Confused By Overclocking..

[Nunez]

I have just received my Caanoo about a week ago, and have learned a lot about it in a very short time. I like to try to figure things out myself, but there comes a time that one needs help in certain areas...one of my areas is overclocking. I understand that overclocking is pushing the CPU passed its factory made speed, but not exactly sure how to do it. I have upgraded my firmware to 1.0.6, and supposedly I heard this was supposed to add the feature of overclocking. Though the only place I have seen it possible is in the Picudrive emulator. The SNES and NES both do not have the features, atleast anywhere that I could find. I know that they are supposed to be coming out with it soon, but I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to overclock the system itself, like a way to do it myself.. Most people I see talking about it are programmers that have extensive knowledge it seems and I can't seem to keep up. I'm pretty good with computers and can handle most of this stuff fine, but the programming portion is a bit advanced for me. Pretty much I just want to know if it's possible, if so how I could do it so SNES and NES would run a bit smoother, and maybe a step by step child like teaching of how...I feel dumb saying that, but I feel if I don't then I will get some very complex answers. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help.

Edit: Oh and as a side note, I do realize that this is a community based system and that it will get much better over time, I'm very happy with it and will continue to be a big supporter

 

[SolarLune]

1.0.6 isn't the newest firmware - I would update it further - I believe only the newest firmware has capability to overclock. Also, it depends on the emulator developer to implement overclocking - most emulators don't have overclocking just yet, but that would probably be implemented soon.

 

[Nunez]

Oh, well I thought for the caanoo 1.0.6 was the newest...that could be the issue, can you tell me what the newest firmware is and where I can download it?

 

[Nunez]

Ok, I found the 1.5.0 update and am downloading it now to be installed, but that still does not clear up how to overclock. Is there a feature accessible with this new update?

 

[monstercameron]

ocing your caandoo will result in a shorter battery life, and usually if a game runs slow in an emu ocing wont just fix it...i have read somewhere that the caandoo has about 300mhz head room thats about 800mhz.

 

[Nunez]

Yeah, I know it will give it shorter battery life and I know it goes up to about 800Mhz, 750Mhz safely from what I heard...but I would still really like to know how to do it...I see lots of people testing PSX games with it oc'ed to 750 and 800, but I have no idea how there doing it.

 

[SolarLune]

If there is overclocking in an application or game, it will be present in the application. One can underclock or overclock games from GMenu2X, assuming that the developer has enabled that to work with the newest firmware. For the PSX emulator, the overclocking option is called 'Wiz Clock', I believe, and is accessible from the menu.

 

[Nunez]

If there is overclocking in an application or game, it will be present in the application. One can underclock or overclock games from GMenu2X, assuming that the developer has enabled that to work with the newest firmware. For the PSX emulator, the overclocking option is called 'Wiz Clock', I believe, and is accessible from the menu.

Thanks a million for clearing some of that up for me. Ok, now I tried to download GMenu2X and use the overclocking feature, but I could not figure out where it was...I tried settings but it just took me back to the original menu. Unless that was because I only had 1.0.6. So...two questions. 1. Where can I find the overclocking feature in GMenu2X? 2. If it is in settings, how can I get the setting to come up, would the firmware update to 1.5.0 make a difference?

 

[SNESFAN]

Thanks a million for clearing some of that up for me. Ok, now I tried to download GMenu2X and use the overclocking feature, but I could not figure out where it was...I tried settings but it just took me back to the original menu. Unless that was because I only had 1.0.6. So...two questions. 1. Where can I find the overclocking feature in GMenu2X? 2. If it is in settings, how can I get the setting to come up, would the firmware update to 1.5.0 make a difference?

gmenu2x gives you the options when you create links to your different applications to run at a certian clock speed. I attempted to set the clock speed at 700,800,900 mhz and it didn't appear to work, it didn't lock up it just didn't preform the way you would expect. This might have to do with the application that's being ran or the menu not sending the correct command.

my caanoo locked up and froze when OC'ing to 900mhz in the gba emulator (it has it's own OC'ing setting) and I noticed a difference in the fps when bumping to 700-800 mhz. I also can tell the difference in OC'ing in the psx emulator. I would go as far as to guess it hasn't been fixed in gmenu2x but nobody could confirm or deny this in the news thread about it.

I would really appreciate someone making a small program that could change this setting globally and would stick until changed or reboot. It would be nice to play some of the emulators at full speed that are currently kinda sluggish.

EDIT: i also want to point out that 1.5.0 is noticeably slower at emulation than 1.0.6 I would strongly recommend sticking with that update unless you are needing something that is fixed in 1.5.0

 

[SolarLune]

Hmm... That's sounds like a good idea, jb0yx - perhaps someone can code a program that does it. But basically, Nunez, the overclocking feature is present in each link for an application - I think you press I or II to bring up the settings menu for each link.

 

[Nunez]

Yes, pretty much what I have been looking for is a global program that would overclock it like you both were talking about...I guess if there isn't one made yet then I'll just try to make do. I have tried oc'ing in GMenu2X but like said previously it seems to not work very well if at all.. Though I may just be doing it wrong. Thank you for all of your answers and help though, its really helped a lot. Umm, also, I already got to 1.5.0 Is there a reason its slower? Which emulators are noticably slower? I would hate to have to downgrade but I will if its that bad.

Edit: I've tried overclocking some things with the GMenu2X, but either its not working or its just not having much if any affect on increasing frame rates on the NES or SNES. I also tried oc'ing at 750Mhz with Quake and it seemed to run faster for awhile, but then it crashed much quicker then normal...maybe i'll try 700Mhz on that this time and see..

 

[SolarLune]

Yeah, I'll see if overclocking my Caanoo from GMenu2x will affect FPS on SNES or other games.

 

[SNESFAN]

Yes, pretty much what I have been looking for is a global program that would overclock it like you both were talking about...I guess if there isn't one made yet then I'll just try to make do. I have tried oc'ing in GMenu2X but like said previously it seems to not work very well if at all.. Though I may just be doing it wrong. Thank you for all of your answers and help though, its really helped a lot. Umm, also, I already got to 1.5.0 Is there a reason its slower? Which emulators are noticably slower? I would hate to have to downgrade but I will if its that bad.

Edit: I've tried overclocking some things with the GMenu2X, but either its not working or its just not having much if any affect on increasing frame rates on the NES or SNES. I also tried oc'ing at 750Mhz with Quake and it seemed to run faster for awhile, but then it crashed much quicker then normal...maybe i'll try 700Mhz on that this time and see..

I noticed a difference from 1.5.0 in the emulators that were already haveing a hard time snes/nes and it cleared up when I downgraded back to 1.0.6 I have no number to support this but there's a benchmark program for the caanoo that got bigger numbers in the 1.0.6 than in 1.5.0

thing to note is I reported the slowdown before that benchmark program were even released.

 

[Nunez]

Ok, well i may still stick with 1.5.0 for now just cause I dont feel like downgrading Ok, now I was wondering if it was possible to overclock on the GBA emulator. I heard you could, but i can't seem to find an option for it. Also can someone please explain framskipping, i'm quite confused by this..

 

[SolarLune]

Frameskipping is the process by which an emulator quite literally skips the drawing of frames to keep up with the desired FPS (usually 50 or 60 FPS, which is full-speed). The higher the frameskip value, the more frames skipped, meaning that the emulator will keep up the FPS, but will draw the game more choppily. So, it's a matter of speed vs. fluidity. The GPSP emulator only appears to have problems on more major games, like Megaman Battle Network where there are many sprites in-game at once.

 

[dreik]

I wanted to know something: is there somekind of "failsafe" that protects the cpu from frying if we push it too much? is it safe to overclock the cpu so much? i mean from 533 mhz to 800 mhz is more than 50% up....
(propably its already answered somewhere but no matter how i searched the forum i couldnt find something)

 

[Nunez]

I've wondered this myself. I've heard people say that 750Mhz was the highest to go safely, but I see many people doing 800Mhz all the time. No matter where though, I have seen that 900Mhz is much to high and it shouldn't be pushed that much. I've pushed it that far before, and all it did was freeze and I had to start over. I doubt your going to just completely fry the system, I think most emulators stop at 900Mhz anyways, and it will just freeze up and you'll have to restart it. Unless you go into the actual system and set it to overclock from the start...I think you'll be fine. Though I would probably stick with 700-800 range. I've had some games freeze up and crash at 750 and others be fine at 800. I think it just depends.

 

[SNESFAN]

you are in little to no danger to overclock as long as you don't mess with your voltage. Arm processors don't generate heat like x86 chips do, it's going to crash alot sooner than it will become physically damaged. You will wear out your chip faster (lessen it's lifespan) the more you overclock it but you are in no actual danger of "frying your processor" like you are with x86.

depending on what you are doing 750-800Mhz is fairly stable across the board stable clock speed to aim for. Application permitting and obviously not alot of applications support overclocking yet, but from what I've seen that's the sweet spot with what is available. As a general rule of thumb for any overclocker you don't just jump in the middle and see how it fits, you work your way up until things quit working then kick it back notch by notch until it fits your idea of stable. Pretty simple concept right?

EDIT: oh and still waiting on that universal overclocker anyone? someone? please?.... crickets

 

[Nunez]

Hah, yeah I've been waiting for that thing for awhile...seems like it would be pretty simple concept if you know how to program. Let's hope someone high and might hears our cries and helps!