Gizmodo
Think that the OLPC's 433 MHz Geode LX 700 CPU is just too wimpy? Well, now you can toughen up it a bit and give it some processor bite by overclocking that mother. A post on OPLC News Hacks forum shows exactly how to do it: it boils down to some simple code to type into the open firmware prompt of an unlocked machine. A little informal testing shows it's easy to boost processor performance by 30%. Exactly what those kids in developing countries need. OK, the computer geek ones. Maybe.
The CPU apparently runs unruffled at speeds of 566MHz, a 30% speed-up. The memory is accessed at 233MHz versus the stock 166MHz, and also seems to run smoothly. Ubuntu even appears more responsive, so the overclocker claims, though significantly he "did not notice if battery life was noticeably affected." We suspect it will be.
But more importantly, we wonder is overclocking the passively-cooled little green machine a good idea? We're not sure: speeding the processor up is certainly going to generate a wad more heat. "Overclock at your own risk." You wouldn't want it to catch fire, would you? [OLPC News]
Comments
Do you know what this mean? The pron images will load 30% faster!
if it catches fire - then it will be up there with our most expensive first world laptops, and we can pretend there isn't a problem, cos its .so nice to look at.. wot's the problem?
Welcome to the little idosyncrasies of the developed world ...
I think a caption reading "OM NOM NOM NOM" would be appropriate for that picture.
Over-clocking an OLPC is a bit like adding performance parts to a Prius. Sure, it does not surprise me it can be done. That said, it just does not seem right.
It's sort of like the overclocking hack for the TI-89 calculator - Like, who the hell even uses those for what they're supposed to do, much less something more.
So you can now play Half Life and SOF on it.
Comment on this post
Reply by EmailLogin with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?