in position."  The more astute of you are asking how is this going to affect the processor being seated into the socket?  The Speed Strip is less than half a millimeter thick but that is quite a bit when you are trying to make something fit flush. 

  

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