Overclocking XScale...

[enemy2k2]

I've been wondering about some of these new 300Mhz XScale devices that are coming out and wether it would be possible to overclock them. Without knowing anything about them I think it would be very likely that they could be. For example a few years ago I was running a dual celeron 366 system that was overclocked to 550Mhz stable by raising the bus speed to 100Mhz, the performance was actually a bit superior to a similarly clocked pentium2 because the cache ran at full speed vs. half. I've heard of programs that allow people to o'clock their StrongARM 206Mhz processor up to 226 or 236 on their IPaqs, this would lead me to believe that the same would not be out of the question with the XScale hardware. Furthermore I read an article in which an Intel rep stated that the Xscale chips are capable of running much much faster than what they are currently clocked at, it's just a matter of diminishing returns in relation to power consumption. This would lead me to conclude that a 300Mhz Xscale should have absolutely no problem being clocked up to 400Mhz, or at least near it. :twisted: Most likely even higher, with the benefit of lower power consumption in 300Mhz 'cruise mode'. Any thoughts, or am I dreaming?

[kagayaki1]

Interesting idea. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Jimmy Software's overclocking utility for the original 206Mhz StrongARMs (which, BTW, works for 38xx iPAQs). I wonder if someone could figure out how to make it happen.

I'm not sure of the purpose for portable handheld device if you have diminishing returns on battery versus processor. I guess for some applications it would be cool to have it kick up to 400Mhz for a short time, but anything faster (or running longer at 400Mhz), you'd have to keep it plugged in to the wall...kind of defeats the purpose of a portable device. At that point, I have to wonder why I wouldn't just go the recycle PC place and get a 500Mhz celeron or something.

Very interesting.

[Cary]

Can we underclock as well, to gain longer battery life? I thought that was a feature only available on certain models ...

Interesting idea. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Jimmy Software's overclocking utility for the original 206Mhz StrongARMs (which, BTW, works for 38xx iPAQs). I wonder if someone could figure out how to make it happen.

I'm not sure of the purpose for portable handheld device if you have diminishing returns on battery versus processor. I guess for some applications it would be cool to have it kick up to 400Mhz for a short time, but anything faster (or running longer at 400Mhz), you'd have to keep it plugged in to the wall...kind of defeats the purpose of a portable device. At that point, I have to wonder why I wouldn't just go the recycle PC place and get a 500Mhz celeron or something.

Very interesting.

[Sheynk]

Keep in mind that Xscale underclocks itself when needed.

[enemy2k2]

The main point of overclocking would be for better results with emulators and games, but also for anyone who happens to need it. I always say the more options the better. This kind of flexibility would be a great boon to the handheld market I think. As for always having to be plugged into a wall, that may not necessarily be true, I also read that at 400Mhz the XScale CPUs have comparable power draw to a StrongARM CPU at about 200Mhz, so 500Mhz would not necessarily mean massive power draw. Besides a lot of higher end XScale devices already come clocked at 400Mhz. Underclocking should also be possible, I read that info for that JimmySoft utility for Ipaq, it lets them underclock to around 130Mhz. Wouldn't that be great for just doodling or reading an E-Book? As for diminishing returns, I certainly wouldn't mind the ability to overclock a CPU to 800 or so Mhz even if it did require being plugged into the wall or super low battery life, never hurts to have the option. I'm sure that there's many people out there who use their handheld in place of a laptop that wouldn't mind the option. Dell has a notebook out that runs at 2.2Ghz when plugged in, but when on batteries it switches down to half that speed to conserve batteries. Just my thoughts on the matter...