Speed Strip is a small tape that, installed under the Athlon XP processor allows its overclocking. Crazyness?

Figure 1: Speed Strip, an Athlon XP overclocking tape.

All processors work with two operation frequencies, an internal frequency and an external one. They get their internal operation frequency multiplying their external clock by a multiplication factor. For instance, the Athlon XP 2400+, which works internally at 2,000 MHz (the value indicated by the Athlon XP processors is not their real clock), gets this clock multiplying their 133 MHz external clock by 15 (133 MHz x 15 = 2,000 MHz).

There are two ways to make a processor overclock. The first and most common one is by increasing its external clock. For instance, increasing the external clock from 133 MHz to 150 MHz. The second one is by changing the multiplier, which results in an increase in the internal clock.

The problem is that all current processors have their clock multiplier set at the factory, so it is not possible to modify it easily, which prevents the overclock using the clock multiplier.

What the Speed Strip tape does is to unlock this protection of the clock multiplier. It does it by closing the contact among some processor pins (the exact place where the tape should be installed is described in the product manual). After installing the tape, you can set the clock multiplier you want for your processor in the motherboard setup.

Figure 2: Speed Strip installation.

The Speed Strip only works in Athlon XP AXDA series processors. To know if your processor is from this series, you should see what is written on it. This is written in the line below the name of the processor (for ex.: AXDA2100DUT3C). Besides, your motherboard needs to have a clock multiplier configuration in the setup, for it is through the setup that you will configure the new multiplier of your processor.

Figure 3: Athlon XP AXDA series.

Tests carried out with this product at the NeoSeeker site (http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ss_review) showed that the product is more efficient if you reduce the processor clock multiplier (instead of increasing it) and, at the same time, increase the processor external clock. This site's team had an Athlon XP 2100+ (133 MHz x 13) have the same performance of an Athlon XP 3200+ (200 MHz x 11).

This product costs USD 15. For more information, visit http://www.speed-strip.com (the manufacturer website seems to be down; you can check this product at http://www.frozencpu.com/tra-03.html).