GP32 Heat Sink?


Turtlebmh

Still Fresh
Joined
May 7, 2003
Messages
26
Would some kind of heat sink/silver compound increase the ability to overclock a GP32 at all?
 
course it would!!

right, this is the mod I've done to my GP32, and now I got it OC'd to 245mhz max... although it only runs stable at about 230mhz :(

anyways...

first you need to grab yourself a really chunky copper heatsink... like an SLK 900 or 800 or something... grab your dremel and cut a piece the size of the RAM chip, and the size of the CPU... now remove the back of your GP32...

now using some artic silver epoxy compound attach these to your CPU and ram... and bingo... super good cooling...

but for optimum cooling, you need to sit in a very weird posistion and constantly blow on the back of your GP32 whilst playing it... so have to learn to master the art of playing games with only one eye being able to see...

of course this is all a load of crap... but I'm bored :D
 
*attaches heat sink, finishes reading post...no!!.... :D *

So is it not a problem with heat when overclocking the GP32? Why do some not overclock to higher speeds?
 
The ARM processor runs very cool with very little heat dissipation. Even after overclocking, there's no need for a heatsink ;)

The main problem with overclocking is the amount of extra voltage the CPU requires to increase it's clock speed. Some GP32s have the ability to go to a higher CPU voltage then others. Those that don't can be modded to do so.
 
What factors limit the voltage mod increasing processor speed? Once you up the voltage beyond a certain point, the chip still doesn't have heat issues? (obviously above about 2V it's not designed to run)
 
The Rob's mod increases the CPU's core voltage. The recommended ranges are between 1.65V and 1.95V. The farther over 1.95V, the more danger you will put your GP32 in. It will take a while for the CPU to actually overheat, but there are components around the CPU which will probably overheat before the CPU itself does.

For more information, look at Robster's site: http://www.cobbleware.com/gp32/gp32oc.html
 
Theoretically, you could up the voltage over 1.95 and have some method of keeping it cool and maintain a higher clock speed, right?
 
You don't need any cooling, it's not the heat that's the problem!

Increasing the CPU voltage just changes the logic switching voltage levels inside the CPU and will tend to make higher frequencies possible. At some point, however, other timing constraints will prevent the CPU voltage mod from increasing the possible frequency.

Where will that point be? 2.1 Volts and 220MHz? 2.3 Volts and 250MHz? I have no idea, but I'm going to test it soon. But I can guarantee you that even if I can run at 250MHz at some CPU voltage, the CPU itself will not get hot!

1.95V is not a hard limit, that's just a level that the manufacturer specifies will give correct operation without damaging the CPU. Above that, pretty much anything could happen. You are free to run your CPU on any voltage, as long as you're prepared to accept the consequences :)
 
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