Every computer has at least one heart which beats the cadence to all the other chips. The CloCK output pin is connected to a copper line which spreads to most components, into their
CLKinput pin.If you are mostly a software person like me, you may have never noticed it but all kinds of processors have a
↫ Fabien SanglardCLKinput pin. From CPUs (Motorola 68000, Intel Pentium, MOS 6502), to custom graphic chips (Midway’s DMA2, Capcom CPS-A/CPS-B, Sega’s Genesis VDP) to audio chips (Yamaha 2151, OKI msm6295), they all have one.
I’ve watched enough Adrian Black that I already knew all of this, and I’m assuming so did many of you. But hey, I’ll never pass up the opportunity to link to the insides of the Super Nintendo.
Not quite all. Steve Furber (ARM) designed “AMULET” using the, disgustingly named, “LARD” (Language for Asynchronous R & D). There are others like Ivan Sutherland’s “FLEET” and a few stack based processors Async processors and logic are doable. Anyone who has ever used tri-state or wait-state logic to talk to RAM chips realises how analogue much of this stuff is. But, sure, once it comes to controlling a screen there’s probably a clock. Same with audio.
Yep, that’s how I was overclocking my Amiga computers during the late ’80s. Change the quartz oscillator.
First thing this made me think of is overclocking. It actually is possible on real hardware. While this isn’t a how-to, here’s a discussion on the effects it has on real hardware located here.
Rumor has it that the SNES could have had a faster CPU, but the speed was set at 3.58MHz with the aim of backwards compatibility with the NES, since the 65c816 is 6502 compatible and runs at half the clock speed in that mode. However, this was abandoned too late in the SNES development cycle for them switch to a higher CPU clock.
Surprised by the power of the “old-fashioned” Super Game Boy [Quick Draw](https://quikdraw.io) console after overclocking. Did you know about this?
Surprised by the power of the “old-fashioned” Super Game Boy Quick Draw console after overclocking. Did you know about this?