Northwind GFD

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

  • URL: http://home.rmci.net/nw/
  • Price: $50.00
  • Size: 1.75” x 2.00”
  • Power: No Power Connector
  • Switches: 20 small dipswitches
  • Extras: Cache Kit ($20)
The Northwind GFDs price falls in the middle range here, at $50 US currency. While this kind of money may seem high for such a small, simple looking device, you can imagine how much money the device saves you on overclocking your PC. A 200 MHz gain in CPU speed is definitely worth a $50 accessory.

3 Gold Finger Reviews - General Tech 33  nbsp; 3 Gold Finger Reviews - General Tech 34

The Northwind’s size is very acceptable, except to say that I wish they would have moved the longer side to go perpendicular to the processor instead of parallel: this would have saved .25” of space over the top of the GFD/Athlon combination. Though not a major problem, any of you with the power supplies mounted to the side of the CPU instead of above it should check the room and make sure you have enough to compensate.

There is no power connector on the Northwind GFD, and this is the card’s major advantage over the other brands. You need not worry about increasing the load on your power supply by much, or taking up one of the few power connectors left inside your case. This also prevents any damage that may occur due to inserting and removing a power connector.

3 Gold Finger Reviews - General Tech 35

The switches on it are a completely different story however. There are twenty of them, actually 8 pairs that work together. A switch is set to ON mode when both the north and south switches are moved towards each other; it is in OFF mode when both are moved away from each other. Not only does this make the configuration more confusing for the user, but also leaves more room open for error on said user’s part. In addition, the switches are incredibly small and I needed to use the Philips screwdriver to switch them confidently.

Another great feature of this board is the Cache divider that you can purchase with it. This was a golden accessory a week ago, but there have been a couple of programs released recently that allow the cache settings to be changed through a software program. This makes the process easier, and hell of a lot safer.

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