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Introduction

The overclocking world was dealt a blow late last year when AMD began locking the multiplier of its top selling chip, the 2500+ Barton. While it is possible to still overclock the trusty Barton core by way of the front side bus it does have limits. An OC of 2.2 on a 2500+, which is equal to 3200+ in AMD terms, is still attainable at 11x200Mhz as long you have a decent board and RAM. However those that like to play with the multiplier to squeeze the juice harder have to look elsewhere now or look at modding the actual chip.

Enter AMD's XP-M processor AKA the Mobile Barton; the Mobile Barton, which is made for the laptop market, has been around for a while now but is starting to get wide range of attention in overclocking circles. Computer forums around the net are abuzz about what a great overclocker the 2500+ Mobile Barton is. Results range from easy overclocks of 2.4 Ghz to tweaked highs of 2.7 on air cooling only! Sounds incredible and when you factor in that the Mobile Barton is on average only $20-$25 dollars higher in price that a Desktop Barton, you'll find yourself asking "how does this chip do it?" To answer this question we'll take a look at a 2500+ Desktop Barton* and a 2500+ Mobile Barton and see why the two chips are different and how that difference allows us to exploit the overclocking potential of the Mobile Barton. We'll also install both chips and see what the end overclocking results are.

*Our 2500+ XP test chip was purchased prior to October and is unlocked