Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum but I read it since a long time.
I buyed my gp2x like 1 month ago from play-asia and when it
came, on the first set of battery [ witch were not rechargable ]
the power led lighten up. Since then, the led is intermitant, like
sometime it goes up in the middele of a game. I've also seen
sometime when I plug earbud, it awaken.

So, should I try to reshoot it to playasia or Keep it and hope
that only a firmware or something bug ?

The only thing special I've seen is that I can't overclock over 250 [
at 260 it frozen, but I presume that is normal sinece we're already at
1.25x the normal speed ]

Any idea.

Thank you
paxl

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

Time it on NiMH batteries, if it can't last a couple hours on a fully-charged set of 2500mAh Duracell or Ansmann or Kodak or Energizer (AKA name brand) then return it.

The LED is just set to come on at a certain voltage, the voltage can fluctuate and it will go off and on, mine does sometimes.

I wouldn't worry about the LED, sometimes mine comes on as it dies, sometimes it comes on and I play for another half hour after letting it sit 10 minutes.

It last a couple hour, on 2600 NiMH, never counted them since
I OC'ed sometime and other time I downclock it.. The prolbem with
returning it it that it will cost like hell.

Thank for you comment.

paxl

they wont know youve been overclocking it if you dont tell them. i dont think it would matter anyway

What games precisely are you overclocking to 280? Mt machine also freezes at 260 or above, usually on mame. Are you talking about the PSX emu maybe? Not that it would make any difference, I dunno. Anyway, I am a little annoyed that I can't OC as much as other people say.

I also read that the #1 versions of the GP had heatsinks and that the #2 versions don't. Is yours a #1 version maybe?

Would it be possible to put heat sink on our MK2 gp2x ?...

Is there the place for it ??

lol heat sink.

people say heat isnt a problem, but i put 2 thermal pads over mine so it touched the metal on the back of the LCD and it allowed me to overclock about 30mhz more

NO!! I have had the 3 different models, NO HEATSINKS EVER!!



. No, he simply got a good chip. There is room, but it doesn't even get hot enough to make a difference, so don't bother.


. Riiight. Maybe you had a cold solder and pressing down the chip made it connect and improved your stability.

Thermal pads don't help.

Edit: I have a MK2 and I can't get above 240mhz on some emulator's. GPH is putting bargain-bin (AKA crappy/rejected) chips in our device to cut costs. If you want a clocker ask Craigix from GP2X.co.uk or EvilDragon from the German shop for gauranteed overclocker, but be prepared to pay a little extra.

My power LED does not work at all, I have never seen it in action but since it's the only thing on my '2X that doesn't work I didn't bother to return it to play-asia, far too much shipping expenses for a stupid LED

"SunSpire"

Which version and firmware are you running? I never had the light activate properly until my MK2 on the 2.0 firmware.

I have a MK1 with FW 2.0. When I bought the '2X it had the for that time newest FW 1.2.1 on it. It has never worked on any of the firmwares. But I don't really care, with my current batteries I can guess pretty well when it's about time to save a game or get a new set of AA's ready to continue watching a movie

The green power LED on the other hand works like a charm, lol

"SunSpire"

OK, "heatsink", "thermal plate", whatever, you gurus, they both amount to the same think, removing heat from the CPU to allow more stable OC'ing. I am prety annoyed to read that some units have "crappy/rejected" CPU's in them, and that I can "get an overclocker" if I "expect to pay a little more". WTF, I paid my money, I should get the same unit as anyone else.

Is there any software to test/measure the OC-ability of any given unit's chip? I would like to see how stable mine can run. I would also like to see a thread posting results from the whole community, to compare. I would return mine if I got a lemon chip, in comparison to others, since OC'ing seems to be so significant when running emu's.

The latest CPU Tweaker app has got 2 benchmark test programs built in that you can use to test your overclocked '2X with different speed settings. Link Here!

"SunSpire"

You need to understand how chip fabrication is done. They make the silicon with a certain goal in mind, in this case the 920T, and then test the chips to see if they can run stable at a pre-determined clock speed. The 920T is rated at 200 MHz. The company that made it tested it at 200 MHz and it ran stable. Any overclocking on your part is going OUTSIDE of the bounds of what they rate and sell the chip at, and at that point it's up to luck and the silicon to determine how far it can go. Your chip is not a 'lemon chip' simply because it can't go above 240 MHz or whatever rating it's at. If your chip was a lemon chip, it wouldn't be stable at 200 MHz. It's like me buying a computer processor and then complaining that it's a lemon chip because I couldn't overclock it by 500 MHz.

Hmm, I don't know about all that. What you're saying is like, snce the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, auto companies manufacture car engines that are stable at that speed alone, and at any speed over that limit, you are technically over the legitimate limit, and therefore on your own.

Of course we know this is false. In fact, the opposite is true - car engines (and CPU's) can *not* be manufactured to operate at their peak eficciency all the time, because they *would* overheat and wear out sooner. Rather, engines (and CPU's) are designed so that the speeds they are intended to operate at fall firmly *within* the range of operability; it is safer and more efficient.

This is, in fact, why the whole phenomenon of "overclocking" exists at all. Users realized that their chips had a lot of headroom in terms of operating speeds, and so figured out ways to push them into that speed range. Of course, you do in fact sacrifice stability and effeciency, just like driving your basic-transportation autombile would be stressed if you drove it at 100 MPH all the time. But you could if you wanted to, and that is the point.

So the question is better addressed as, did I get a "common" chip, or a "super" chip? The GP2X Wiki says users OC as high as 300Mhz. That for my unit would be outrageous! My unit locks up at 260Mhz without fail. Still, as you are saying, I bought a chip rated at 200Mhz, so as long as I get *that* performance, I am not allowed to complain. But I can't help but feel cheated when I hear some units can OC stably (?) at 300Mhz. In fact, this is why I questioned the reports of this performance at all. It might in fact be just talk. I have seen no official, tested reports, just gossip by fanboys (sorry folks). %^/

You're relating a mechanical engine in a car to a completely digital processor? That doesn't even begin to make sense. But to go along with your analogy, it's like someone who's able to take their car up to 200 MPH when the engine is only rated for 120 MPH max. And then you come along and complain that your car can only get up to 150 MPH max without overheating, and therefore somehow you're being cheated.

The bottom line is that the ARM 920T chip is being sold at a rated 200 MHz. To expect it to overclock to 300 MHz and then complain when your chip can't hit that speed is exactly like what I've stated: it's like buying a computer chip and expecting it to overclock to the same speed as another more expensive chip, and then complaining about it when it doesn't.

Duh... you question the relativity of my analogy, and then proceed to use it exactly as I did, while in the process, adding nothing to the discussion. Congratulations on that performance. You still fail to address the original question of why one customer should be satisfied with a unit that performs subpar relative to another identical unit, regardless of whether the user is pushing the processor beyond its intended limits or not. Customers should not be satisfied with parts that are cheaper than others in an equal product. If there were different grades of CPU that could be bought with the GP, that would be different. But you can't tell me that simple differences in silicon and manufacturing should be responsible for drastic differences in performance.


This is precisely *not* what the situation is, see? We are comparing *identical* units, not "more expensive" units to less expensive units.

*****
Regarding the failure of my analogy and "a completely digital processor" - gee, I suppose the actual physical processor exists only as a series of zeroes and ones, and has no physical substance, eh? So it is impervious to physical phenomena like heat, power consumption, the stress limits of its construction? Who knew that every "completely digital processor" was actually an infinite creation, free from the effects of the physical world. Wow!

Actually, the manfacturing process of making a processor chip is a delicate procedure that involves growing silicone crystals. This process is so delicate that even a slight error or even a spec of dust could completely ruin the CPU. The quality can greatly vary because of the base material and the process it goes through to become a CPU. The final quality control that it seems they do is check to see if it can run consistantly and error free at some point which looks like 240 MHz.

In other words, if they can cut costs and still get to this point they will take it. Don't cry if you can't overclock high, they are only rated for 240, and until there is a trick found there is nothing you can do about it except maybe return it, which could cause you to get one even slower.

We all have the same budget-bin cheapo chips, this should not be a revelation to anyone.

All of us have the same binned chips, some will run faster than others, you are paying the distributor to test his units and gaurantee one that will clock.

Are you just plain stupid, or do you like contradicting yourself? You just stated the EXACT reason why so-called 'identical' units have 'drastic differences' in performance.

Either way, this topic has gone way off course. I won't reply anymore because anything else you reply with will only be a reflection of your own naiveness.

Edit: I'll provide one more analogy for you since you obviously didn't understand my last one: let's say you go to the hardware store and buy 5 bolts. You stress test them and find that 4 of the bolts will take 200 pounds of torque before snapping. However, the last bolt snapped at only 150 pounds. You go online and you find out that these bolts are rated only at 100 pounds of torque maximum. So you go back to the hardware store and complain that your 100-pound max torque bolt snapped at 150 pounds instead of 200 pounds like the other 4. Do you think they'll actually listen to you, or do you think they'll laugh you out of the store?

I dont think anyone can argue with that analogy.

I second this analogy, it is awesome. (for extended similarity you can change the "pounds" to the actual mhz we are talking about ).

Like this:

You apparently aren't reading very well or carefully. My very first response to you was, to recognize and accept the issue of "identical units having drastic differences in performance". See it here:

If you think that accepting "simple differences in silicone and manufacturing" as an excuse for tolerating a wide range of performance is ok, then that is your business. I personally think that manufacturers can and should provide more consistency in their products. It has been implied in this thread, the manufacturers are aware of the issues of varying performance, and simply chose to overlook them. That is my beef, nothing more. I know you are going to respond with, "/whines/ But you're not supposed to get anything over 200Mhz, so you've already gotten what you paid for!" or something like that. But if you did say that, you would still be missing my point of not getting one of the sturdy units that get discussed in the forums. You must certainly work as a corporate liason for engineering-to-marketing (or ought to), what with your penchant for absolutes coupled with your whiny devotion to the letter of the label. Give us all a break! Anybody who buys anything expects to push it past its limits. Like I said, almost all products are designed with that kind of use in mind, if you don't know that, then *you* are being naive. Is it a crime to want stable 280Mhz instead of 233Mhz?

Finally, I find it wonderfully ironic that, for your last, persuasive analogy, you condescend to use a (gasp!) physical object to describe a digital process!! What on earth has gotten into you?!? 8^D

If I *was* going to buy bolts that I intended to use for up to 200 pounds of stress, I sure as hell wouldn't "go online and find out that these bolts are rated only at 100 pounds of torque maximum" AFTER I bought them!!! Wouldn't it seem logical to you to do such research BEFORE making a purchase? In which case, I wouldn't have *reason* to complain about a "faulty" 150 pound bolt, because I would have purchased the correctly rated hardware in the first place.


One last point...

No, it hasn't: the OP said,



Congratulations on your stamina if you have read this far, though I don't suppose you have! And please, don't respond. Your self-congratulatory and weakly repetitive arguing ability bores me. I love a good conversation, debate, or argument, and you can't provide one.

NO, IF YOU BOUGHT A PC OF 1 GIGAHERTZ AND IT WOULD ONLY CLOCK TO 1.2 GIGAHERTZ, EVEN THOUGH YOUR FRIENDS 1 GHZ WOULD GO 1.4 GHZ.

YOU GOT WHAT YOU PAYED FOR, 1 GIGAHERTZ

These issues have been discussed to death when PC overclocking started becoming popular, please go look into discussions on the issue of PC overclocking.

Edit: I suppose you do realize that the way manufacturors provide consistency is by rating "bins" into which they put the chips that only hit a certain speed?

As I previously mentioned the best way to get "special" units is to test a bunch until you find some that go very high, it is obviously easiest to let the distributors do that, and they should be payed for their time. (of course you could also buy a super-clocker CPU from mesdigital, but good luck getting one and having it put on the board, it uses a Ball-Grid-Array and I don't think you can change those.)

First of all, anybody who buys anything does NOT expect to push it past its limits. Maybe that's how you feel but that's certainly not how others feel. If every chip could run stable at 280 MHz, why would they sell them at 200 MHz?



Wow, another self-contradiction. So you did your research, found out that the GP2X has a 200 MHz processor, and THEN bought the device, and then you complain that it can't get up to 280 MHz. You certainly 'wouldn't have reason to complain about a "faulty" 233 MHz GP2X", but that's not stopping you, now is it?



Gee, that must be a self-reflection there. All you've been whining about was how your unit can't overclock like some other units and have stuck to that point like glue. Also, you've been trying oh-so-hard to somehow justify it in your mind that you're right despite no less than THREE people telling you you're wrong. If you love good conversation, you must really hate yourself.

Actually, that is exactly what they are telling you, and it's a fact (which it seems you cannot accept).

You are one fucking ugly douchebag. What kind of shithead makes these kinds of statements in a public forum? Keep your self-loathing out of my face.

Nice buddy.

Just because you start mouthing off and have never learned up on overclocking or "binned cpus" (technically ALL CPUs are binned except the handpicked ones), doesn't give you any right to use this kind of language.

I think we need to get that "cranky old man gamer" better known as Telcolou in here soon.

Ranma's comment was uncalled for, but your response is several times worse. Not nice.
Though, I've kind of gathered that you don't like being nice to people in general around here.

There are 3 types of people that piss me off:

1. People who are cocky and arrogant without cause.
2. People who are stubborn/naive and refuse to believe anything besides what they see fit, despite irrefutable and incontrovertible evidence being thrown in their faces.
3. People who believe they are better and somehow more deserving of something than someone else.

Guess where gamefan999 falls into. So my comment was a bit harsh. But we're talking about someone who whines because his GP2X can't overclock like a handful of other people can, and then declares an utterly naive and inane statement that if a processor is rated for 200 MHz, then they should ALL be able to overclock to 300 MHz because a handful of people were able to, nevermind what the norm is. It's this type of naivety coupled with a complete lack of ability to see any other viewpoints that really sets me off. There were multiple people telling him "Hey, guess what, you're wrong, that's not how things work" and he basically just repeated his point over and over, like he didn't even acknowledge we responded.

That's true, but it's still uncalled for to resort to personal attacks in public.
I'm not saying you had no reason for your comment, just that it would have been better left to PMs.

Yeah, true. This thread needs a lock/delete. I'll contact EvilDragon about it.

I dont mind my light, I dont rely on it in any fashion

It's actually pretty useful...IF you notice it. Unfortunately, the LED's that GPH uses are pretty weak, so it's hard to tell when the light turns on, leading to situations where you're playing a game merrily, and then all of a sudden you hear a high-pitched squeal and your screen fades to white. I've resorted to keeping a mental track of how long I've used my batteries for cumulatively, and just switch them out when it's 'about time'.

Yep, I'm here.

And you're right, it's ridicolous.

A 200 MHz CPU can do 200 MHz. If it goes higher, you're lucky, but you can't demand it.

As it's technically not possible developing chips that ALL are overclockable up to the exact same value, you can either accept that and hope that it will go high - or never ever buy anything with a processor again, as this would revive your overclocking problems again which would lead to an early death because of a heart attack.

Closed.