Easy Overclocking


trooper posted on Apr 18 2005 at 08:41 PM said:
OK!, I think a little update is in order.

Just got back home and took the dead GP apart and rubbed off the pencil and guess what.... No dead GP, Fucking YAY!. It`s not dead after all, I just ran mame at 166mhz to see if it could still go the speed it use to, And it did no problem. The panic is over.

MY GP32 IS NOT DEAD :D .

Trooper

I'm glad to hear it Trooper! I actually did some further testing last night and I think I found out what caused your problem.

It seems that the more graphite you rub on, the less the resistance, thus greater core voltage.

When I put too much, say about 10 times back and forth over the resistor, I got the same result you mentioned, Red Light, Black Screen (Sometimes White too...). But it did not fry my GP32. I took measurements and found the resistance to be 100K ohm +/- 25%.

I'm not sure what kind of voltage this yeilds, cus I don't know where to take the measurment.

Anyway, It seems that the right ammount (at least for me is around 6 light strokes).

I think with a little more reasearch this method will prove to be safer than first though, may be not as easy to implement.
 
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Incredible :ph34r: It took me a bit to realise this was actually TRUE and I'll try this as soon as we get a more "final" version of the tutorial, and also when more research is done. I'm gonna pass the news ^^ Thanks a lot for everything.
 
Octavious posted on Apr 19 2005 at 05:15 AM said:
ahh what the hell
Ill try this tonight or tomorow
I think ill be what, the third person to actually do it?


all I got to do is make a thin line with #2 pencil, right?
someone confirm the thin line on r52 ( just down the middle of it or where at? on top? the side ? )
and ill do it

~Octavious

Last night while trying to find what went wrong for Trooper, I modified my technique to include testing. I found that the ammount of graphite you put down determines the resistance. The more graphite the less resistance.

Thick or thin doesn't really explain it as this resistor is tiny. Really it's the ammount of graphite between the two ends that creates the circuit.

By the way, graphite is a semi conductor, and not the same as bridging it with wire or aluminium foil as some here would suggest, although it is possible to get very litte resistance in such a short distance.

If you want some advice on testing, grab a copy of Mirko Roller's SDK Example 3droter, and use it to test stability at each speed increment.

1. Put some #2 on resistor. Replace cover. Replace Batteries, Replace, SMC. Turn GP on. Does it boot properly?

2. If no, then rub off #2 and try again with less. Be sure you clean the eraser before each try. I rub it on my pants leg (to my wife's dismay).

3. If it boots, run 3droter and start checking speeds. As soon as you see something out of the ordinary, you know you've reached the limits of stability. If you don't see any increase, add a little #2 to the ends of the resistor only.

4. If you have a multimeter, check your resistance. I'm not sure if the resistors are in series or parallel, but here are the formulas for calculating total resistance both ways.

In series (R52*R#2)/(R52+R#2)+R48

In parallel (((R52*R#2)/(R52+R#2))*R48)/(((R52*R#2)/(R52+R#2))*R48)

Does anyone know which? I think they are in parallel, but not 100% sure.
 
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Well, Another update.

As i`m a gluten for punishment, I`ve put some more pencil on the r52 resistor, But the first time i powered on i got the blank screen with power light showing red etc. So, I switched off, Took the back of again, But this time i applied the pencil to the r48 resistor aswell (don`t ask me why :rolleyes:). Anyway, I chucked the back back on, Powered up and she worked all the way up to 220mhz, Which i found out is the limit she will go before resetting (224mhz is a no no for me). Even then, Simply pull out the adaptor or batteries, Wait about ten seconds, Chuck the power back on (batteries or adaptor) and she`s good to go again.

So now i have a Blu that goes 172mhz and a Blu that goes 220mhz, Sweet :D .

Btw: There is an noticeable improvement in speed (I still haven`t tried snes above 166mhz yet, Which is the limit in osnes9xgp :( ) in mame, But still at fs2 and not full speed in a lot of games, But they are more playable.

EDIT: Just for the record, The pencil i am using i a cheap multi-coloured no name one, So i haven`t even got a clue if it is a No2 or not. :rolleyes:

Trooper
 
my FLU used to be capped at 166, now I can go up to 224 and keep it stable :eek:
it took a while to fine tune it though, at first I had put *way* too much and I got a constant druken frogger effect, which is pretty BAD I think :p
 
Octavious posted on Apr 19 2005 at 03:07 PM said:
its free!
its fast!
and it should work

~Octavious

( commenting on why this idea is popular )


its free!
its fast!
and it could fry your GP32
 
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DaveC posted on Apr 19 2005 at 06:38 PM said:
Octavious posted on Apr 19 2005 at 03:07 PM said:
its free!
its fast!
and it should work

~Octavious

( commenting on why this idea is popular )


its free!
its fast!
and it could fry your GP32

I`m willing to take that chance. :D

Other`s do it at their own risk.

I`ll post an update if i do eventually kill it. :p

Trooper
 
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It seems to me that these two resistors are simply creating a potential divider of the 3V into the CPU (which is expecting 1.8V), so if you know the resistance of R48 & R52, you can calculate voltage quite easily using something like OutputVoltage = (R2 / (R1 + R2)) * InputVoltage.

jcabrer posted on Apr 19 2005 at 04:55 PM said:
When I put too much, say about 10 times back and forth over the resistor, I got the same result you mentioned, Red Light, Black Screen (Sometimes White too...). But it did not fry my GP32. I took measurements and found the resistance to be 100K ohm +/- 25%.

I'm not sure what kind of voltage this yeilds, cus I don't know where to take the measurment.
 
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Just doing some testing with DrMD Musashi core (the slow version of DrMD).
Sort of related. :rolleyes:

So far:

@ 220mhz

Shining force plays at an average 40 fps (very playable).
Shining force 2 plays at an average 25fps (playable but a bit jumpy).
Comix zone crashes after you enter the game.

More to follow.

Trooper
 
c0ncept posted on Apr 19 2005 at 06:53 PM said:
hmm, this technique plus a hex editted ver. of OS9x might make my gp32_console even more perfect!

that's what I thought.. but I can't find the edited OS9X :p
 
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I've been lurking here for an age and never thought it necessary to post.

BUT this mod is just so amazing!!! It just defies belief how simple it is to do and now within 5min my previously 166mhz BLU is a rock solid 220mhz!!

I recommend this mod to anybody competent with a pencil and eraser.

Just make sure you have fresh batteries, as weak batteries could crash at higher clocks giving you the impression that you have overdone the graphite.

That's it for me

PS thanks jcabrer and trooper.

Anybody know where I could get my hands on a overclocked version of Opensnes9x?
 
I just did this got a solid 200mhs with the clock tester and drmd. Also i say use a mechanical pencile u can make a better line with it (when i used a normal i put to much on). Also if this should fry the cpu would it do so at say 133 or just at the higher clock speeds?

Bourbon
 
If your CPU is going to be fried after this mod it would get fried no matter if you were running at 133mhz or 200mhz. The same modded current is still ripping through your cpu.

Hope that gives you peace while you play your overclocked games :D
 
Ok after lots of debating and should i, shouldnt I? I did it!

At first it still wouldnt clock over 166, thats the norm for my GP32.

So I added some more pencil, no luck...

So I did what Trooper did and put some pencil on 48 as well, and it works!

I only get 180mhz though.

184 runs but then freezez. 180 seems good though.

I testeted SF2 Turbo on drmd, 166mhz was 19-25 fps
180 was 27-33 fps so theres your comparison :)

Quake was also nice at 180mhz not sure what fps but much smoother...

Steve.
 
Sonic-NKT posted on Apr 18 2005 at 02:34 PM said:
R52loc.jpg

http://nils.thiele.free.fr/R52Loc.jpg
here it is...

Here it is from earlier in the post.
 
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fitzsteve posted on Apr 19 2005 at 10:58 PM said:
Ok after lots of debating and should i, shouldnt I? I did it!

At first it still wouldnt clock over 166, thats the norm for my GP32.

So I added some more pencil, no luck...

So I did what Trooper did and put some pencil on 48 as well, and it works!

I only get 180mhz though.

184 runs but then freezez. 180 seems good though.

I testeted SF2 Turbo on drmd, 166mhz was 19-25 fps
180 was 27-33 fps so theres your comparison :)

Quake was also nice at 180mhz not sure what fps but much smoother...

Steve.

Just tried SF2 Turbo

166mhz with frameskip 0 and sound rate 16500 it was 47-48fps
220mhz with frameskip 0 and sound rate 22050 it was 60fps

Not much need for anymore than 220mhz it seems
 
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