Overclocking the Lynx

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Where did you find info on doing this?

 

I suppose it seems possible to do...and if it only requires a little soldering I would be interested in doing this myself.

 

So...besides replacing the clock crystal with a faster one...what else does one need to do?

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

It isn't too hard to do. I was lucky that my Lynx I's don't have shielding to remove, my Lynx II's do, though they are not that hard to desolder. I used desoldering braid, which works pretty well.

 

It is recommended to use a switch, for the games that might be too fast with the faster crystal or when you want to comlynx.

 

You can easily find the description by doing a Google search for 'lynx 24 mhz hack'. Multiple sites carry the description.

 

Though again, 24 Mhz apparently doesn't work on all Lynxes. The maximum speed tolerance varies between units.

 

But the added speed is really great, a lot of the games really improve.

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

Just finished overclocking my Lynx I to 20Mhz, with a switch. It wouldn't work properly at 24Mhz, it actually became slower at that speed.

 

I overclocked another Lynx I to 24Mhz a long time ago, it needed to be switched on multiple times before working at that speed. Somehow I managed to destroy that Lynx *cough*, don't remember exactly what happened. Apparently I attempted to overclock my Lynx II to 24Mhz but I guess that didn't work.

 

I've been thinking about trying 22Mhz, though I read that these crystals are a bit hard to find.

 

I added a dual throw sliding switch to switch between the normal 16 and the turbo 20 Mhz. Didn't turn out as neatly as I hoped, but anyway

 

But most games already improve a lot at 20Mhz, even the display frequency is increased, as well as the pitch/speed of the music, sounds and audio samples The games become faster, smoother and more responsive, especially the slower and more choppy ones.

[Gunstar]

Crossbow: In case you didn't know, many chips can be easily over-clocked by putting in a faster crystal. People have done this with many systems, including the Jaguar. The Jag is normally set for 25 or 26mhz, but I've heard of people over-clocking up to 32mhz. Some programs run better, especially slow ones, some don't. A switch is reccommended. The Crystals and speed that are chosen at the design level are usually set at an "optimum" speed for proficiency and so they don't overheat. Which is a common problem of over-clock processors; overheating after a while. But if you don't try to overclock it too much, like Lamer Deluxe has done with a 20mhz instead of 24mhz crystal, there is a performance increase without overheating as readily. Generally, the life expectancy of the system drops dramatically when over-clock as well, depending on how often it is used and used overclocked. I plan on doing these mods to extra Jag and Lynx systems myself. I want to find a 28-30mhz crystal for the Jag, as reports are that the 32mhz tends to overheat the system quickly.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Hey, I know all about overclocking procs. My first successfull overclock was changing the system bus on my old 286 16mhz. I still never quite figured out what I did (sure it was some jumpers I was playing with). But I had the whole thing running at 20mhz. Then later I overclocked my old 486sx-25mhz to 40mhz with a bus speed jumper. Ran that for over 6 months before I finally got me a DX-66 for it. But I already had the system maxed and so that I couldn't put to 80mhz...which I commonly did for lots of others at that time.

 

Now...for the past (going on 4 years now...) I have been running my trusty Celeron300A at the 463mhz setting on my old ancient Abit BH6 Rev 1.0 board. And you know...it handles XP pretty damn well. In fact overclocking in the Intel world these days doesn't shorten the life of the procs by much since almost the whole lot of the procs are made to hit about the highest speed they can. If they fail they drop the speed and test again...until they find the Stable speed per Intel Specs (Quite Quite High I might add!!!).

 

So if the Lynx runs at 16mhz then going to 20mhz shouldn't shorten it that much...or add that much additional heat as you said. Now on the switch...where did you guys make room to add a turbo button?

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

I don't think there's a heat problem with the Lynx's chips. It's a portable, it isn't supposed to use much power or generate much heat. Most of the power is going to the backlight. If heat was a problem you could always add some passive coolers.

 

I put the Lynx I turbo switch at the center of the bottom of the unit, to the right of the brightness dial. I used a miniature black sliding switch that could be fastened with two screws. I only found one suitable screw upto now

 

Did you find a link to the description yet ?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I found a sketchy one. But I only have a Lynx II so how different is it to that? also I don't remember ever seeing a metal rf shield in mine at all. I have taken apart mine several times and don't remember it being there. Also, from what I read online...once you have the speed increased..you also loose sound?

 

I am not sure that really makes it worth the speed increase if your not gonna get sound either.

 

Now you stated you had improved sound...so did you add a new crystal to the SPC also?

 

Anyway, the more I see this...I am intrigued...but not sure it is really that beneficial.

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

I don't think it's very different for the Lynx II, I remember reading a message in a Google Groups search from someone who overclocked his Lynx II. The procedure is the same.

 

There should be shielding in there, soldered to the PCB. If not, you won't have to remove it

 

You won't lose the sound at all. The pitch and speed of the sound will be increased somewhat, like the speed of everything else.

[ataribob]

http://www.telegamez.de/24mhz.htm

 

This is for the Mod 1.

[Videology]

The link you gave above does not seem to be working...

[Tom-Lynx]

Here is a link to the 24MHz hack. I've had it bookmarked for about 2 years and knew it would come in handy someday

http://atarilynx.8m.com/24mhz-hack.html

 

BTW... wouldn't the hack speed up ALL aspects of the game, including some things that you might not want sped up? For example, in Ms. Pacman, everything would be faster including the ghosts coming after you, right?

 

Tom

[Videology]

quote

BTW... wouldn't the hack speed up ALL aspects of the game, including some things that you might not want sped up?

 

That's why there is a switch... You can switch back to normal speed if you need... I'm just not sure if it's really worth trying this... Is it really that improved? Also, from the sounds of it... It's not that reliable to do...

quote

it needed to be switched on multiple times before working at that speed.