In future AMD would switch off the dual-processor capability of its Athlon XP CPUs, Athlon Brand Manager Mark de Frere said in an exclusive interview with tecCHANNEL.
One wanted better protection for customers of multi-processor systems and therefore make sure that really only Athlon MP processors provided for it would be used, Mark de Frere stated. He did not want to give an exact date for the lock but said it was sure it would happen this very year.
AMD totally remained silent about the realization. According to industry sources the switching off of the SMP capability shall result from configuration bridges that are torn through with a laser at packaging. This solution AMD already uses as CPU overclocking lock for fixing the core clock multiplier. Should the SMP protection be realized likewise then it could be avoided the same way as the multiplier lock. Instructions for that are circulating in the Web for month now.
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