Leufken's GFD

A GFD is almost a requirement for OCing an Athlon (or a T-bird for that matter, and yes, they do work with T-birds) How do you choose the right GFD for you?

Well, if space isn't really a consideration, then you'll want to look at a 3 deciding factors.

1) Does it REALLY need to have an external power source? No, but if it doesn't have one, then it has to pull the voltage straight from the processor which has been proven to decrease overclocking stability. And that's what your looking for right?

2)Well, how easy is it to use? Can you fall off a chair. That's how easy. Set the jumper and dip switches as shown below for your desired speed and voltage, plug it in, attach as pictured, and your ready to go! As with all overclocking you'll want to work you way up to slowly, testing each new increment for stability so you know what your max speed is.

3)How much do they cost? Some places sell them as high as $35! Currently I'm have one on E-bay starting at $20. Check it out...

 

 

The settings for the multiplier and voltage are fairly straight forward. However the settings for 1.95+ V are not listed on the sheet due to fact that it is easy to fry an Athlon at those voltages. I have included the extra voltage settings and hope you will use them wisely. Leufken Tech suggests that if you are going to use vcore higher that 1.9 an Alpha or GlobalWin HS be used and have a direct die contact.

In my own personal experiences direct die isn't necessary but helpful. Tom was kind enough to dd-mount it for me about a month after I bought it and I have noticed an 8-12 degree drop. I've run my 650 at 900 vcore 2.05 without too much extra heat. However when I tried running 950 MHz it wouldn't even post with vcore over 1.95. hmm..

Currently my Processor is running at 975 (115*8.5) Using the GFD along I maxed at 950 (100*9.5)(stable). I tried everything at this point but I think either:

1) CPU is maxed

2) Mobo is maxed

3) CPU needs burn-in.

Anyway, I decided to change the FSB to see what little extra I could get from the CPU. OCing the FSB is better than just upping the multiplier. Not only does it of course make it faster but it also speeds up ALL add-on cards (modems, sound video, NICs, etc) improving their performance too. On the down side of that. If your hardware can't handle it, then you can do some serious damage. So if FSB OC is your choice and you can't get past 110 or even 100, then it could be a peripheral.