[NTLK] Totally insane 300 MHz on Newtons? [was Re: Hardware question (crazy)]

From: DJ Vollkasko (DJ_Vollkasko_at_gmx.net)
Date: Fri Mar 05 2004 - 04:49:21 PST


>Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 06:37:18 +1300
>From: Julian Wright <julianwr_at_paradise.net.nz>
>Subject: Re: [NTLK] Hardware question (crazy)
>
>On 2 Mar 2004 at 21:15, Jeff Sheldon wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Mar 02, 2004 at 01:18:34PM -0800, Martin Joseph wrote:
> > > What was/is the fastest PIN COMPATIBLE strong arm chip that would work
> > > on the MP2000 motherboard?
> >
> > To my knowledge the 110's the only option. You can buy "newer" revisions
> > and some that clock up to over 300MHz, but you've got the Voyager chipset
> > to worry about, which often fubars itself after mid 200s (MHz).
>
>Last time I looked at the data sheets from Intel's web site I came to
>the conclusion that the revision of the SA110 used in Newtons is one
>with a top speed of 162MHz. But remember that the SA is usually
>configured to generate its own internal clock which can be set
>independantly of the bus clock. So if you were to swap the SA110 in
>your Newton for a newer one, you should be able to set it to run over
>300MHz without changing the bus clock speed away from the default.
>
>If this were done it would be a superior solution to the present one
>of switching in a new bus clock crystal, as things like sound and the
>serial port would still work 100%.
>
>Disclaimer: I am not a hardware engineer. :)

Wow. Now imagine soldering such a 300 MHz darling into a MP 130 or an
eMate. Boy, would THAT rock! (Plus I wouldn't get no more snipes about
begging folks not to leave NOS 2.0 out in the cold with new apps and stuff.
;=})

Unsoldering the CPU is not an easy thing, however, and the craftsmanship
would probably be costly. One wonders what Frank Gruendel, Dr. Newton and
Mr. PCBMan would say about such a hack.

Cheers,

DJV.

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