Overclocking

[DjAdolf]

I recently bought a GP32 [Flu] and am not too impressed with its emulation performance. I have been trying to look a a few FAQ's or tutorials on how to overclock/mod/upgrade the GP32, but with no luck. A few quick q's -

1) Can I, in any possible way, modify my gp32 to increase emulation speed?

2) if so, will it make much of a difference?

3) A contact told me there was a way to "overclock your GP32 to allow up to 200 mhz, and also boost the ram from 8 mb to 32" Is there any guides on this? [/is this even true?]

It seems that 'overclocking' is all software based. What I am asking, is there anyway to mod the gp32's Hardware to increase performance?

I am also very sorry if there are several threads, just like this one, being posted everyday.

Thanks for your time.

EDIT -

"as noted by the fact that some will overclock to 166Mhz out of the box, whereas others require a mod." (Taken from another thread) It mentions a 'mod'. I think that is what I'm looking for. Any help will be greatly appreciated

 

[DaveC]

Overclocking is done in software as a setting in the emulator itself. The max. it can go is 166 Mhz. Hardware mod is only needed if your GP32 cannot overclock to 166 wothout crashing. RAM upgrades are possible but have no effect on emulation speed.

You must be trying to emulate SNES, Lynx, or Vectrex. Those emulators are unfinished or are just plain old and not updated.

All of the other emulators have good speed.

 

[TandeM]

Voltage-modding can guarantee 166MHz OC-ability, which is usually good for at least a 40% performance gain over 133MHz in most emulators - of course, it only makes for a 10~20% boost over the 150/156MHz that nearly any GP32 can attain by default.

 

[DjAdolf]

Wow. Fast reply. That was excellent.

So there is no way to upgrade the hardware?... apart from RAM which doesn't next to nothing....

Ok and yes I was talking about SNES, but also Genesis/Megadrive. I have 3 different Emulators for gens, all different versions of GigaDrive. 1 Runs PERFECTLY... but freezes after 1-40 seconds, 1 Runs at 9-12 fps,(This is the best one I have) and one freezes at startup (the 165 Version of GigaDrive.)

Does everyone else have this problem? I mean, do we all play Sonic 2 at 9-12 fps? It's bearable but irratating.

EDIT - with the emulator that runs perfectly, is that because its running at a higher speed? Does it freeze because the GP32 cannot handle that speed? Will overclocking/mod/etc abolish this problem? Becuase it really does run perfectly like that

 

[DjAdolf]

Voltage-modding can guarantee 166MHz OC-ability, which is usually good for at least a 40% performance gain over 133MHz in most emulators - of course, it only makes for a 10~20% boost over the 150/156MHz that nearly any GP32 can attain by default.

I see. I am willing to modify my gp32 in anyway. do you have a tutrial to do this?

 

[Robster]

The guide to voltage modding is at my site. But you don't seem to understand the first issue, which is that the software determines what speed to run at.

So, first: please get a program that allows you to select the clock speed (GpDoom is a good one), and do some testing with your GP32. If you can run Doom at 166MHz for 10 minutes without crashing, then you've got a "good" gp32 and there's no point modifying it.

If your GP32 crashes immediately, or after a minute or two, then you can fairly safely assume that it doesn't handle that speed. In that case, by all means modify your GP32.

The main point is that if a game or emulator sets itself to run at 133MHz or whatever, then there's no hardware mod that will make it go faster. Some people have taken games that run at 133MHz by default, and edited the software to run faster. I have no information on that, but search the forums here and I'm sure you'll find something.

Couple of other points: I don't believe 200MHz has ever been achieved, but 170 certainly has. And finally, some emulators just aren't that fast - even at 166MHz, they don't achieve 100% speed and compatibility. Sound generally slows them down too.

 

[DjAdolf]

This is extremely helpful. Thank you so much.

I tried GPDoom V8, and I cannot even run it! It crashes on the 'loading' screen. I think this is a pretty good indication that I have a bad version of the GP32 and it need modification. But I will do as you say and download the older versions of GPDoom and fiddle with the settings, just to see what happens.

 

[Robster]

Umm, I don't know why doom would crash on the loading screen... have you got a WAD file in /game/doom? Note that is /game/doom, not /gpmm/doom

Actually, I'm not sure what you mean - did you set it to 166MHz at the menu, and then try to start a game, and it crashed then? Or can you give more details about exactly what happened? If you can't run at 166MHz, decrease the speed until you find what speed you can run at, it's interesting to know.

Anyway, the latest Doom version is V9, try that out.

You seem hell-bent on modding your GP32 - it's your choice, I just hope you don't end up with an expensive paperweight

 

[Dozer]

The snes and genesis emulators aren't finished. They will be choppy.