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1.
Removing the Athlons Casing
2.
Setting your FreeSpeed cards DIP Switches
3.
Fitting the FreeSpeed to
your Athlon
The
FreeSpeed card has a total of 16 DIP switches. If
you hold the card towards you with the switches
facing, they are numbered Sw 1 to 16 from left to
right.
You'll
see below two tables relating to the switch settings
on the FreeSpeed Card. The First table contains four
switches (Sw 9 to Sw 12), these are used to adjust
the Core Voltage of your Athlon. These should of
been set for you to the Athlon design voltage of
1.6V. Please double check that they are in the right
positions. Switch orientation is UP for ON, and DOWN
for OFF. I will explain how to use the voltage
settings later.
The
second table contains a total of twelve switches (Sw
1 to 8 and 13 to 16). These are used to set your CPU
speed. For now, I recommend you set the speed here
to your normal Athlon speed, eg :- Athlon 500, set
the FreeSpeed to 500Mhz. This may sound strange, but
it's good to test the card is functioning properly
before the fun starts :). Double check your switch
positions then proceed to no. 3 "Fitting
the FreeSpeed", check your PC boots up ok,
then come back to this page to find out the best way
to overclock.
|
Voltage
|
Sw
9
|
Sw
10
|
Sw
11
|
Sw
12
|
|
1.45
V
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
|
1.50
V
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
|
1.55
V
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
|
1.60
V
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
|
1.65
V
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
|
1.70
V
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
|
1.75
V
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
|
1.80
V
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
|
1.85
V
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
|
1.90
V
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
|
|
|
Frequency
|
Sw
1
|
Sw
2
|
Sw
3
|
Sw
4
|
Sw
5
|
Sw
6
|
Sw
7
|
Sw
8
|
Sw
13 |
Sw
14 |
Sw
15 |
Sw
16 |
|
500
Mhz
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on |
on |
off |
on |
|
550
Mhz
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off |
on |
off |
on |
|
600
Mhz
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
on |
off |
off |
on |
|
650
Mhz
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off |
off |
off |
on |
|
700
Mhz
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on |
on |
on |
off |
|
750
Mhz
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
off |
on |
on |
off |
|
800
Mhz
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
on |
off |
on |
off |
|
850
Mhz
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
off |
off |
on |
off |
|
900
Mhz
|
on
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
on |
on |
off |
off |
|
950
Mhz
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
off |
on |
off |
off |
|
1000
Mhz
|
on
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
on |
off |
off |
off |
|
1050
Mhz
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
off
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
on
|
off |
off |
off |
off |
Reading
here I assume you have tested the FreeSpeed Card and
your PC runs ok at normal speeds. Now to clock it
up...............select a CPU speed 50Mhz above your
standard clock speed. Now switch on your PC.
Everything should run fine at this speed, notice
your increased clock speed reported by the bios at
startup, your PC should boot up all the way into
windows (or linux :) just fine. Leave windows
running a while and fire up something to give it a
good test......like Quake2, this will make sure the
system is stable at the new speed.
Everything
should be ok, now switch off your PC and increase
another 50Mhz (100Mhz total above your standard
speed) , again repeat the test procedure above.
Further
speed increases can be tried, if your lucky you will
get quite alot higher, remember, an Athlon 500 has a
good chance of reaching 800+ Mhz.
If
the PC fails to boot up or windows crashes (more
than usual :), it may be time to increase the Core
Voltage, don't go to high with voltage as it
increases heat (the overclockers worst enemy), Core
Voltage increases should only be used as a last
resort and will not always help. Also if windows
crashes after a while, feel the CPU carefully, how
hot is it ? , if it is REALLY hot, ie- hurts ya hand
:) , it's maybe time to buy a bigger cooler, or move
your PC to the kitchen to use as a toaster :)
At
the end of a few hours of fiddling around you'll
probably of found a overclocked speed you can run
stably. Please let me know of the sort of speeds you
reach, the model of your Athlon and extra cooling (if
any) you needed. I can then start putting together a
success chart.
Happy
clocking
Fluke
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