1910 Overclock 333MHz

[xoiph]

My 1910 runs smoothly at 333 MHz thanks to www.elevatedstudios.com's Turbo Tray. Best of all, it's freeware! Now if only HP would release an SDIO Driver...

[xoiph]

I left this out of my original post; has anyone tried the other overclock utilities? How well do they work? And has anyone experienced any problems overclocking your device? So far I haven't noticed any software, hardware, or significant battery drain issues. Too good to be true? :roll:

[D.psi]

Here's another question that most folks wouldn't think about... How warm does your 1910 now feel? I wonder if they set the speed that low because they were concerned about heat dissipation issues.

The obvious argument that it was set at 200 MHz is for price-point... But given its form factor, the 1910 does not have a lot of room for heat dissipation.

Just a thought... :?:

D.psi

[xoiph]

Actually, now that you mention it, it does heat up significantly when it's being overworked. I think it's okay though. My iPAQ isn't going to blow up or anything while I'm playing Doom is it?

[D.psi]

I don't know. I've been reading all the great overclocking stories, and it sounds great, but it wasn't until tonight that I stopped to think about the thermal ramifications of overclocking.

While it may not blow up, there may be some long term damage due to heat. It's all a question of where the heat is going. If it's going vertical, it's probably going through the main board, and through that wonderful screen.

If you consistently used the PPC under severe computational loads, long term effects might start creeping in. Nothing to notice at first, but eventually the screen might become duller, or some strange "hardware" quirks might creep in (i.e. cold solder problems might show up). The latter condition is probably extreme. But you have to know that commercial electronic components are rated for a specific temperature range, and in overclocking you are generating more heat than the device may have been designed to handle.

Another thing that just came to me... The battery pack probably should not be heated on a regular basis. I don't know what the internal temperature for the PPC is when it is overclocked that might be an interesting bit of info to keep.

Anybody else have any thoughts? Or anybody else notice their handheld getting warm.

D.psi

[Jacob]

I've definitely felt the warmth when overclocking.

I don't think it would do much harm unless you keep it on and running for a long time.

I use ClearSPeed which changes it up and down depending on workload and program.

[Crystal Eitle]

I also use Clear Speed, and I've also noticed that my 1910 has a tendency to get het up.

I'd be sad if the hardware were somehow injured by this, but no way am I going to give up the extra speed. My iPaq is much snappier now.

I'm worried about the screen though. The screen is definitely the nicest feature of the 1910 - it looks better than any other Pocket PC I've seen. My screen has seemed a little duller lately, but maybe it's just my imagination. I hope? :worried:

[D.psi]

I haven't read up on the XScale processors, but I did follow some of the litterature on the Crusoe chip from TransMeta. They (TransMeta) claimed that until their chip came to market, the typical method of power scaling was in effect to switch the processor from running to standby mode (at very fast speed). What TransMeta did is they allowed a continuously range of processor speeds that allowed the "system" to have the required amount of processing for its current load.

A byproduct of this technology is that the processor chip runs cooler, because it rarely runs at 100% capacity.

Now, getting back to PPCs... If the XScale architecture is of the running/standby processor scaling then it would typically be warmer when being used. With the run state being toggled on/off at high speed. Folks who've actually looked into the processor architecture, and looked into the various run states would be in a better position to discuss the finer points of power usage, and heat dissipation. I just know that it may be an issue.

For most applications (reading mail, small word docs, viewing Excel spreadsheets, etc...) the processor load should be minimal. However, game playing (1st person shooters especially) require a heavy amount of computation... So yes playing Doom is probably when you most would want the speed upgrade, but also when any potential damage is likely to occur.

So please do look at whether or not your PPC is getting warm, and practice safe overclocking :? ... Now I'll go back to my zippy HP-548, which if I recall is running at a blazing 133MHz or is that 166MHz. :oops:

D.psi

[Stephen Beesley]

Okay so I know this does not relate to overclocking a 1910 or even an xscale chip but...

I did once use one of the overclocking utilities on my HP 568 (cannot remember which one) although the Jornada seemed to run with no ill effects I did notice a significant increase in battery drain. Even after I uninstalled the overclock utilitiy the battery would not hold anywhere near the same charge it had before (down to less than two hours). Not really sure if this was related but it was too much of a coincidence for me!

Goldtee

[D.psi]

Well it is conceivable that the thermal effects did affect the battery chemistry:cry:. I'm not an expert by any means. But potential components that could be affected are those that might involve tricky chemistry (the battery), or more complex electronics (the screen). Most of the solid state components could potentially deal with the extra heat, but could the solder joints? How warm does the handheld get?

So Goldtee, was the 568 getting significantly warmer? Or you didn't notice? I'm not certain that most people would pay attention to the PPC's heat while operating.

I hadn't thought about the thermal issues w.r.t. the battery life, but it would be consistent with some chemical breakdown of the battery. Or breakdown in the electrical insulation boundaries within the battery cell.

If it helps I'm still running my 548 with the original li-ion battery, and I'm pretty sure it still gets 4-5hrs on a charge (or more).

D.psi

[Jacob]

My screen has seemed a little duller lately, but maybe it's just my imagination. I hope? :worried:

Have you only noticed this when it is on the fastest setting?

If so, that's something that's normal. I notice that when it's pumped to the "Fastest" mode then the screen gets ever so slightly darker. You might see this all the time if you have it set to go at the fastest mode all the time.

[Crystal Eitle]

My screen has seemed a little duller lately, but maybe it's just my imagination. I hope? :worried:

Have you only noticed this when it is on the fastest setting?

If so, that's something that's normal. I notice that when it's pumped to the "Fastest" mode then the screen gets ever so slightly darker. You might see this all the time if you have it set to go at the fastest mode all the time.

It's more of a subjective thing. I seem to have noticed a drop in screen brightness overall. When I first got my Pocket PC, I had it on the lowest brightness all the time, and that was sufficient for my needs. Now I notice myself bumping it up to the middle level or even higher, more often than I used to.

[Crystal Eitle]

Duh... I just realized, it's probably the change of seasons. When I got my PPC, it was February and it was dark here 18 hours out of every day. Now there's this big yellow hot thing in the sky, shining light on my Pocket PC and making it hard to see. Hey! What is that thing????

[xoiph]

All this talk about internal damage is making me a think twice about running TurboTray. The 1910 can handle most applications pretty well, but playing video and running certain games really could use that extra push. And I did notice my screen getting a little darker, but it might be that big yellow thing spacewaitress mentioned. :mrgreen:

[Server]

This SITE (http://www.neutrio.com/wince/PiCalc/picalc.html) will BENCHMARK your xScale CPU using simple Pi calculations
as a marker for performance (or lack thereof)
You can test it with OC and without OC using
TurboTray to see the difference.

Here are my results without OC:

iPaq5450 PXA250 @ 400MHz
1000 decimal places: 658ms
10000 decimal places: 52098ms
(no overclocking)

SSSSSLAMED @ 498MHz
1000 decimal places: 535ms *
10000 decimal places: 42098ms *
* based on averages...


Compared to:
iPaq1910 PXA250 @ 200MHz
1000 decimal places: 1,159ms
10000 decimal places:106,805ms!

(Overclocked to 300MHz)
1000 decimal places: 817ms
10000 decimal places: 71260ms



1910's should never run withoutTurboTray... (http://elevatedstudios.com/pocket/)

[Stephen Beesley]

So Goldtee, was the 568 getting significantly warmer? Or you didn't notice? I'm not certain that most people would pay attention to the PPC's heat while operating.

I hadn't thought about the thermal issues w.r.t. the battery life, but it
If it helps I'm still running my 548 with the original li-ion battery, and I'm pretty sure it still gets 4-5hrs on a charge (or more).

D.psi

Actually I did feel that my 568 was running warmer. Although it always did seem to run quite a lot warmer than the 545 that I had before it which (I always loved the cool feel of the metal case!).

As for the battery life I must say that I never really managed to get more than 4-5 hours a charge out of my 568 anyway. On my 545 it was probably more like 3-4 hours.

Goldtee