Overclocking the New iBooks

now that's something new...overclocking without actually altering the hardware...

so does this mean that it can be reversed...thus preventing voided warranty?

Blakespot,
Have you done it on yours? How does it perform? Much faster? What about heat?

Thanks,

Can something like this be done to the new TiBooks too??? Just wondering if it can, or if it can only be done to the iBookers...

I wouldn't mind trying it out on my TiBook, but would like to hear if anyone has done it before I do.

This is certifiably weird. Does any other processor chip do this sort of thing?

Wierd

That sounds really wierd that you can change the clock speed with software. 100mhz is a big difference! Maybe blackspot should jump in now while there are cool things you can do!

i book

would this work on the 2001 i book model (500 mhz, firewire) as well or would it be limited to the higher end models
i bought my iBook as soon as they came out and i could only wish i had waited until i could get a faster one for less $ ( i paid 2000) and its only 500 mhz. if not oh well mine works nicely.


also does anyone know the specs of the next AirPort relese?

Originally posted by blakespot

It reverts back to the original clockspeed at reboot. A little app run at boottime could easily be written to upclock the system with each reboot. Though temperature is a concern in laptops, always. This new G3 takes less power and runs cooler that previous, similarly clocked units however.

Click to expand...

if anyone can write this app. could they put it on their iDisk, im not much of a programer but i would love to take advantage of the speed boost
if so thanks
-royal

Originally posted by blakespot

Only the new G3 "Sahara" CPU has this functionality in the Apple line, at present. Perhaps another iteration of the G4 or the G5 would allow this as well.

Click to expand...

Figures... maybe someone will figure out a way to do that with a new TiBook as well. Stranger things have been known to happen...

Reggie?

What is this Reggie? I installed the dev tools, but I have no such app on my machine.

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Apple hardware still too expensive for you? How about a raffle ticket?

Also the Dragonball

The Dragonball (68k derivative) from Motorola can be changed in software as well. I had a lil app called AfterBurner that did this on my Palm V.

The speed change was definately noticeable in scrolling speed and more intensive games (Argon V for example).

And the obvious reason for this is...

Dynamic performance tweaking for saving battery life. Encoding MP3 or exporting iMovies? Jack up the CPU. Working in a word processor and turn down the speed.

Lots of Apple portables have done this before, this seems to be a more accessable way to do it tho instead of the limited Energy Saver control panel.

Its also an easy way to alter hardware to be faster/slower models all by software config instead of physical changes.

Geeze is this ever gonna P.O. some of the "Apple is holding back performance to charge more" crowd.

THIS IS GREAT!

I don't have an ibook because i prefer the G4 Ti, but i love that Apple is finally getting more consumer friendly with its actions:

More frequent updates to models (they are faster to upgrade now)
Reactive to market interest (eMac)
Allowing people to change the clock speed on their Mac laptop (hope this leads to more)

All i want now is 64 mb graphics on the top of the line powerbook.
if it costs more, i want more in it other than ram, HD space and a chip mhz increase

Software

Is it really so amazing to overclock a computer via software in some way?

You could look at this as accessing the CPU at a low level in the same way that Windows users do via the BIOS. Virtually all of my PC-using friends have overclocked their celerons at one time or another.

Nice to see that people are squeezing more out of the Sahara though.

Someone mentioned last week that they had overclocked the bus speed of their 500MHz iBook to 100MHz. Anyone know how to do this...?

Originally posted by blakespot

It reverts back to the original clockspeed at reboot. A little app run at boottime could easily be written to upclock the system with each reboot. Though temperature is a concern in laptops, always. This new G3 takes less power and runs cooler that previous, similarly clocked units however.


blakespot

Click to expand...

What's cool about this is if it generally works it could become a popular and reliable free download. Better than an easter egg. The overheating issue matters. Is changing chips trivial?

I would investigate other hacks on other books. Is there a mac hack site for, say all mods available for a G4 ti? If so the webmaster or an agent could accept CPU's for upgrade and collect a fee for it.

Rocketman

Re: And the obvious reason for this is...

Originally posted by Sayer
Dynamic performance tweaking for saving battery life. Encoding MP3 or exporting iMovies? Jack up the CPU. Working in a word processor and turn down the speed.

Click to expand...

The TiG4 already supports this feature. It is in the sleep menu. The questiojn becomes higher and lower options or perhaps "smart CPU usage" software.

Rocketman

OC ibook 500

Royal Pineapple and Dune.

The iBook 500 IS overclockable. I've got one and...well i haven't done it YET. I'm waiting til schools out and I'm on summer break...oh wait thats tomorrow! So I'll let you know how it works when I do it this week or next...or next...or whenver I get to it around my lazy summer. Well if you want to do it yourself (soldering required) check out http://www.xlr8yourmac.com they've got a ton of stuff on it. A guy named Tycho did it and posted a step by step. Obviously voids ur warranty, but hey, 600Mhz and 100Mhz bus. Why not!

Re: OC ibook 500

Originally posted by Bradcoe

The iBook 500 IS overclockable. I've got one and...well i haven't done it YET. I'm waiting til schools out and I'm on summer break...oh wait thats tomorrow! So I'll let you know how it works when I do it this week or next...or next...or whenver I get to it around my lazy summer. Well if you want to do it yourself (soldering required) check out http://www.xlr8yourmac.com they've got a ton of stuff on it. A guy named Tycho did it and posted a step by step. Obviously voids ur warranty, but hey, 600Mhz and 100Mhz bus. Why not!

Click to expand...

i have read about this overclocking and i have decided that i dont have enough experteice to phisically change something in my laptop, plus i just purchased the APP (apple protection plan) for $300 and i wouldnt want to void the warrinty. if anyone figures out how to OC it w/ software i would be more than intrested
-royal

Speaking of processors that can be overclocked without modifying hardware, the pc side has had one for a while, starting with the celeron (celery?) 300A (300Mhz) that was overclockable to 450Mhz by upping the bus speed of the processor from 66Mhz to 100Mhz from the BIOS (I actually got one of those and they worked great. Apparently, 85% of those chips were perfectly stable at that insane overclocked speed). Nowadays, you can still overclock the bus, but if you get an older Athlon Tbird, it's possible to modify it to accept changes to both its bus speed and its modifier through the BIOS. Oh, I also forgot graphics cards--there's a utility for the pc called powerstrip that can overclock practically any graphics card from the Nvidia TNT2 up inside of windoze. It was pretty cool--for a windoze program.
Just my 2cents.
-t