How to Unlock the Core 2 Extreme Multiplier in Windows

Well that is the job of the "P1" button.

I just have a shortcut to throttlestop in my startup folder, so that it starts with windows.

You could try this to change the turbo % OC:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi...-but-should-work-all-similar.html#post6374066

But I guess you wont need that since you have throttlestop.

 

Unclewebb,

I would like to donate to, what looks like a great piece of coding. I've read through the 36 pages of posts, and I believe I recall you saying something about a PayPal account, but alas, I am not able to locate that post. So, with that, how would I contribute?

My second question is this: Will TS work on an Intel Core i7 Extreme 975 (running at a stock 3.33GHz) in a Sager 9280 (Clevo D900F)?

Thank you.

 

You can support unclewebb following his quoted post above.

Cheers!

 

Ah there it is...many thanks TOTE.

 

TOTE =

YW RMR'r

 

I set TS in task manager to load at login. This way it bypasses the UAC when set as start at highest priority.

I also have profile 1 as the lower clock to profile 4 being the highest. This way I boot to the safest mode and go up from there when I need it. I run 3.2 GHz almost exclusively as I really have no need for the 3.7 GHz profile except in rare situations. In reality I could have probably been fine with 3.06 GHz.

At bootup with 3.2 I see 32-33C idle and 65C under high load (not prime95, normal usage high load). At 3.7 I see 48C idle to 92C under the high load situations. all perfectly safe and stable from what I've been able to tell so far. CPU power wise the system handles all I throw at it without issue.

I guess if I did alot of video encoding I may then be able to justify a high end i7 quad but for now I can't. Even with DPP the high quality preview of RAW images build in less than 4 seconds, I really don't need it in 2 seconds or so.

 

rmr1119: I haven't had any feedback from anyone running a Core i7-975 Extreme but in theory ThrottleStop should work OK. Post some screen shots if you can.

Just right click on ThrottleStop and there should be a couple of menu items so you can adjust the turbo multipliers depending on how many cores are in the active state and you can also adjust the turbo TDP/TDC values if you need to.

The desktop CPUs are usually set to 130W / 110A which is more than double the 55W TDP that a 920XM is set to. This controls when turbo boost will be throttled back so with the desktop CPU, it is open season. I don't see that you will have any need to raise these values unless your bios has deliberately set them lower to keep the heat down. You should also be able to adjust your turbo multipliers higher but it's your job to find a way to keep the beast cool. I'm just the programmer.

Thanks for your support of project ThrottleStop.

 

Hi, it seems that the GPU 127c readings i'm getting is not caused by any program. After powering up the computer i get these false readings about 4 times out of 10. If it's there, it showes up a couple of times per minute. GPU is ATI Radeon 5870 Mobile.

I would really appreciate if you could filter out these false readings.

Thank you,
Daniel

 

BTW, this works with non extreme Core 2 Duos as well...

 

Moved to another thread.

 

ThrottleStop works with non extreme CPUs but you need an Extreme CPU if you want to adjust the multiplier higher.

Intel rates most of their CPUs to run reliably up to 100C so you should be OK. Most people get bored with their CPU long before it gets close to the ka-boom stage.

In theory, TDP = TDC x core voltage so

TDC = TDP / core voltage

For testing I'd use Prime95 Small FFTs since it provides a very consistent load. I'd raise TDP sky high to 100W so it's not the limiting factor and then I'd play around with TDC and plot that out and then do the opposite. Raise TDC sky high so it doesn't limit turbo boost and play with TDP and compare the two. Some users have found that you don't need as much TDC as the formula above would lead you to believe. Be careful when testing. When a CPU is not fully loaded or is turbo throttling, the core temperature might not be consistent enough to come to conclusions about TDC vs core temperature. Small FFT testing will help with this.

As I've told others, if you are worried about your core temperature then set up a second profile in ThrottleStop and set an alarm value of say DTS=15. That way when the core temperature hits 85C, ThrottleStop can switch to a different profile with a lower TDP/TDC so it will keep a lid on the maximum core temperature. That way you don't have to worry that on a hot day you might go over your temperature limit. This feature is very flexible and easy to set up. Once the core temperature is back under the limit that you've set, ThrottleStop will automatically switch back to your full speed, high TDP/TDC profile.

Talking about your Core i7 Extreme CPU in the Core 2 CPU section is getting a little off track. Hope the mods don't come and delete our posts. Maybe start a thread in the Asus section and introduce them to ThrottleStop. Invite me over if you have some questions or learn something new.

 

Unclewebb,

Here are the links to the screenshots:

http://a.imageshack.us/img337/9755/ts285screenshot.jpg
http://a.imageshack.us/img442/8804/pcwizscreenshot.jpg
http://a.imageshack.us/img27/5498/cpuzscreenshot.jpg

What I've noticed is when I turn on TS is that the FID starts bouncing from 12 to 25 and my core speed as reported on CPUZ goes from 3333.2 MHz to 1599.9 MHz. I've not changed the TDP (130) or TDC (110) from the defaults. I did change the Max Turbo Ratio Limits to the following, 1 Core Active = 28, 2 Cores = 27, 3 Cores = 27, 4 Cores = 27, 5 Cores = 0, 6 Cores = 0. Here is the screenshot showing what happens when I run TS.

http://a.imageshack.us/img830/6045/ts285runningscreenshot.jpg

If you'd like me to run some tests or some other app, please let me know. And if I've totally spaced and not performed the proper RTFM, let me know too.

Thanks.

 

Unclewebb,

Just letting you know the donation has been sent, alas in USD and not Loonies.

 

rmr1119: If you don't want the multiplier dropping down at idle then turn off the C States option and also turn off the Power Saver option. That should solve the problem so your multipliers are not jumping around at idle.

Thanks for your contribution to project ThrottleStop.

Does your bios have any turbo multiplier options? Does ThrottleStop give you access to some higher multipliers that you didn't have access to before? With 60C to 66C idle temperatures, can you run 8 threads of wPrime at those TDP/TDC settings without your CPU overheating?

Just curious how a laptop runs with an overclocked desktop CPU.

One test you could do is let your CPU sit idle with and without the Power Saver option enabled. Does it reduce your core temperature any by lowering the multiplier to 12.00 when the CPU is idle or lightly loaded? The sensitivity of this option can be adjusted in the Options window now. Post anything interesting you learn.

 

How? is this true??

 

ThrottleStop works with non Extreme CPUs but it doesn't let you unlock the multiplier if it is not an Extreme CPU.

I did find one exception to this rule today. There is a T7600G which is not an Extreme CPU but ThrottleStop can be used to adjust the multiplier higher because this special model has an unlocked multiplier and unlocked VID just like an Extreme CPU. They should have just called it an X7600 since it works identically to an Extreme CPU. These 65nm CPUs only work on boards with a 166 MHz bus speed.

The user I helped was hitting 3329 MHz with one of these and a little higher for a suicide run.



http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6256/throttle.png

 

Unclewebb,

Sorry it has taken a few days to reply. I ran wPrime and the temps were fine with both the 32M and 1024M tests. I hit a max temperature of 87C and then as soon as the 1024M test finished it dropped back down to 65/66C. The settings on TS I had for this test were: TDP = 130, TDC = 110, and Turbo Ratio Limits on Core 1 - 4 = 32. I guess my question is which settings should I start out with changing, so I can report more results to you?

Thanks.

 

When you are running wPrime, are all threads in ThrottleStop reporting the 32.00 multiplier? Your TDP/TDC settings are high enough that you are probably able to get full turbo boost at these settings and a steady 32 multiplier. There's no need to adjust TDP/TDC until they start to limit the amount of turbo boost you are getting. Might as well raise the multiplier to 33 and see how you do but I think you are very close to the practical limit for your chip. You might not be stable with the 33 multiplier or might create too much heat for this setting to be practical. Post a ThrottleStop screen shot while running wPrime if you can.

ImageShack® - Online Media Hosting

 

I can't get the 32 multiplier, the highest number TS will allow me to raise the multiplier to is 26. I did some checking in the BIOS, because I forgot you asked me about any settings there. The only options are: Intel Virtualization Technology: enabled, and Hyperthreading: enabled.

Here are some screenshots of TS while running wPrime 32M and 1024M at various stages. The first one is 32M and the rest are 1024M.

http://a.imageshack.us/img638/424/wprime32mrunning.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img155/7241/wprime1024mbeginning.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img829/9787/wprime1024m30percent.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img821/274/wprime1024m78percent.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img97/462/wprime1024m97percent.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img823/9568/wprimefinished.jpg

 

I totally misread your post. I thought you were saying that you were getting the 32 multiplier but you meant you were running the 32M test.

Your screen shots show that when your CPU is fully loaded you are not getting any turbo boost at all and that's why you are running with the 25 multiplier since that is the default multiplier for your CPU. You can try raising the TDP/TDC limits. In theory this might be able to give you some turbo boost when fully loaded but you will need to keep a close eye on your core temperatures.

With the ThrottleStop turbo multiplier window all set to 32, it sounds like it is the TDP/TDC that is holding you back. These should both be adjustable on an Extreme CPU.

Also try running a single thread of wPrime and use Task Manager Set Affinity... to lock it to a single core. The multiplier on that single core should go much higher and use full turbo boost since it won't be limited by TDP/TDC.

 

Ok, I'll try to run wPrime again and lock it to a single core. One thing I did note just now is that at idle the FIDs fluctuate a little above 25, e.g. 25.36 or 25.66, but while wPrime is running the FIDs are locked in at 25 on the money.

Before I go and start adjusting the TDP/TDC settings I'll run with the same parameters and do the single core only and report the results. It won't be until tomorrow, since it's 10pm where I am now. Thank you again for the help and more importantly the patience.

 

The multipliers fluctuating above 25 at idle shows me that turbo boost is available. It's just the way these CPUs are designed. If you exceed the TDP/TDC or a certain core temperature, you get zero turbo boost. That's why I think it will be easier to see what's going on with a single thread of wPrime. You won't be hitting the turbo boost limits with that load and then you can increase the number of threads of wPrime and get a better feel for these limits.

 

Locking wPrime to one core doesn't seem to have made any difference. There were two wPrime.exe *32s running, so I set both to use CPU 0. And in wPrime, I set the Thread Count to 1. During the test I see one core's C0% stay at 100%, which I expected, and the other cores had nominal values of a high of 7.7. This test was performed at a 130/110 TDP/TDC setting, and the Turbo Ratios all set to 32.

Repeating the same as above, I then set wPrime back to 8 threads, but then locked each one to use only CPU 0 and again I see the same results as the screenshots linked below. I found that peculiar as I expected the temperature to go well above 70C.

In a separate test, I did try increasing the TDP/TDC values by about 10 each, and I did then see the FID values approach 26, but after running like that for about an hour, the CPU temp was well below the threshold, but whew, the power supply felt hot enough to fry an egg. So it appears that the only way to increase the FID values is by feeding the power hungry i7 with some serious juice.

Any other suggestions or perhaps is there an INI change I need to make in TS for the i7-975?

http://a.imageshack.us/img696/8810/wprime1024m1core12perce.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img230/2944/wprime1024m1core89perce.jpg

 

The mobile Core i7 chips are getting lots of turbo boost when running a single thread of wPrime even with their TDP set to less than half as much as you're using. The 920XM uses default turbo TDP/TDC settings of 62W/62A and still shows some turbo boost even when fully loaded with 8 threads of wPrime.

The big difference is the default multiplier in your CPU is so much higher. The 920XM uses a default multiplier of 15 while your i7-975 uses a default of 25. That's got to be the reason why your CPU works so much differently than the Core i7 mobile CPUs.

Can you post a screen shot of your second test when you raised TDP/TDC? Run wPrime again and set it to one thread and use Task Manager to lock it to a single thread like before then increase the TDP/TDC by 10 or 15 each and take a screen shot if you start getting some turbo boost.

When loaded with wPrime, if the multiplier starts going over 25.00 then try clicking on Disable Turbo to see if that brings you back to 25.00. It should. That would prove that turbo mode is working correctly on your laptop. The problem is then that your CPU is so power hungry. Do you have any idea how much core voltage it is getting? Desktop chips tend to be set higher and consume more juice compared to a similar mobile chip.

For 24/7 settings, the aggressive users of the 920XM are using TDP/TDC settings of around 85W/80A and a few of the truly crazy have gone a hair over 100W TDP when benching. You are already way beyond that.

I can't really recommend that you use TDP/TDC settings beyond your default settings if it is causing your power brick to become an oven. Increasing these values can also damage your motherboard since it allows more watts and current going to it. There are no magic INI file adjustments that can change the laws of physics that you are coming up against.

If there is any setting in your bios to lower core voltage, try that. You usually only get an option to go higher which is not what you need.

 

Would it be possible to set ratio settings per profile?

 

For what CPU? On a Core i7-820QM you can select multipliers lower than the 13 default multiplier but there is no control going higher than that. You either get full turbo boost where the CPU decides what multiplier your cores will run at or you will get no turbo boost and will be stuck at the 13 multiplier and that's it. This is a limitation of the CPU so no software will be able to give you multiplier control when you are using turbo boost.

 

thank you! this has made my q9100 es into an extreme cpu! full multipliers unlocked! I do have a question though. How can I get CPU-z to display the core 2 extreme image instead of the core 2 quad image? I do have a core 2 extreme, it says so in the BIOS. but CPU-Z thinks otherwise.

 

You could ask the programmer of CPU-Z to try and fix that for you but if I had a mobile quad running reliably at 3.3GHz, I wouldn't care what CPU-Z says about that. Nice work.

The only information written directly into a CPU by Intel shows up in the CPU-Z Specification box. After that, all software is left guessing. If it doesn't say QX9100 in that information string then it can be difficult for software to get this right. Especially since there is also a regular Q9100 that is not an Extreme CPU. ES chips can be even more difficult to accurately detect since they sometimes have characteristics of two different retail CPUs.

Can you post a screen shot of CPU-Z?

 

Check it out. got it further, to 3.4ghz. calculates pi to 1M places in 14 seconds, from the original 20 seconds. Performance is now comparable to an i7 820qm





Is there anyway to decrease heat? Would copper shimming work?

 

i would suggest that you better try to undervolt that cpu a litle bit.

my cpu even at a blazing speed of 3.7ghz the max voltage is 1.4v but my laptop becomes a capuccino machine with that voltage, even with the heatsink modded, tx4 as a thermal compound, on top of a cryo and without the backcover.

i wont use a copper shim just undervolt the cpu, use a good paste and make a good application.

 

If you go into the options of ThrottleStop, select Core 2 Mobile CPU so it reports the correct VID voltage.

You might want to try Super Pi mod. It is a little more accurate with digits after the decimal place.

Download Super PI Mod v1.5 | techPowerUp

You can see in the CPU-Z Specification box that there is no model number listed. You might want to call this CPU a QX9100 but since Intel never produced any of those for retail sales, that model doesn't technically exist.

I understand why CPU-Z doesn't call this a QX9100 but with the Extreme word in the Spec box, maybe you can convince him to at least show you the correct Extreme logo.

Maybe shrink your pic down to a thumbnail so the mods don't come down hard on you.

 

thanks for that tip! I will contact the owner of CPU-Z, and ask him to report my CPU as core 2 extreme. And sorry about the uber large image, will make thumbnails next time. I really would like to thank you again unclewebb, you have turned my laptop into a monster!

 

what's your 3460MHZ QX9200's VID voltage?

 

Nevermind.

 

EDIT:

My cpu was stuck at 3.3GHz, didn't notice the reset feature. Looks like it doesnt really reset on close?

This is something that should be changed because it can cause a system to continuously try restarting to unstable CPU clocks.

 

Any changes you make to your unlocked multiplier have to be Saved by you. It's impossible for me to read your mind and to create software that can predict what every user would like to happen so I try to make things as clear as possible.

Why would you Save an unstable overclock? I didn't OK and Save an unstable overclock on your computer. You did.

After you Reset your CPU, it's your responsibility to click on the Save button before exiting the program. Not everyone that chooses Reset CPU FID/VID wants those default settings saved which is why I created that option.

There is no need to push on the Save button until you are 100% sure that your CPU is stable at the settings you are trying out. I don't know how to make things any clearer.



That little info box is displayed every time you unlock your CPU and decide to Save some new settings. It gives you a very clear warning of what you are about to do. OK means you want to save your changes and Cancel means you don't won't these new settings you are trying out saved. I've also explained within the dialog what each option means and how to get back to default settings if you've made a mistake.

After you select Reset CPU FID/VID, the Save button is then enabled so if you want to save your default CPU settings, you can by simply clicking on Save. Not everyone wants to over write their previous settings which is why I give users the option to save or not to save.

You're most welcome. I'm glad I could help extend the life of these older laptops and make them very competitive with the newer Core i series.

 

see, actually, no i didnt. thats what i was trying to say.

i actually reset and saved with 2 different versions, and when i start the old version turned off, my cpu goes up to 3.3GHz.

dont know how to make it any clearer i think theres a bug. the first reply to this thread mentioned it. somehow stuff is getting saved without the user doing anything at all.

 

I've noticed this as well. My system starts up at 3.3GHz quite often, without me raising the multiplier.

I like the feature however, so I have no complaints.

 

yeah, i see its supposed to do that once you save it. I like it too. but when i first downloaded it, overclocked to something unstable and got a BSOD, my system would restart to the same OC and BSOD over and over.
i swear i didnt save it.

 

I think the problem is how these CPUs are designed to work. Once they've been unlocked by ThrottleStop, the only way to get them back to their default value is to either restart or you can use the ThrottleStop Reset CPU FID/VID option. After that you must click on Save and then you must click on OK when the warning message pops up and shows you exactly what changes you are making to the maximum FID/VID.

If you don't click on Save and give it the OK then ThrottleStop won't save the unlocked multiplier. If you restart ThrottleStop right away without rebooting then yes, it will continue to use the multiplier that you just unlocked. If you don't want it to use this unlocked multiplier then you need to use the Reset CPU FID/VID option and you need to Save it so next time you boot up and start ThrottleStop, it will use the original default maximum FID/VID.

I just did a test with my QX9650. I usually have this CPU unlocked and set to the 11.0 multiplier. I then selected the Reset CPU FID/VID option.



This returned the multiplier to its default which is 9.0. After this I clicked on the Save button and this popped up.



By clicking on OK, that saves the default multiplier at 9.0. The next time I start ThrottleStop, it doesn't go up to 11.0, it stays locked at 9.0. If I didn't Save and OK it, then it would go up to 11.0 because that is the previously saved value.

I've tried to recreate the problem you guys are having but so far I haven't been able to. That's why I added on this extra layer of protection compared to how this feature was originally designed. The only way I am able to Save a new unlocked multiplier is by clicking on OK and agreeing to that when the warning message pops up.

As long as you make sure to always Save and OK the maximum multiplier that you are happy with, I don't think you'll have a problem with this feature.

If you still see a problem then just clearly state how to recreate it. If there is a bug or I've done something bone headed then I'd like to know about it so I can get it fixed up and I'll be back here grovelling like a dog and apologize for being such an idiot.

Edit: The only other thing I can think of is that there is a problem with your bios. Once the CPU has been unlocked with ThrottleStop, when you reboot say after a BSOD, your bios is supposed to use the default settings for the CPU. It might not be resetting this properly. When the bios was originally written, there wasn't any software available that could unlock these CPUs so the bios writers might have overlooked the trick I am doing and are not resetting things like they should. If this ever happens again I would just power down completely after a BSOD so the CPU can be totally reset to its default values.

 

it depends of the cpu. every cpu is different in the matter of the stable frequency of a vcore.

just set the cpu to 3.4ghz at the voltage you initialy set and then start undervolting during a wprime 1024 run.

when the blue screen appear just increase the voltage to the next level and start testing

i found that 1.313v is the lowest i can get for 3.46ghz

 

I got me a GT725, I was thinking of buying me a Qx9200 to upgrade, if I can find one...would the 9300 be a better alternative? I see they are a little more $$.

 

they'll work properly for sure.. QX9200 is a ES CPU so there is a higher chance of it being a lemon... i'd get a QX9300 if you can get it cheap.

 

QX9200 > QX9300 in terms of price erformance ratio. It has temp sensors, its unlocked, and is only 100mhz slower. just avoid the q9100 ES cpus. don't make my mistake and buy one without a temp sensor, i regret it so much. I can't get it sold or traded in for an upgrade because it doesn't have temp sensors.

 

'a little bit more' means your not finding a good deal. q9200 are ~200$, qx9300 can be 400$.

EDIT: QAVR is one with temp sensors, there are others.
q9300 is a for desktops

 

LaptopMonkey has been selling Q9200 QAVR with temperature sensors for a while. Current price is $268 shipped which I think is a good deal, especially after they've been tweaked with ThrottleStop.

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

On ebay it will cost you almost twice as much to get a QX9300.

 

Hi, I havent been on NBR for about a year and it was a pleasant surprise to find out someone finally figured out how to unlock the extreme CPU multipliers! Thanks so much Unclewebb!

ThrottleStop works great with my Q9200 (12x seems to be the max multi for mine to keep temps at 80C) and seems to work pretty well with RMClock without too many conflicts. I was wondering whether it was possible to have ThrottleStop unlock the multipliers on windows startup? I'm sure this has probably been discussed before but I cant find it.

What I would like to do is to have ThrottleStop set the max multiplier to 12x on windows startup so that I could always use the same RMClock undervolt profile. Right now what happens is that after a shutdown the 11 and 12x multipliers are lost and RMClock rolls back to its previous settings. It's annoying having to reconfigure it at each reboot.

Also I've noticed that ThrottleStop seems to fiddle with Everest FSB readings. For example at 12x mutliplier Everest reports the FSB to be 355Mhz instead of 266Mhz, giving a total CPU clock reading of 4.26Ghz, which makes no sense at all. Perhaps I need to update my Everest?

Thanks

EDIT: I'm using Everest v 5.30.1900

 

As you know, changing the Core 2 Extreme maximum multiplier was just recently discovered so some monitoring software was not expecting that. The default multiplier for a QX9200 is 9 so when you switch the multi to 12, that is going to screw up the reporting of the FSB by a similar percentage. 12.0 / 9.0 is pretty much the same ratio as 355 MHz / 266 MHz. If you restart Everest after unlocking and adjusting the multiplier higher, it should be able to lock on to the correct FSB MHz.

It's easy to start ThrottleStop with Windows. If you have Administrator rights on your account then just drag a link to ThrottleStop into your Startup folder. Click on the Windows logo at the lower left and click on All Programs and you should be able to find the Startup folder.

You can also use the Task Scheduler. Here's an example of doing that.

XtremeSystems Forums - View Single Post - Real Temp - New temp program for Intel Core processors

I had some major problems when trying to use RM Clock on my QX9650 desktop chip. Sometimes it would only allow the first two cores to use the maximum multiplier while the other two cores were locked at the 6.0 multiplier. Try testing with wPrime and run some tests with from 1 to 4 threads of this program and then use ThrottleStop to monitor the multiplier on each core. If you see the same problems I was having, I wouldn't recommend using RM Clock on a Quad.

Most bios versions will relock the maximum multiplier if you use stand by or hibernate mode. The only option you have for this at the moment is to leave ThrottleStop running, minimized to your system tray.

You might want to check out this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6369641-post5060.html

Some of the under volting stuff that used to work wonders at idle doesn't make any significant difference at idle on the 45nm CPUs. For a lot of users, reducing the maximum voltage is the only important thing to do to control power consumption and heat output at full load. At idle, these CPUs do a good job of looking after themselves, regardless of any ThrottleStop or RM Clock adjustments.

Edit: Here's an issue I found when testing my QX9650 while using RM Clock.



ThrottleStop is in monitoring mode only. While all 4 cores are fully loaded running wPrime 32M, two cores are stuck using the lowest 6.0 multiplier while the other two cores are using the highest multiplier. By right clicking on CPU-Z so it can monitor both sides of this CPU, it is obvious that there is a problem here. That's killing performance which is why I can't recommend RM Clock on a Quad core CPU. Sometimes all 4 cores go up to the full 11.0 multiplier but other times the CPU gets locked with half the cores at full speed and the other half of the CPU dragging its butt in slow speed mode. You definitely need to fully test for this bug before running RM Clock on a QX9200.

 

Now it's time for me to thank you unclewebb!

Just tested my new X7900 in my old rig M1730.

I own it now for more than 1 year and never found a fix for the throttleing problem. The performance is now quite well, thanks to the new CPU and your nice piece of software!

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/1236/benchmarkx7900.jpg

Donation is on the way.
RasRic

 

The X7900 running a 17 multiplier is looking good. After all these years, I didn't think anyone was ever going to figure out how to unlock these CPUs but I got lucky and had a tip from a mysterious helper. How are your core temperatures when gaming? One of these or an X7800 looks like a good idea to extend the life of an older system. Thank you for supporting my projects.