Overclocking the Nintendo DS
Here we have a video of a guy passing his DS through an external circuit board and adjusting the system's internal clock speed. Assuming that this isn't an elaborate fake, it's interesting to see how Mario Kart DS behaves at different clock speeds. At the overclocked rate, it practically transforms into F-Zero. Anyone that's tried to run old DOS games on a newer PC may have encountered similar speedy results. All this begs the question:
Where the heck is F-Zero DS?
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_thumbnail.jpg "Dragon Quest IV")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-20-2006 @ 3:23PM
Ipsum said...
What'd happen if he tried to go online while over/underclocked?
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3-20-2006 @ 3:29PM
Matt said...
Old as hell. If you go online over/underclocked it reclocks you to the default (or so ive been told by Furre)
Reply
3-20-2006 @ 3:41PM
phl0w said...
Uhm, this DS was OVERCLOCKED. F-Zero wouldn't even run close to as fast as MKDS on the DS shown.
Still, watching a racer at epileptic speed made the urge for a F-Zero DS grow again.
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3-20-2006 @ 11:14PM
Dr. Cheap said...
Looks like an elaborate fake to me...
Running old DOS games on a faster system made them go fast because they were done 100% on the CPU and without any calculated delay loops or anything because there were no cycles to spare back in those days.
Modern systems have different processing units for video, sound, and general processing. Things are all based on real time clocks and such, not CPU cycles.
Anyone who has ever played a game on a PC that was overclocked knows that it doesn't make all the sounds change pitch like that. And that frame rate sure was still pretty smooth running at 6.25.
BTW, nice rig with the 7 segment LED dislays...LOL.
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3-21-2006 @ 1:12AM
mrgoodbar said...
>>Looks like an elaborate fake to me...
Yup - total fake. There is just no way overclocking would produce these sorts of results... the audio and video speed/slow would not be in sync like that - plus, who would go to the trouble of building a rig that would let them change the cycle rate at the touch of a button without a reboot? It's just impossible.
Very clever video.
Lastly, I just want to say that the folks here at DSfanboy should know better than this and should identify this as a fake rather than being ambiguous about it.
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3-21-2006 @ 5:07AM
Ludwig Kietzmann said...
mrgoodbar, you'll note that in the very second sentence we've already made our stance about the video apparent. Almost the entire post is based on an "assumption" that it's not a fake. Besides, we're not here to make your mind up for you. We don't want to insult our readers by thinking they can't tell for themselves whether it's fake or not. That's why the comments are here--we don't want you to just passively sit there and read what WE think. :)
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3-21-2006 @ 3:19PM
funkonaut said...
> Lastly, I just want to say that the folks here at
> DSfanboy should know better than this and should
> identify this as a fake rather than being ambiguous
> about it.
This is the problem with most tech journalists today; they have no clue how hardware works. They usually hover even higher than the layer furthest away from the hardware.
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3-21-2006 @ 3:25PM
Rootbeer said...
Were the global real-time clock in the DS over/underclocked, I would expect to see the kind of behavior shown in the video. It wouldn't be just the CPU cramming more instructions into each frame; it would be a different frame rate in the video subsystem, a different sample rate in the audio subsystem, etc.
However, I doubt that the global RTC (assuming there even IS one) in a DS could be patched out to an external device without introducing timing problems, and especially not without taking the DS's casing apart. I call shenanigans.
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3-21-2006 @ 3:44PM
Ludwig Kietzmann said...
Funkonaut, before you make assumptions as to our level of technical knowledge, keep in mind the nature and audience of this blog. We post things not to analyse and dissect, but to foster discussion and opinion. That's what the comments are for.
If you want a strictly technical viewpoint, you're more than welcome to post one. We, however, have to keep in mind that a wide variety of people read this blog, and so that's why my above post doesn't go into much technical detail. I think it's fair to say people don't read DS Fanboy to hear about cycles and multipliers. :)
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3-31-2006 @ 2:49AM
jojotjuh said...
when he swithces from 50Mhz to 100Mhz
his hand is really quick!
FAKE i must say!
Reply
7-18-2006 @ 2:51PM
rhork. said...
No kidding- where in the hell is f-zero ds? As great as the n64 version was and how popular the series is- you think it'd be a no brainer. ... Eventually, there'll have to be one. Just- sooner instead of later please.
=]
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