A ~14% increase in processor speed (700MHz -> 800MHz) is nice, but without a corresponding bus speed increse, say from 100MHz -> 133Mhz, the speed difference isn't going to be all that noticable.
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Overclocking the New iBooks
- Thread starter blakespot
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I think I'll make an attempt at writing it
But it'll take a couple of days. Tell me what you guys want in it as far as features go. And I need some people with the new iBooks to test this on. Oh yeah, there is no way I will put it on my iDisk. I don't want everyone and their brother e-mailing me about how to fix their brand new 1700 dollar computer that they just fried using my application. I don't think I will even give it out, until the liability concerns are taken care of. Until then, send me your suggestions.
Brad Nelson
rubikcube@mac.com
But it'll take a couple of days. Tell me what you guys want in it as far as features go. And I need some people with the new iBooks to test this on. Oh yeah, there is no way I will put it on my iDisk. I don't want everyone and their brother e-mailing me about how to fix their brand new 1700 dollar computer that they just fried using my application. I don't think I will even give it out, until the liability concerns are taken care of. Until then, send me your suggestions.
Brad Nelson
rubikcube@mac.com
Re: I think I'll make an attempt at writing it
A few nice features would be
1) activate on startup (of course)
2) A deactivate if running on battery check box. This way you don't wind up killing the batt in <1.5 hour lol.
3) maybe make it a dock or menu icon so that speed can be set on the fly almost like volume.
just my $.02 since I have an Indigo iBook and not a new 700 MHz.
A@ron
A few nice features would be
1) activate on startup (of course)
2) A deactivate if running on battery check box. This way you don't wind up killing the batt in <1.5 hour lol.
3) maybe make it a dock or menu icon so that speed can be set on the fly almost like volume.
just my $.02 since I have an Indigo iBook and not a new 700 MHz.
A@ron
I have a G4 400 PCI model. When I found out it was possible to overclock it i tried it immediately.
Just out of curiosity.
at 500MHZ it dropped into open firmware, but 450 work fine. (at least I havent noticed anything strange. The temp. (according to GAUGE PRO) increased by 1 degree celsius. I cant get it to run hotter that 34 celsius.🙂
It runs fine for 7 months now.
Does any1 have problems with PCI models overclocking? any failures after a while???
Just out of curiosity.
at 500MHZ it dropped into open firmware, but 450 work fine. (at least I havent noticed anything strange. The temp. (according to GAUGE PRO) increased by 1 degree celsius. I cant get it to run hotter that 34 celsius.🙂
It runs fine for 7 months now.
Does any1 have problems with PCI models overclocking? any failures after a while???
wsteineker
macrumors 6502a
OT, but...
How did you overclock your Yikes! board? Was it a hardware or software overclock? If it was software, do you know if it works on the Sawtooth G4s? Thanks!
How did you overclock your Yikes! board? Was it a hardware or software overclock? If it was software, do you know if it works on the Sawtooth G4s? Thanks!
topicolo
macrumors 68000
You should try adding one of those cpu fans that are sold for pcs. That should probably reduce your chip down to 30 C or lower. If you're really crazy, go search for tutorials on how to build a water cooler--you'll probably be able to overclock your computer to like 600Mhz or something 🙂 😀
AlphaTech
macrumors 601
Re: OT, but...
The Yikes board had jumpers that set the speed, just as the G3 Blue motherboards did. From the Sawtooth forward they eliminated the jumper blocks, which means you have to do some soldering.
As for topicolo's suggestion of 'water cooling' your Mac 🙄 Have you looked at what is involved in one of those rigs??? You would HAVE to create and adapter to make contact with the processor, which could prove more difficult then you think. Add to that the fact that quality WC rigs are NOT cheap (at least a couple of hundred dollars), it gets to the point of dimminishing returns.
The idea of putting a fan on the chip is better, IF you can get it to stay on it. The heat sinks that Apple uses don't have spots for fans to go onto them (as the peecee world's heat sinks do). You would have to either make it stay on the heat sink, or put some holes in it to make it stay put. Another case of diminishing returns, and probably more trouble then it's worth.
Since the speed is only increased by 50MHz and the temp only went up a few degrees it's not worth all the trouble to try and get it a little cooler.
One easy, and cheap, option would be to replace the system fan with one that has a higher flow rate. Cooler Master makes excellent fans that are quiet and push a lot of air.
The Yikes board had jumpers that set the speed, just as the G3 Blue motherboards did. From the Sawtooth forward they eliminated the jumper blocks, which means you have to do some soldering.
As for topicolo's suggestion of 'water cooling' your Mac 🙄 Have you looked at what is involved in one of those rigs??? You would HAVE to create and adapter to make contact with the processor, which could prove more difficult then you think. Add to that the fact that quality WC rigs are NOT cheap (at least a couple of hundred dollars), it gets to the point of dimminishing returns.
The idea of putting a fan on the chip is better, IF you can get it to stay on it. The heat sinks that Apple uses don't have spots for fans to go onto them (as the peecee world's heat sinks do). You would have to either make it stay on the heat sink, or put some holes in it to make it stay put. Another case of diminishing returns, and probably more trouble then it's worth.
Since the speed is only increased by 50MHz and the temp only went up a few degrees it's not worth all the trouble to try and get it a little cooler.
One easy, and cheap, option would be to replace the system fan with one that has a higher flow rate. Cooler Master makes excellent fans that are quiet and push a lot of air.
topicolo
macrumors 68000
Re: Re: OT, but...
Well, you can get ready-made water cooler setups from pc enthusiast shops on the internet, and all you would have to do is to lap the cooling block and attach it using thermal epoxy or maybe create a copper shim to fit it better.
As for the fan, I think a tube of superglue should do the trick 😉
Well, you can get ready-made water cooler setups from pc enthusiast shops on the internet, and all you would have to do is to lap the cooling block and attach it using thermal epoxy or maybe create a copper shim to fit it better.
As for the fan, I think a tube of superglue should do the trick 😉
AlphaTech
macrumors 601
Re: Re: Re: OT, but...
Here is just one example of a water cooling system... as I mentioned, a couple of hundred dollars to get the system. You still would have to connect it to your processor, which may not be as easy as you think. You also need to run the lines to outside of the case (via holes you will need to drill into the case) to allow for the heat exchange.
I wouldn't trust superglue to hold a piece of plastic to metal that heats up. When the glue fails (and it will eventually) you will have a fan spinning inside your system hitting who knows what. NOT worth the potential damage.
Especially considering how he ONLY saw a 4° difference (C but what is the F amount for those of us that don't think in metric??? 🙄 ) I'd say the case fan replacement will be a far easier, cheaper and better solution. Additional cooling is most likely not even needed, considering how the components shouldn't have an issue with the slight heat increase from the 50MHz boost. IF he was able to boost it up to 600MHz or so, THEN I would suggest additional cooling, as it stands, don't blow your money.
Here is just one example of a water cooling system... as I mentioned, a couple of hundred dollars to get the system. You still would have to connect it to your processor, which may not be as easy as you think. You also need to run the lines to outside of the case (via holes you will need to drill into the case) to allow for the heat exchange.
I wouldn't trust superglue to hold a piece of plastic to metal that heats up. When the glue fails (and it will eventually) you will have a fan spinning inside your system hitting who knows what. NOT worth the potential damage.
Especially considering how he ONLY saw a 4° difference (C but what is the F amount for those of us that don't think in metric??? 🙄 ) I'd say the case fan replacement will be a far easier, cheaper and better solution. Additional cooling is most likely not even needed, considering how the components shouldn't have an issue with the slight heat increase from the 50MHz boost. IF he was able to boost it up to 600MHz or so, THEN I would suggest additional cooling, as it stands, don't blow your money.
I don't think that reducing the temp. would make it possible to overclock it further,with only jumper settings changed.
Like I said. It dropped into open firmware when I tried 500 MHZ. 550 didnt work either.
Re: Re: Re: Re: OT, but...
Every 5° change Celcius is the same as a 9° change Fahrenheit, fwiw. 🙂
I'm still waiting to get my 2002 iBook (it's on order and in limbo, apparently)... though I can't imagine trying out this 'hack' without some other reports of success. OTOH, it would be quite nice to be able to switch clock speeds on a whim...
Every 5° change Celcius is the same as a 9° change Fahrenheit, fwiw. 🙂
I'm still waiting to get my 2002 iBook (it's on order and in limbo, apparently)... though I can't imagine trying out this 'hack' without some other reports of success. OTOH, it would be quite nice to be able to switch clock speeds on a whim...
Malicious Intent
It's frightening to envision the scenario where someone embeds some code in a trojan horse app that will widly upclock to G3 in the iBook. In no time at all the CPU could be killed. As stated in the linked article, the upper limit for software upclocking on the new iBooks is 2GHz. Setting the speed to 2GHz would wreak untold havoc I would imagine.
The other side of the coin.
blakespot
It's frightening to envision the scenario where someone embeds some code in a trojan horse app that will widly upclock to G3 in the iBook. In no time at all the CPU could be killed. As stated in the linked article, the upper limit for software upclocking on the new iBooks is 2GHz. Setting the speed to 2GHz would wreak untold havoc I would imagine.
The other side of the coin.
blakespot
topicolo
macrumors 68000
Re: Malicious Intent
Doesn't the PowerPC have a thermal diode that automatically shuts off or reduces the speed of the chip if it is overheating? I know the p4 has it, and the new athlon Tbirds have it, although the mobo makers haven't implemented that feature for the Tbirds yet.
Re: Malicious Intent
No need to worry about that. The registers that control the cpu speed can only be accessed by the operating system. That means the code to control it would have to reside inside the kernel. There are two ways to get code loaded into the kernel.
1. Manually load it in with a terminal window. You must be the root user to do this.
2. Create a kernel extension that loads at boot up. You can do this, but in order for the operating system to load it, the extension must be in the right place(/System/Library/Extensions). Did I mention this folder can only be written to by the root user?
Now you said it could be in trojan form. The answer to that is that you should think when software asks for your administrator password. Typically, this is only needed by software that accesses hardware. In other words, software like a Packet Sniffer, which must access the ethernet card directly, needs a password, but software like Office for X, Mathematica, or Final Cut Pro shouldn't need your password.
Brad Nelson
No need to worry about that. The registers that control the cpu speed can only be accessed by the operating system. That means the code to control it would have to reside inside the kernel. There are two ways to get code loaded into the kernel.
1. Manually load it in with a terminal window. You must be the root user to do this.
2. Create a kernel extension that loads at boot up. You can do this, but in order for the operating system to load it, the extension must be in the right place(/System/Library/Extensions). Did I mention this folder can only be written to by the root user?
Now you said it could be in trojan form. The answer to that is that you should think when software asks for your administrator password. Typically, this is only needed by software that accesses hardware. In other words, software like a Packet Sniffer, which must access the ethernet card directly, needs a password, but software like Office for X, Mathematica, or Final Cut Pro shouldn't need your password.
Brad Nelson
Re: Re: Re: Re: And the obvious reason for this is...
yes AMD does have multiple series of chips but you don't know how the chips are speed rated. Basicly what happens is when AMD (or any chip mfg) makes a batch of chips they aren't all going to be rated at the highest speed. This is because not all the chips are going to be the same quality due to debris or impurities in the wafer or mfg process. After the chips pass QC and are ready for testing they then see what speed they run at, back a few percentages off and go to the next lowest speed rating that they sell. This was very apparent when AMD was shipping their Athlon Slot 650's that would easily hit 800 with just a multiplier change. At that time AMD had just come out with the 750's and 800's and it looked like they had a REAL good batch of silicon because there was a rush for those CPU's. It also happened with the t-Bird 1Gig AIXA chips...people were pumping those up to 1.3 and 1.4 gig. Is this scamming the people? no...is it good business? yes it is. Why flood the market with the high end CPU's and drive the price down when you can still sell them but at a lower clock speed and not have to sit on inventory. Now if we could get back to the matter of OC'ing the new iBooks I want to know how!! I have a 700mhz 12" and want to get this baby cranking 😀
Giggle
yes AMD does have multiple series of chips but you don't know how the chips are speed rated. Basicly what happens is when AMD (or any chip mfg) makes a batch of chips they aren't all going to be rated at the highest speed. This is because not all the chips are going to be the same quality due to debris or impurities in the wafer or mfg process. After the chips pass QC and are ready for testing they then see what speed they run at, back a few percentages off and go to the next lowest speed rating that they sell. This was very apparent when AMD was shipping their Athlon Slot 650's that would easily hit 800 with just a multiplier change. At that time AMD had just come out with the 750's and 800's and it looked like they had a REAL good batch of silicon because there was a rush for those CPU's. It also happened with the t-Bird 1Gig AIXA chips...people were pumping those up to 1.3 and 1.4 gig. Is this scamming the people? no...is it good business? yes it is. Why flood the market with the high end CPU's and drive the price down when you can still sell them but at a lower clock speed and not have to sit on inventory. Now if we could get back to the matter of OC'ing the new iBooks I want to know how!! I have a 700mhz 12" and want to get this baby cranking 😀
Giggle
