unlock cpu

[harry18]

well in my manual for the mobo, it says i can access the cpu ratio if i have an unlocked cpu, what does this mean, i can see it so my cpu must be locked, can i unlock it, its a 2.8 northwood, on a asus p4p800se

 

[Apokalipse]

you cannot unlock a CPU's multiplier

 

[harry18]

bugger, does this mean i cant set up a memory divider, cos ive come to the conclusion the the memory is limiting my OCing, cos i can oc more as its still low temp

 

[Apokalipse]

you can still set up a memory divider if your motherboard has one. it is not dependant on the CPU's multiplier.

the multiplier just takes the FSB/HTT and multiplies it to get the core speed of the CPU.
for example a 200HTT and 10 multiplier gives you a 2000MHZ core speed.
a locked multipier only affects the multiplier itself, not the HTT. it just means you cannot, for example, keep the HTT at 200 and up the multiplier to 13 to get a 2600MHZ core.
you can increase your HTT to 260MHZ to get the same core speed though.

 

[Nitestick]

apokalipse has summed it up. on some older cpu's in particular AMD's duron the multiplier could be unlocked with a physical modification to the processor. now days though the only cpu's with unlocked multipliers are the Athlon FX series which will cost $1k+