497mhz Axim

[Rirath]

Hey folks, great news... if you haven't been following Pocket Hack Master (the thread is at 140+ pages, over 2000+ posts!) then you might not have noticed all the work Anton's been doing. (Now my favorite pocket pc developer of all time.)

I've been running my 400mhz Dell in 497.5mhz since yesterday and it's really flying. Not only that, but it is 100% rock solid. Now before you start with that whole clock vs bus vs what some guy that knows your neighbor said, all I can tell you is I've got the benchmarks to prove it works.


default 400 mhz vs [500mhz] (27x2x2.5 method)

CPU:

FP: 12.65[15.80]
Int: 26.91[33.69]

GFX:

BITBLT: 40.12[40.40]
StretchBlt Grow: 0.25[0.25]
StretchBlt Shrink: 0.15[0.19]
Ellipse: 2.10[1.76]
Rectange: 6.82[6.74]
Rounded Rect: 1.65[1.10]

Allocation: 11.70[12.58]
Fill: 0.94[0.95]
Move: 0.38[0.39]

Text: 4.61[4.48]

The main problem is the Dell still can't adjust the L setting, which controls the bus and lcd among other things. That's what held us back from reaching the much beloved 472 mhz setting. But, we're not out of the game. Although the 500mhz setting is slighly behind the 472 setting, as you can see from the above benchmarks it's plain as day improvement. And YES, this does translate into real world preformance. Menus fly open, Pocket Nester plays much more steady, mp3's are easier to multitask, etc. Video players gain a good 3-5, or even 10+ fps, dropped frames become far far less... it's great.

Anyhow, read up on the thread if you haven't been as I'm sure the answer to any question you could possibly ask is already contained inside. :wink: Next up is Vcore tweaking. This could be the key to Axim users hitting some major speeds... or it could result in some fried devices. Not for the faint.

http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69920&perpage=15&pagenumber=139

[Xtreme23]

So how do i get mine to fly like yours? I have the 300mhz tho not 400

[Pat Logsdon]

Thanks for the post, Rirath! I'd read about this before, but not in the depth of that Brighthand thread. As a result, I bought the software, and I'll be trying it out. Anton certainly seems to be very open to feedback, and it looks like there are several releases a day...very cool.

[Rirath]

Right now the two best settings are 472 mhz, and 497 mhz. 472mhz ups the bus speed a little bit so it's actually slightly faster than 500mhz. But, 400mhz Axim users can't adjust the L setting at all, so we're out on that one.

If you don't have an Axim, trying 472mhz first (it's one of the preset settings in the menu, turn turbo on) will get you the best preformance. If you do have an Axim though, you'll have to manually set it to L=27 M=2 N=2.5, turbo mode and you'll be all set. (click favorites and add it to a slot as well) Now instead of X'ing the program, go to file, minimize.

As for the 300mhz Axim users, I'm pretty sure they can overclock to 400mhz just fine. But, read the thread and the pdf that comes with the program to be sure. I didn't really follow the 300mhz talks too closely.

Just be sure to check Handango and Pocket Gear often, this program has been updated every couple of days. Usually with bug fixes and new features. And don't toss the manual aside, it contains a lot of detailed infomation and was carefully written on how to use the program. All of these settings *should* be relatively harmless, at worse requiring a soft or hard reset... so backup first. It's the Vcore (not implemented yet) adjustments that could fry something... but could also push 600mhz in theory.

Add in extra features like true processor scaling from 100mhz 1/2 memclk to 500mhz based on cpu load and you've got some nice toys. Pretty exciting stuff.

[PJE]

Hi Rirath,

How well does the PHM scale the XScale? Does it seamlessly change from 100MHz to 498MHz as I'd like to only switch to 498MHz when the machine is very busy and then scale down to 400MHz or below when idling. Therefore I'd like to know how well PHM works with the AXIM before buying it.

Regards,

PJE

[Rirath]

Hi Rirath,

How well does the PHM scale the XScale? Does it seamlessly change from 100MHz to 498MHz as I'd like to only switch to 498MHz when the machine is very busy and then scale down to 400MHz or below when idling. Therefore I'd like to know how well PHM works with the AXIM before buying it.

Regards,

PJE

Well... right now it's got more things going on than need be but it works. They're really still stuck in transition. But basically it works by setting up 4 scale values based on processor load. So anything below say 25% you could make the cpu run at a mere 100mhz 1/2memclk. At 25-50%, you could goto 200mhz, at 50-75, 400mhz, and at 75-100% overclock to 497 for example. Each value can be set to whatever you'd like.

You can adjust how quickly it reacts to cpu changes, to filter out spikes and such for example. Personally I set it so that below 25% is 100mhz 1/2 memclk, and above that automatically scales to 497mhz without any middle ground. It's all done in the background, and you can set it up to play a sound or display a message when it switches. (helps not only testing, but peace of mind.)

The catch is getting the correct cpu values. Say you're set to < 25% = 100mhz. Well, some programs don't task the cpu very much and instead drop frames / quality like movies and emulation. So they set up normalization values. 75% of 100mhz would automatically make it scale up for example. Right now there's a bunch of arguing over the best method, but very soon there should be a benchmark included you can run that will automatically set up the normalization values based on results.

[PJE]

Rirath,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I've already bitten the bullet after reading the last few pages of the Brighthand thread... Anto needs a discussion board just for this program :wink:

I'll let you know how I get on.

PJE

[Rirath]

Yeah, he really really does. 160 page thread is quite annoying really... no easy way to go back and get information, no order to things... no way to ask anything off topic without appearing clueless.

Just in case you missed the 497 mhz mode setting (I have no idea what page it was on anymore, I think it's in the pdf) it's

L=27 (only setting the Axim will take)
M=2
N=2.5
(1x memclk, turbo on)