Question To All Those Whose Gp32s Have Broken

[manalone]

Hmm my last post must've not gone through (if it reposts, sorry). But I was saying that I got my gp32 just about a half hour ago, and I've finally been able to try it. So far it seems great, looks like a smooth little machine. My firmware is a bouncing ball and white screen, if that sounds notrmal. It seems to load the couple things i put on my card with no prob so far, so I don't know what the advantage of other firmwares is.

But one of the first things i did was try the clockspeed tester download, and it appeared to say that I have 178 speed on my system. I thought they could only be clocked or whatever to 160, 166? Is this normal? (Got it from ebay, the seller was the official uk distributor it said).

 

[Blah]

Samsung S3C2400X01 (ARM920T core), 20 (and under) to 133 MHz (overclockable to 166 MHz+ in some cases. Some have even reached 256mhz (not always stable, low battery life). Overclocking ability is random, however all GP32s are supposed to reach 133 MHz. A few early "bad" units maxed out at 132mhz.)

- GP32 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Life is easier when you read ...

Yes, the only reason to reflash firmware is if you want a different interface.

gp32.co.nz - Mods and accessories - Voltage/overclocking mod

gp32x.de - Easy Overclocking - The original topic about this find. I used the search function. Basically someone (Jcaber) found he could do the same effect as a volt mod by applying some graphite to the resistor.

Not trying to be rude, but this is just easier than writing a whole post about something thats been discussed 1000+ times.

 

[manalone]

Sorry, I'm trying but I never heard of wikipedia.

Okay, so I guess it's normal to clock past 166, but the company on the auction said it would go up to 166, not past it, so I'm concerned now how safe my machine is. Might sound silly to you guys but I don't know if it's actually supposed to go that high or if it's a mistake (or even a good thing?).

Anyway, I just tried that opensnes9x and so far it seems pretty cool, but on mine the sound DOES crackle and when I set the speed to go to 166 (not even above) then the games crash or don't load...

Am I doing something wrong or are these two problems normal?

I like it otherwise, on slower speeds most of the games aren't THAT slow. But the crackling is sorta annoying, any way to get rid of it without turning sound off entirely? Mainly though I'm kinda worried about that 166-178 thing, and the games locking up...

 

[manalone]

PS: Didn't catch your edit in time blah.

Sorry to be the typical n00b, I am trying. I've done some searching but I admit I didn't do a search on the pencil thing, since I only first heard it just now in the topic. Sounds kind of risky, is anyone here famous for theirs breaking this way?

Anyway, I do think my system should go to 178 I guess, unless I did that program wrong. But it still locks up on pretty much any game if I go past 164.

??

 

[manalone]

Okay wait-

Sorry about the several posts without a response, but I'm trying to confirm answers to my own questions so I don't become a pain here.

I did some more searching about the 166 thing, and I'm a little confused. Can someone tell me if I got this right?

My gp32 is "clocked" to go to 178 according to the clockspeed tester gotten from downloads. However, that won't matter since the system itself has only the power to run properly up to the advertised 166 and must be "volted" or something to match up to the clockspeed?

Sorry again, I'm trying to figire it out but this is all very weird. I don't know if I understand the issue of overclocking or "volting" or whatever.

I'll keep looking, trying not to be a burden. But in the meantime if someone has helpful advice please let me know.

 

[Blah]

PS: Didn't catch your edit in time blah.

Sorry to be the typical n00b, I am trying. I've done some searching but I admit I didn't do a search on the pencil thing, since I only first heard it just now in the topic. Sounds kind of risky, is anyone here famous for theirs breaking this way?

Anyway, I do think my system should go to 178 I guess, unless I did that program wrong. But it still locks up on pretty much any game if I go past 164.

??

​

The clockspeed tester is not as accurate as emulators are for testing. It doesn't put quite as much demand on the processor. Your GP32 was volt-modded (see edit) by gbax.com (the UK distributer). When they do that, they test with emulators for a minimum overclock of 166mhz. They don't test it any higher. There is nothing unsafe about overclocking a GP32 (modding is a different story), the worst that can happen from over-overclocking is a in-game reboot.

 

[manalone]

Thanks blah. Judging from the link you gave it looks a lot more risky and involved than I'm prepared to attempt. I think I'll just stick with my system the way it is after all.

If I understand things correctly then, there's no way I can make my system stable if I try to play games at, say, 170 mhz? It's odd then that the overclock tester isn't really reliable then. Not to crap on the developer's work, but I guess my system is truly settled at 164 and not 178 since the games crash past 164. That sucks, I was all excited.

Incidentally, do you or someone you know have one that goes up to 175, 200? If so, is there a giant leap in performance?

Meanwhile I'll keep trying to figure out the opensnes crackling sound but that should go in my other topic. Thanks for the help blah, this seems like a great little system I'm just a bit disappointed since I convinced myself that my games would be able to run at 178.

 

[Blah]

The clockspeed tester told me 178, but my GP32 only goes up to 166, and not a megahert more. People have said that theres not much performance increase past 166 until you get into 180 and 200 mhz ranges. 166 and 164 in DrMD, there is almost no difference, the only difference I see is a difference in pitch due to the different sound frequency produced by the CPU.

 

[manalone]

Thanks Blah. I suppose you wouldn't reccommend trying to volt mod or whatever?

 

[trooper]

Thanks Blah. I suppose you wouldn't reccommend trying to volt mod or whatever?

​

Not to sound rude, But just enjoy the system and all thats available for it for the time being, Before even thinking about modding it in anyway. The last thing i think you want to do after only just receiving it, Is to kill it without even touching on what it is capable of, Which has been done by at least one person on here, whilst trying to do too much too soon.

Btw: Have you tried,

Little john (LJ) Nes emulator.
GPEngine Turbo Graphx 16/PCEngine emulator.
DrSMS or SMS Sega master system emulator.
And
The vast selection of HomeBrew games
Yet ?.

Trooper

 

[manalone]

No problem trooper, doesn't sound rude. In fact If anything I don't even want to modify my new system at all anyway. I just didn't know how easy or how much better an upgraded (or volt modded or whatever) system was, so I was wondering how successful it is or how easy it is (and therefore advisable). You answered pretty much both questions though.

Really, I am satisfied. I've already been adding more stuff (that littlejohngp is damn great!!) and a few megadrive games. I wanted to try Atari but It doesn't seem to work, i probably did something wrong.

Anyway, I definitely do love this thing already and wanna keep trying new things. I don't plan to mod it for a while if at all, and was just curious about how beneficial or advisable it even is to do so. again, thanks for letting me know.

Speaking of which, Can anyone else tell me ways their system has gotten messed up?

 

[reaper79]

Not trying to give you redundant knowledge, but the GP32 is 133mhz stock, w/o modding, and as such almost all software has been written with the spec in mind, or below. Some game run at only 40mhz. Also, your GP32 is a Gbax 166 yes? That means it has already been volt modded (within white paper specs I'm sure), and your basically getting icing on the cake. The overclocking isn't ALWAYS necessary. You'll also notice that certain emulators and apps can clock a different speeds. The clock tester, as said perviously, isn't all that stressful on the CPU and can run stable and higher frequencies. An emulator, like Osnes, is probably the most intensive task for the CPU, like running Prime95 on your PC, and hence it won't be able to clock as high on some systems. All luck of the draw.

 

[manalone]

Ah, okay, this is starting to make sense. I knew that I was supposed to be getting an overclocked system, which yes, I do think is from "gbax" (again, that UK distributor). While I knew it was overclocked or whatever, i didn't know that this also entailed the volt-mod process, which I didn't hear until today. I still don't know how thsi actually works, but I'm beginning to understand the correlation.

I'm not complainin', I've been having fun with this system all day. Everybdoy's right, the drmd seems perfect. So does the littlejohn, and gpengine is nice too. I'm divided on opensnes but not much. It plays really well, better than expected, especially since I read how it used to be. But I'm hoping someone else will continue with it, if it's even possible. If not, that'll be sad since it looks like it's almost perfect, but then again almost perfect portable snes is something I gave up the possibility of years ago!