Overclocking

[fh36]

is there a FAQ or detailed explanation on overclocking your GP32? in Doom2 i have overclocked mine at 150mhz. i have not tried going up any farther just in case something bad might happen. are there any long lasting effects on a GP32 if you overclock it? is the overclocking ability based solely on what type of RAM your GP32 has?

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

If you overclock too far, your GP32 will explode like a mini nuke and probably take your hands with it...


Actually it will just reset your GP32 and no harm done.

 

[fh36]

thanks. i just overclocked mine at 160mhz running FFV for SNES. and it hasnt shut off yet. . but are you sure that there are no effects from overclocking? cus in Doom it says that anything over 133mhz might have long lasting effects and go through batteries wuicker (duh!!).

 

[c0ncept]

obviously it does go through your battries quicker, but software overclocking cannot harm your GP32, no way.

 

[trooper]

Lets just say that there has never been an "Overclocking killed my GP32" thread on these boards, Or any other Afaik. Mine oc to 172mhz with no problems at all, But only hex edited programs support this speed, So don`t get the option to use that much.

Trooper

 

[fh36]

thanks, now i have overclocked to 166mhz with no trouble at all, i have also optimized openSnes to run donkey kong country. and it works perfectly cept for the sound in the menus and map mode, it just snap, crackles, and pops all of the time. but it is ok.

trooper: what are some of the hex edited programs? do you mean that they are edited with a hex editor to go up to 172mhz?

 

[dieu666]

but can overclocking have any long lasting effects on batteries?(may be it's a noob question but my batteries seem to have some problem)

 

[fh36]

i assume you are using rechargable, right?

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

If you are using rechargables, your problem is simple. The GP32 takes alot of juice to run, so when the batteries die they still have some juice left (just not enough to run the GP32, more so for high OC'ed GP32's). So when re-charging batteries that are not empty, your batteries will slowly start to lose their lifespan.

Either find some low low usage electronic, like a AM/FM Radio to run the batteries all the way dead each time, or get a good charger that has a "DEPLETE" option (I have one from radio shack that does this, it will drain the battery to nothing and then charge it to full, your batteries will last years longer like that).

Although the damage already done to your batteries from charging them when they were not fully depleted is irreversable, so your current batteries wont be helped by this.

 

[0-bake]

the so called "memory effect", wich occurs by recharging batteries that arent empty, is not a problem with NiMH batteries.
these are although better, because there are some, wich have 2000mAH or higher.
youll see that you can use them much longer than normal batteries, you buy in any store....

 

[rpgchocobo]

If I change my GP32's RAM with high quality (still 8mb) RAM, will I be able to overclock higher? If I do the 32mb(still high quality RAM)RAM upgrade will I be able to overclock higher? With a different brand of 8mb RAM will I have to alter the BIOS? With good RAM and luck, is it possible to overclock to 200mhz? Sorry, for the questions, just wondering.

 

[GPJosh]

A think the topic on 32 memory upgrade said that the memory upgrade worldn't effect overclocking, a voltage mod would.

 

[Octavious]

volt decides the OC
RAM decides the application size
thats all folks

~Octavious

 

[fh36]

but you couldnt overclock really high without having more RAM, because the processor would just be waiting around for the RAM to catch up. so i am geussing that the differance between some GP32's RAM and the GP32s that some people like me have, the RAM is well... i dont know the correct terminology, but maybe it is faster or has more BUS Speed? or is the BUS more like bandwidth?

 

[Octavious]

bus is like a bottleneck
the bigger the bus, the more ram can be used at once
hence pc100 ram > pc133ram ( simple explanation )
the numbers are the bus and the bigger the better, usually
and yes, the ram in some gp32's are differant than the ram in others

~Octavious

 

[ColinR]

This is something that's puzzled me. The ram that's suggested to do the mem mod is to be of PC100, right? Meaning it's as good as the ram in a factory default GP32. How come that GP32s can go higher than 100 then? By a significant margin. My "PC150" (really PC133 that was hand picked and checked to go at 150MHz - SPD identification states 148) ram will only go to 145 in my PC.

Does this mean that the GP runs on a multiplied bus (CPU runs at double the memory bus speed)? Eg. When running at 40MHz the ram is only at 20? When running at 166 the ram is running at 83?

Or does this mean that ram MODULES (ie the DIMMs) are rated to keep all their chips in sync at that speed, and the chips on their own are likely to be capable of going higher?

 

[fh36]

woah, way above my head. but if it is multiplied bus wouldnt the processor be waiting all the time? i mean it would have to just sit and stop and wait for the RAM to catch up, and that would make the games lag, noticable in FPSs like Doom. i think that the chips are alot more powerful that the DIMMs would let them to go, or somehow the software will let it go higher, ya know what i mean?

 

[Akuma no Houkon]

woah, way above my head. but if it is multiplied bus wouldnt the processor be waiting all the time? i mean it would have to just sit and stop and wait for the RAM to catch up, and that would make the games lag, noticable in FPSs like Doom. i think that the chips are alot more powerful that the DIMMs would let them to go, or somehow the software will let it go higher, ya know what i mean?

Thus the doom (bottleneck) of all PCs.

 

[DaveC]

obviously it does go through your battries quicker, but software overclocking cannot harm your GP32, no way.

I am not so sure. Maybe it won't damage it right away but it may shorten the MTBF of the CPU. You may not notice it for months of use this way. I mean Overclocking uses more power, this generates more heat in the chip, heat damages IC chips.

 

[unlucky]

i heard the problem is the ram as it has to keep up its clock rate with the cpu... And gamepark always buy the cheapest ram they can... So some gp32's have got some quite low quality ram that well meets the minium but cant over clock just like mineeeee ! This just may be me mis understanding the long topic about this