What You Need
The task at hand is to close two bridges left open at the factory so that we can activate the desired functionality. As it is no disadvantage for the processor to be recognized as an AthlonXP-M, you don't need to worry about the permanency of this step. This decision provides an added bonus in the form of the materials to be used: conductive silver lacquer. As soon as it is dry, the bridges are permanently closed, and the CPU does not need to be handled with extra care.
Connecting the pair of pins to unlock the multipliers, as required on the Barton Athlon, was far more complicated since the wire loop quickly comes undone when removing the processor. An alternative to overclocking is offered by a socket adapter, from U.S. manufacturer Upgradeware, for example.
To ensure nothing goes awry when applying the conductive silver lacquer, we need an isolator to seal off the surrounding bridges. Thin adhesive tape is perfect and sticks well to the Athlon's plastic casing.

We chose an AthlonXP 2800+ for the modification.
- The AthlonXP At 4.5 Watts
- Applications For Quiet Computers
- An AthlonXP Becomes A Mobile AthlonXP
- Transformation: An AthlonXP Becomes An AthlonXP-M
- We're Off: Building Bridges
- We're Off: Building Bridges, Continued
- The Trick: Changing The Multiplier On The Fly
- Software For Multiplier Adjustment
- Chipset Register For Changing The Multiplier
- System Clock: At Least 100 MHz
- Core Voltage: The Lower The Better
- As A Point Of Comparison: Intel Pentium 4
- Lower Speeds Just By Halving The FSB Clock
- Test System
- CPU Coolers For The AthlonXP
- CPU Coolers For The P4
- Test Results
- Power Loss
- Power Consumption
- Benchmark Results
- Benchmark Results, Continued
- Benchmark Results, Continued
- Benchmark Results, Continued
- Benchmark Results, Continued
- Conclusion