K7OC Card

Afterburner!

In terms of overall design, the Afterburner! is easily the hands down winner, and if you're going to be inside the PC case on a regular basis, then you'll appreciate the professional design of the Afterburner! and its easy-to-use clock multiplier and voltage dials. Then again, if the Athlon overclock is going to be a "set it and forget it" kind of deal, the diminutive size and simplicity of the K7OC Card might be more up your alley.

While testing each of these boards, the pros and cons of each design came out pretty quickly. Using the switchbox on the K7OC Card can be trying at times, since it doesn't seem to follow a logical pattern. Other than the cryptic "BF switches are always opposite of F switches" rule, there really isn't a lot to work with. The three sections of the board (BF, F and BP) have four jumper switches each and sometimes when changing CPU speeds and voltages, I was forced to change 10-12 of the jumpers. Since the board sits upright on the Athlon CPU, this combination of positioning and abstract jumper settings make manipulation of an installed card virtually impossible. To change Athlon speeds, the K7OC should first be removed from the Athlon's Gold Finger connector. Printed instructions are included and the switch details are also silk-screened on the back of the board. While the silk-screened jumper instructions are complete, it only included voltage settings from 1.35V to 1.95V.

K7OC Card back with silk screened switch details