Speed Strip, LLC is a new company that develops overclocking products. This Speed Strip SSA-1 is designed to unlock AMD Athlon XP CPUs that have either a Thoroughbred or Barton core. The best thing about this product is that it is simple to install and can easily be removed for any reason. Most motherboards these days are able to unlock the multiplier on Thoroughbred or Bartons with no modification to the CPU whatsoever. This is possible with most if not all KT333, KT400, nForce 2, and KT600 motherboards. There are some motherboards however that do not allow you to change the multiplier within the BIOS if the CPU is not physically unlocked. In the scenario where the motherboard will not automatically unlock your CPU this product would be very helpful.
The Speed Strip SSSA-1 showed up in an USPS Priority Mail priority mail envelope due to the small nature of the product.
Inside the envelope was the speed strip which is very small. As you can imagine if it has to fit on the pins of a CPU it has to be very small. The package is designed for retail sale inside of a store so you may be seeing these in places like CompUSA or FRY’s Electronics in the future.
The documentation come printed on a tiny piece of paper that fits inside of the package. The front of the paper tells you what this Speed Strip can do basically. The backside of the paper has the instructions for installation which are easily understandable and simple.
I put the Speed Strip on top of my CPU first just to take a picture of it and to give you an idea of how small it actually is. As you can see it easily fits between the pads on the top of the CPU. Please excuse the thermal compound on top of the CPU I forgot to clean it off before I took the picture.
The Speed Strip SSA-1 must be used on a CPU that has a model number that starts with “AXDA”. I don’t exactly know why this is however that’s what is. Below is an illustration on how to determine if your CPU will be able to use this product.
As long as your CPU is an AXDA then installation is simple. All you have to do is take your CPU out of your system then flip it over. Once you have the CPU flipped over so the pins point up you just have to drop the Speed Strip onto the appropriate pins. To align the Speed Strip correctly be sure that place on the CPU where the pins are missing are on your right hand side when looking down at it. The Speed Strip will easily fall into place if you have it aligned correctly. Below is an illustration which will help you install the speed Strip to your CPU.
Below are two pictures showing the installation process on my 1800+ AXDA CPU. The installation process took about 15 seconds to complete. If you were to manually unlock it could easily take you a few hours, especially if you are inexperienced at doing it. On the next page we will install the CPU back into the motherboard and test it.
Once you have the Speed Strip installed to the CPU all you have to do is put it back into your motherboard socket and you are ready to start overclocking. When I was trying to install my CPU back into the socket the Speed Strip kept falling off because it was not tight enough on the pins. To fix this I simply put a small piece of tape on the Speed Strip to hold it in place. Though this is not that big of a problem and the fix is simple, it is still a negative aspect. It would be nice if the Speed Strip was tight to the pins so that tape wasn’t necessary. Even a piece of tape would have been nice instead of having to find some of my own.
Test Bed
- Albatron KX400+ Pro
- 1800+ Thoroughbred
- 256MB XtremeDDR PC3500
- 30GB Western Digital HDD
- 300w PSU
- ATi Rage128
- 10/100 NIC
I wasn’t able to use this product on my normal test bed because it has an Abit NF7-S. The motherboard has a technology called 5-bit FID Override which basically allows you to unlock your CPU without unlocking it physically. So I had to use it on my old system which has the above hardware in it, which isn’t too old. I booted up my system and went into the BIOS, from there I changed the multiplier up and down to make sure it worked like it said it would. Every multiplier I tried worked perfectly and not once did I encounter a problem. Below are screen shots of the BIOS showing my Athlon XP at the stock 1800+ speed (11.5×133), underclocked to a 1600+ (10.5×133), and overclocked to a 1900+ (12×133).
|
stock 11.5 multiplier
|
underclocked 10.5 multiplier
|
overclocked 12 multiplier
|
Conclusion
This product is a really good idea and will help anyone who is looking to overclock their CPU as much as possible. If your motherboard allows you to change the multiplier of your CPU without physically unlocking it you do not need this product. If you have a motherboard that does not allow you to change the multiplier on your CPU without it being physically unlocked you should love this thing. In the past I have spent a lot of time physically unlocking CPUs by hand which can be a real pain because the bridges are so small. With this Speed Strip I was able to take my CPU out, install it, reinstall my CPU, and change my multiplier in about 10 minutes. Overall I am going to give this product a 9/10 and awarding it the OCmodshop Seal of Approval. I would like to thank Speed Strip for sending me this to review.
Pros:
Simple to install - Unlocks your AXDA Thoroughbred or Barton
- Easy to read Instructions included
- Only costs about $15
Cons:
- Most newer motherboards will not need this to unlock multipliers
- Falls off easily when installing to the socket