Is It Worth The Extra Money For The Faster Gp32?


Shlub

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Mar 4, 2004
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Hi,

I was wondering is it worth paying a little bit more money to get the Turbo charged GP32 that runs at 166MHz or shall I just get the normal GP32?

Thanks
 
Its up to you. It is worth but isnt it like 20-30 dollars more or sometin like that. theres still a good chance i think that you can get a 166 mhz gp32 if you bought the regular one still. Up to you basically, pay 20 some more or take the chance and see if you can get a 166 without paying the xtra.
 
Normal GP32's can in some circumstances run at 166mhz.

The Turbo Charged ones are just guaranteed to do so. If you buy a "normal" GP32, it may still be able to do 166mhz, but it also may not.

My Gp32 can do 166 no problem, but others cant. A Turbo charged purchase guarantees
166mhz.

I dont know the exact percentage of "normal" GP's which can reach 166, but there was a poll some time back so maybe try and find it. (search on this board).

IMO overclocking is needed to play SNES well, but that may change in the future. Overclocking is also needed imo for Genesis, some PC Engine games, and extra Doom Wads.(also good with GPCinema) Whether piece of mind on overclocking is worth £20 really depends on what you plan to use your GP for.

Finally, if you buy a normal GP32 and find it cannot do 166mhz, all is not lost. It may still be able to overclock to 156mhz or whatever...... it will usually have a machine limit.

I got my GP32 way before the existence of "Turbo Charged GP32's", and got lucky. I don't know what i would have done is Turbo Charged ones had been available at the time, so i cannot really advise you. Hopefully though you may find it easier to make your mind up now. :)
 
I got mine from Lik sang, no garuntee. But it still runs at 166. The number going around is a 60% chance of getting a overclockable GPbut not all will hit 166(some only as high as 150). The extra money is for GP modded to make sure it will go as high as possible.

So it depends on if you want to pay to insure one or leave it to chance.
 
In short it is defiantly worth it to get a 166 guaranteed because it lets you use opensnes much better and makes movies on GPCinima more watchable. B)

PS. PLEASE check out my marketplace computers. :) (Link in signature)
 
I thought that there wasn't any real hardware "mod" exactly but it was just a GP32 tested to run at 166.

Also Some say that you can damage a gp32 if you overclock it, some say no. Which is correct?
 
I read up on the hardware-mod; you need to replace a capacitor, which involves de-soldering off the old one, and re-soldering the new one. This could screw up your GP32 if you're not REALLY careful. Over-clocking through the emulators' interface is safe; if the hardware can't handle the higher speeds, it will simply reset your GP32, no harm done.

For the record, I got mine from lik-sang (FLU) and it overclocks fine to 166, so again, it's a roll of the dice.
 
Actually, it's a resistor that needs replacing. This would be easy to do if you know anything at all about electronics and soldering
 
Actually, it's a resistor that needs replacing. This would be easy to do if you know anything at all about electronics and soldering

...which I don't, obviously :p I will guess that many others don't as well, so I will officially recommend against it. I have modded a GBA for the AfterBurner light kit, but it was fairly easy.
In my opinion, paying an extra $20 or so just to have someone test out a GP32 to see if it overclocks to 166mhz, is not worth it.

Although, others may feel it is worth it, so this post has been rendered moot :D
 
I was fortunate enough to get a FLU that could over clock to 166 from Craig before the guaranteed offer came along. I think if the offer had been available back then I would have taken it just to be certain.
 
If you;re in the UK its probably better to order from craig plus you get a disk full of applications, in the US ordering from him was a bit too much money for my tastes so I opted for the risk at Lik Sang.
 
I did the Hardware Overclock on mine. :D

It will now overclock as fast as I want to go.
I've been using it a lot for the last 3-4 weeks and not a problem yet.

It wasn't really that hard . If you have basic soldering skills it can be done easily.
 
I've had a few problems with 166mhz on my FLU! Is there any specific way, other than trial and error, to see if my unit will handle 166mhz?
 
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