Overclocking an uncooled ATtiny to 44.24Mhz

[ralphd]

And it even worked occasionally at 3.3V!  I also tried an external 3-stage ring oscillator with a 7404 which generated a 28Mhz clock.

http://nerdralph.blogspot.ca/2015/07/externally-clocking-and-overclocking.html

I've seen ATtiny85's overclocked to 30Mhz, and with the PLL generate a 60Mhz output.  May try that in the future as a source for a ~60Mhz clock...

[JoeN]

Sounds like fun but don't put something like that into a project you might actually use someday.

For fun today, I picked up some PCBs that were lying around at the local surplus store for a dollar each.  Some of them actually had decent parts on them - SRAM, FLASH memories, a 68K ROMless controller, some big inductors, Maxim RS232 chips, etc.  I just desoldered my new used parts.  That's what I do for fun, I guess.  You overclock.  We are having fun on the cheap!  Better idea than drugs!

[amyk]

I suspect the clock speed is limited by gate delay and not power dissipation.

[technix]

Sounds like fun but don't put something like that into a project you might actually use someday.

For fun today, I picked up some PCBs that were lying around at the local surplus store for a dollar each.  Some of them actually had decent parts on them - SRAM, FLASH memories, a 68K ROMless controller, some big inductors, Maxim RS232 chips, etc.  I just desoldered my new used parts.  That's what I do for fun, I guess.  You overclock.  We are having fun on the cheap!  Better idea than drugs!

Ooh my standard procedure of demolishing electronics is a trip to the hot air gun and take all identifiable chips. I scored an ATmega128 once that way, maybe I can put that into a project somehow.

[JoeN]

Here is what I got from one board for 93 cents ($1 with tax).  The inductors I mention are on a different board and I haven't done that one yet.  The switches came out hard, not sure if they are good or not.  One crystal's plastic pad is a little warped too.  The other parts came out fine.  It was some sort of industrial ARCNet/RS242/RS485 board.

[technix]

It seem to me that adding a few glue logic CPLDs into this you get a vintage computer.

[westfw]

(I've decided that it's really depressing to tear down a multi-thousand-dollar board filled with custom ASIC and high-end FPGAs, just to get a few inductors, toroid cores, and some dip switches.  :-()  (clearly, I should only tear things down that I was never personally involved with!)

[JoeN]

(I've decided that it's really depressing to tear down a multi-thousand-dollar board filled with custom ASIC and high-end FPGAs, just to get a few inductors, toroid cores, and some dip switches.  :-()  (clearly, I should only tear things down that I was never personally involved with!)

One little bit of pirated software and that high end FPGA becomes very useful indeed.

[westfw]

One little bit of pirated software and that high end FPGA becomes very useful indeed.

Not that I've seen.  Did you have in mind turning it into an especially power-hungry and complicated microcontroller?  I'd rather buy something with a following (and that would d probably be cheaper, too.)
Besides, they tend to be the "high end FPGAs" "as of several years ago, when the board was designed."  Meaning that they're considered nearly obsolete by today's standards.  Not to mention that they come in packages that I find unmanageable in a hobbyist context  (we are talking hobbyists, right?  Real projects don't de-solder chips from old boards.)

If you can suggest a way for me to use the ~40 Xilinx  XCV1600-8FG1156s I have, I might reconsider.  (2002 vintage.  I didn't even have to desolder these; I found them new, in packaging!)  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/for-sale-used-high-end-fpgas/msg72147/
1156-pin BGAs.   Right.   Sigh.

[technix]

One little bit of pirated software and that high end FPGA becomes very useful indeed.

Not that I've seen.  Did you have in mind turning it into an especially power-hungry and complicated microcontroller?  I'd rather buy something with a following (and that would d probably be cheaper, too.)
Besides, they tend to be the "high end FPGAs" "as of several years ago, when the board was designed."  Meaning that they're considered nearly obsolete by today's standards.  Not to mention that they come in packages that I find unmanageable in a hobbyist context  (we are talking hobbyists, right?  Real projects don't de-solder chips from old boards.)

If you can suggest a way for me to use the ~40 Xilinx  XCV1600-8FG1156s I have, I might reconsider.  (2002 vintage.  I didn't even have to desolder these; I found them new, in packaging!)  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/for-sale-used-high-end-fpgas/msg72147/
1156-pin BGAs.   Right.   Sigh.

Ideas:

• Fit the i486DX core from OpenCores and its accompanying chipset onto one or two of those, give it some DDR3 memory (can be rejects from computer upgrades) and you get a good machine for DOS gaming. If you managed to also give it a PCIe root complex, with a half decent video card, it would be even better.
• On a related note, you can try make a GPU out of a few of those. Try give it a PCIe interface and, yeah, put it into your computer.

If I offer to buy those how much will it cost me, by the way?

[Bassman59]

One little bit of pirated software and that high end FPGA becomes very useful indeed.

Not that I've seen.  Did you have in mind turning it into an especially power-hungry and complicated microcontroller?  I'd rather buy something with a following (and that would d probably be cheaper, too.)
Besides, they tend to be the "high end FPGAs" "as of several years ago, when the board was designed."  Meaning that they're considered nearly obsolete by today's standards.  Not to mention that they come in packages that I find unmanageable in a hobbyist context  (we are talking hobbyists, right?  Real projects don't de-solder chips from old boards.)

If you can suggest a way for me to use the ~40 Xilinx  XCV1600-8FG1156s I have, I might reconsider.  (2002 vintage.  I didn't even have to desolder these; I found them new, in packaging!)  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/for-sale-used-high-end-fpgas/msg72147/
1156-pin BGAs.   Right.   Sigh.

Ideas:

• Fit the i486DX core from OpenCores and its accompanying chipset onto one or two of those, give it some DDR3 memory (can be rejects from computer upgrades) and you get a good machine for DOS gaming. If you managed to also give it a PCIe root complex, with a half decent video card, it would be even better.
• On a related note, you can try make a GPU out of a few of those. Try give it a PCIe interface and, yeah, put it into your computer.

This is after you spend $$$$ on the multilayer board necessary to hold all of that stuff, and can you hand-attach BGAs?

[rs20]

I suspect the clock speed is limited by gate delay and not power dissipation.

And gate delay is improved by increasing voltage which means that the ultimate limit is power dissipation (or, simple voltage limit).

[jnz]

Overclocking an Atmel? Dos gaming? Make your own GPU? Did I find an internet time machine to 1995?


This things above are written by someone who is clearly not being pushed hard enough at work