PowerPC Underclocking

[wrldwzrd89]

I would love to see an enhanced version of CHUD (part of Xcode) that allows you to underclock the RAM, system bus, and CPU as much as you want - you could take even the mighty 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 down to 1 MHz, the speed of the first Macs ideally. Does such a tool already exist? Does any Mac support this kind of tinkering? Being able to do this would make my life as a developer that much easier.

 

[sgarringer]

I would love to see an enhanced version of CHUD (part of Xcode) that allows you to underclock the RAM, system bus, and CPU as much as you want - you could take even the mighty 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 down to 1 MHz, the speed of the first Macs ideally. Does such a tool already exist? Does any Mac support this kind of tinkering? Being able to do this would make my life as a developer that much easier.

I would think that learning how to make applications run based on timing info instead of depending on processor cycles would make your life as a developer that much easier also.

By the way, the first Macintosh computers ran around 5MHz (4.77 IIRC). Perhaps the Apple II ran at 1 MHz.

Either way, its not complicated to make an application run slower, if you know how to waste time between processes.

 

[MisterMe]

I would think that learning how to make applications run based on timing info instead of depending on processor cycles would make your life as a developer that much easier also.

By the way, the first Macintosh computers ran around 5MHz (4.77 IIRC). Perhaps the Apple II ran at 1 MHz.

Either way, its not complicated to make an application run slower, if you know how to waste time between processes.

You remember wrong, but you don't have to remember anything. That's why Glen Sanford gave us A History of Apple Computers. The original Mac 128k ran at 8 MHz. You are confusing the Mac with the IBM PC, which ran at 4.77 MHz.

 

[dvdh]

If I remember correctly, I use to have CPU Director (Powerlogix) on my iBook G3 and was able to underclock it to some fairly low numbers. I'm not sure (doubtful) that it would work with the G5, but it might be worth a try.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I would think that learning how to make applications run based on timing info instead of depending on processor cycles would make your life as a developer that much easier also.

By the way, the first Macintosh computers ran around 5MHz (4.77 IIRC). Perhaps the Apple II ran at 1 MHz.

Either way, its not complicated to make an application run slower, if you know how to waste time between processes.

I was thinking of the Apple I...but the exact speed isn't important. What I'm trying to do is figure out what the best way to simulate running my application on a slower machine than my own without having to seek such a machine. You make a good point that it's relatively easy to make the application waste time - however, it isn't easy to simulate a specific speed exactly with this method, and compiler optimizations will often eliminate such solutions anyway. Hence my request for finding a hardware-level solution.

 

[MacsRgr8]

The original Mac 128k ran at 8 MHz. You are confusing the Mac with the IBM PC, which ran at 4.77 MHz.

AHA!

So Apple started the MHz wars!