How To "underclock" Gp32?


Mange

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Apr 20, 2005
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I've reading about overclocking speeding up the demise of a GP32. I want mine to last forever. Can I underclock it? Say, run it at about 100Mhz? That should increase battery life, and the life of the cpu. Sounds like a win-win to me!
 
It depends on the software you run on your gp32.
For example some emus run at 66, but you won`t find much that runs fine on an "underclocked" gp32. Besides that, nearly no software (atleast to my knowledge) lets you underclock the gp32.
 
Mange posted on May 18 2005 at 01:42 PM said:
Jaw posted on May 18 2005 at 06:36 AM said:
gotta ask as well.. are they you're cabinets in you're avatar?


I wish! Mine are not as nice, and I don't have the rarer titles. That's my buddies house. He has about 50 machines there.
http://www.mylstar.com/newlayout.html

*drools* Nice collection your mate has there. ;) What sort of machines do you have?
I hope one day to build a MAME machine but I don't have the room at the moment. :(
 
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Jaw posted on May 18 2005 at 01:34 PM said:
gp32's run at 133 by default, any higher and it's selectable in the program.
Actually the default is 67mhz for apps developed with the gp sdk, and a lot of stuff clocks even lower than that (Bob the amazing lemon is running at 33mhz, and I think YAFL is 22mhz these days).
 
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Radio posted on May 18 2005 at 03:46 PM said:
*drools* Nice collection your mate has there. ;) What sort of machines do you have?
I hope one day to build a MAME machine but I don't have the room at the moment. :(
I was about to write the same thing. I wish I had the space and money to decorate a room like that :) I would be happy to just have space for GnG and Robotron, but my appartment is stuffed with crap as it is ... :)
 
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Han posted on May 18 2005 at 06:52 AM said:
Radio posted on May 18 2005 at 03:46 PM said:
*drools* Nice collection your mate has there. ;) What sort of machines do you have?
I hope one day to build a MAME machine but I don't have the room at the moment. :(
I was about to write the same thing. I wish I had the space and money to decorate a room like that :) I would be happy to just have space for GnG and Robotron, but my appartment is stuffed with crap as it is ... :)


I have: 720, Smash Tv, Asteroids, Tempest, Satan's Hollow, DigDug, and a Flash pinball machine.
Stephen built that game room behind his house. It is more square feet than his house!
http://www.mylstar.com/gm.htm
http://www.mylstar.com/
 
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On topic: I think the "pencil trick" works the other way around, too. Only, you'd have to apply the grapphite to the r42 resistor, to decrease the voltage pumped to the CPU... CPU would last longer, and I'd assume you couldn't overclock the machine much, if at all.

Disclaimer: I think. :)
 
smash t.v. is an excellent game! you're friend has a good collection! i've got 3 jamma cabinets 2 time crisis dedi's and a football thing :) pre jamma stuff's not really my thing, but it's nice to see there are other collectors about!
 
Asteroids and Tempest alone make it a fine collection; keeping those vector monitors alive is a pain. (I've got an Omega Race as my vector machine, but I need to get a Space Duel someday...)

jeff
 
Mange posted on May 18 2005 at 02:09 PM said:
I have: 720, Smash Tv, Asteroids, Tempest, Satan's Hollow, DigDug, and a Flash pinball machine.
Stephen built that game room behind his house. It is more square feet than his house!
http://www.mylstar.com/gm.htm
http://www.mylstar.com/

Your collection is not too shabby. :lol: ;) It must be great to have your own pinball machine much better than the computer game variety. *extremely jealous*
 
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I thought 144 was the highest it went before it was considered overclocking...
Oh well, dunno. :p

The reason not many games allow underclocking is because the fact that EVERYTHING has to be done in software, which can make the program run a bit slowly, or at a low frame rate if the cpu is set too low. This isn't an issue for some games that use simpler graphics routines and don't scroll and don't have to calculate huge physics stuff or anything.

Yes, battery life is a big thing... as newer more familiar handheld consoles are getting more and more powerful, the battery life is getting decreased. If the GP32 took 4 AA batteries instead of 2 AA batteries, that could extend battery life a bit, but who wants to have to use 4 batteries? :p
 
Drag posted on May 18 2005 at 07:32 PM said:
The reason not many games allow underclocking is because the fact that EVERYTHING has to be done in software, which can make the program run a bit slowly, or at a low frame rate if the cpu is set too low. This isn't an issue for some games that use simpler graphics routines and don't scroll and don't have to calculate huge physics stuff or anything.
I'd be very suprised if most games run as high as 133mhz (apart from fenix stuff, but that can't be helped when your dependent on something as slow as SDL). Emulators need a high cpu, and intensive stuff like doom and quake, but your average gp32 game doesn't need anything near as high as 133mhz. In fact most of the stuff that runs at 67mhz could probably run quite happily at much lower speeds, but a lot of the time people can't be bothered optimising because if you've got loads of cpu cycles going spare then there's no point in spending all that time and effort.
 
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Quiest posted on May 18 2005 at 01:43 PM said:
It depends on the software you run on your gp32.
For example some emus run at 66, but you won`t find much that runs fine on an "underclocked" gp32. Besides that, nearly no software (atleast to my knowledge) lets you underclock the gp32.

I must admit i'm lazy and i'm terrible at woodwork, ordered this one which is currently being built as a bartop....

http://www.digitalarcade.co.uk/merchandise.htm

The one i'm getting build is showing in the forum

Havent got room for a full mame cabinet but this bartop type one suits me fine
 
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psj3809 posted on May 19 2005 at 10:36 AM said:
I must admit i'm lazy and i'm terrible at woodwork, ordered this one which is currently being built as a bartop....

http://www.digitalarcade.co.uk/merchandise.htm

The one i'm getting build is showing in the forum

Havent got room for a full mame cabinet but this bartop type one suits me fine
Nice, not long 'til it's finished by the looks of things. That silver t-molding looks good.

I'm not too confident about my woodwork skills either but it's the cheaper way to go. I could ask around the arcades if they have any generic cabinets for sale but I don't fancy using something that's been sitting in a storage room getting damp.

Ok we are rediculously off topic now but hey I thought it was interesting. :p
 
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