With AMD's introduction of the Athlon XP processor a very important change was made to the infamous L1 bridges. This change consisted of a deep ravine drilled between the bridges so that the tried and true pencil trick no longer worked in unlocking the multipliers on the Athlon XP. Connecting the L1 bridges just became a lot more complicated requiring more than just a pencil.

Deep gaps in between the bridges are now make the pencil trick impossible however unlocking the processor itself is far from impossible, just not as simple as it once was. HighSpeedPC has sent us their kit specifically designed for unlocking AthlonXP chips. Costing only $12 this kit is well worth the money as you will be saving much more overclocking your chip rather than buying a faster speed one off-the-bat.

The kit

1 vial all purpose CLEANING AGENT
1 vial non-conductive GAP FILLER
1 vial CONDUCTIVE GREASE
1 pin applicator
1 3x/6x Magnifying Glass
5 Tape tabs for masking/cleaning
Instruction sheet

The kit obviously comes with everything needed to unlock your processor quickly and efficiently. I personally like the instruction sheet very much with this kit as it greatly details the steps that need to be taken to unlock the Athlon XP.

Application

Installation was relatively easy though rather tedious as it took us three tries before we were able to unlock our processor. In unlocking, one must first place the supplied gap filler in between the crevices of the L1 bridges, this can be easily done by blotting a bunch on then scrapping it off with one's own fingers. The conductive grease is then applied connecting each of the L1 bridges to the opposite bridge on the other side of the gap. Connecting the bridges is by far the most difficult part of the processes. The small pin applicator is not the most efficient method of applying the grease in that we often had the bridges cross and were forced to start over. The magnifying glass was great to check our work.

Final thoughts

Overall this is an excellent well priced kit with enough applicator grease and gap filler for more than one chip. While I would like to see a more accurate and easier to use applicator than the simple pin that was provided. That being my only gripe I really liked this kit and HighSpeedPC has done an excellent job with this one.

by Ryan Wissman

Price - 8.0/10 Performance - 7.0/10 Overall - 8.5/10