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CONFIRMED (POST #59): Free PSP Upgrade! FW 3.5 Unlocks 333mhz for (official) devs!

Good news, explains why GOW PSP looks far better than any other PSP game!

Expect at least 10 hours battery life on the new PSP redesign, technology has caught up with the PSP finally and Sony are now letting the system realize it's full potential :D
 

Lain

Member
Fafalada said:
You mean like all the PC, 360 and PS3 games which never experience slowdown issues whatsoever? :p

XD
I only hope with 333mhz unlocked for developers, there wont be any more games with huge slowdowns (especially when it auto saves) like Daxter =p
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
mrpogi23 said:
it just means, it helps the new games better performance.. esp God of War :D

also it might be a possibility the redesign PSP will have less power consumption!

Possibility?

If true this all but conforms that there will be a PSP redesign with less power consumption. It shows that Sony is comfortable increasing the CPU power which in turn means that they are likely having a future model that has a huge increase in battery life.
 
Ragnarok10 said:
Wha!? You do know the CPU is used to perform the loading, right? :lol
A higher clock won't change the transfer speed of the UMD drive, though. Are PSP load times ever limited by the CPU (decompression)? If they are, that wouldn't seem to be the usual situation, or you wouldn't so regularly see such great reductions in load times when running from mem stick.
 

loosus

Banned
Given current technology, what is approximately the most mAh you could expect out of a battery that would neatly fit within the PSP's battery slot?
 

Ragnarok10

Junior Member
slidewinder said:
A higher clock won't change the transfer speed of the UMD drive, though. Are PSP load times ever limited by the CPU (decompression)? If they are, that wouldn't seem to be the usual situation, or you wouldn't so regularly see such great reductions in load times when running from mem stick.
I guess it's just a question of what bottlenecks the loading mechanism first, the UMD or the CPU. My guess would be that it depends on situation. Loading stuff on the fly ingame is probably CPU limited. While static loading of menus, game boots, ect are most likely UMD limited.
 

quetz67

Banned
Hcoregamer00 said:
Possibility?

If true this all but conforms that there will be a PSP redesign with less power consumption. It shows that Sony is comfortable increasing the CPU power which in turn means that they are likely having a future model that has a huge increase in battery life.
What is rumoured/announced is a new screen that needs less power. Battery tech has advanced too.

A way to reduce battery usage by UMD access would be to use mem stick to install/cache parts of the games. Those playing their games not from the UMD at all know about the increased battery life.
 

quetz67

Banned
A Sony Computer Entertainment representative has confirmed to Shacknews that developers can now take full advantage of the PSP's CPU following the late May release of the system's version 3.50 firmware
they must be happy all people playing homebrew and pirated games at 333Mhz did the testing for them
 

Firewire

Banned
Guys about the battery usage. I saw on EP the other day they reviewed a carrying case for the PSP that had a built in battery in it. You can hook it up, it'll charge your PSP then the battery in the case for an additional 8hrs of play. It came with a 5ft cord as well, and a car charging adapter to, I think.
The retail price was listed as $30 CDN.
 

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
A redesign isn't the only rationale for unlocking 333 Mhz right now. If they are finally moving forward with downloadable games run from memory stick, that would be another rationale to unlock it too, since battery consumption running from MS Duo would be lower than UMD and could offset the bump to 333Mhz.
 
BuddyC said:
Nice :)

Nuclear Muffin said:
Good news, explains why GOW PSP looks far better than any other PSP game!

Expect at least 10 hours battery life on the new PSP redesign, technology has caught up with the PSP finally and Sony are now letting the system realize it's full potential :D
It really does prove once again that Sony's hardware matures over time. The PSP was there but they could have a longer battery. Hopefully Sony will make the new batteries for the old PSP (not just the NEW slim ver.) and make it relatively cheap. :)
kaching said:
A redesign isn't the only rationale for unlocking 333 Mhz right now. If they are finally moving forward with downloadable games run from memory stick, that would be another rationale to unlock it too, since battery consumption running from MS Duo would be lower than UMD and could offset the bump to 333Mhz.
Word.
 
this doesnt affect older games in any way right? since they were designed with the cap of 222?

theoretically could an older psp game have been designed with the processor cap removal in mind, and be able to tap it now that its available?
 

Kuran

Banned
pancakesandsex said:
this doesnt affect older games in any way right? since they were designed with the cap of 222?

theoretically could an older psp game have been designed with the processor cap removal in mind, and be able to tap it now that its available?

People have been using their PSP's 333mhz mode for quite some time now, and you get benefits in every game. They're not always noticeable, but most games will run a lot less choppier.
 

Izzy

Banned
dino1980 said:
How do some people count?

Its 25% increase in power.

333/266=1.2519

Considering only Ratchet runs at 266, and the rest plod along at 222, this is a nice 50% increase. Also, the higher CPU clock will enable higher frequencies for the GPU.

Nice things are coming to PSP. :D
 
Excellent news, it always seemed silly to me to artificially cripple the portable like that. Now, just show us what that redesign looks like, and make it good...
 

Mrbob

Member
Slim PSP confirmed and reconfirmed again and again with this news.

Actually I think this is going to be the most exciting part of E3 for me. :D

I really want a PSP, but have been holding out for the new model hitting later this year.
 

diddlyD

Banned
FiRez said:
I thought that the 333 Mhz mode makes some damage to the PSP wifi

with 3.5, you can only run 333 mhz without wifi. if you need wifi, you have to run at a slower clock.

*edit* actually i think im wrong about this, it looks like they resolved the 333mhz+wifi issues.

also, old games should be unaffected by this. you request how fast you want the cpu to run with the psp api sony provides. 333mhz mode has been available for debugging for a long time, you just couldn't ship with it. old games still will be requesting 222mhz or 111mhz or whatever in their setup code.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
later said:
Good news for the wii as well.

First subtle usage of this in at least two weeks :lol

I run my PSP at 333 when I'm at home. Games are so much smoother.
 

TONX

Distinguished Air Superiority
Nice, Wipeout Pure and MGS: Portable Ops at an even smoother framerate.
 
Kuran said:
People have been using their PSP's 333mhz mode for quite some time now, and you get benefits in every game. They're not always noticeable, but most games will run a lot less choppier.
im talking about the official availability of the 333 mode, not your custom firmware bullshit
 
pancakesandsex said:
im talking about the official availability of the 333 mode, not your custom firmware bullshit

Say what? :lol

DA Firmware was the best thing that ever happened to the PSP.


Either way, it should still improve some slowdowns on old games, unless the game it self overrides the PSP default clock speed.
 
I just tried out the original metal gear acid, and it feels faster.

now this may just be the time in between now and when i last played it, but i remember more slowdown during attack sequences than i experienced in the 1st few levels on my original playthrough (some attacks would just "feel" slow, compare MGA 1 to MGA 2 to see what im talking about).

i could be wrong but i can hardly do a side by side with 1 psp
 
Metalmurphy said:
Say what? :lol

DA Firmware was the best thing that ever happened to the PSP.


Either way, it should still improve some slowdowns on old games, unless the game it self overrides the PSP default clock speed.

Piracy with video games is a mixed bag. On one hand its like giving out "free copies" of stuff to speed up adoption.

On the other hand lets not kid ourselves about people deciding they would rather copy than "pay money".

Right?
 
Nuclear Muffin said:
Good news, explains why GOW PSP looks far better than any other PSP game!

Our game has been running at 222 since we first started showing it. If our game looks better than anyone else, it's because we have the extremely talented and dedicated people bleeding their last breath into our engine. Our engine is incredibly robust and allows our artists to work to the fullest of their talent.
 
flarkminator said:
Our game has been running at 222 since we first started showing it. If our game looks better than anyone else, it's because we have the extremely talented and dedicated people bleeding their last breath into our engine. Our engine is incredibly robust and allows our artists to work to the fullest of their talent.

Ready At Dawn is ninja when it comes to the PSP then.
Hands down... Well Portable Ops was also ninja so you guys aren't alone...
 
right what im wondering is if:
1. software runs at a default clock speed and that has just now been increased to 333
2. software runs at a set clock speed and 333 has been "allowed" for future titles
3. software runs at a default clock speed and can now be forced by new software to run higher, but the default is still 222

on official firmware

i'm well aware the custom allows forcing of higher clock speeds

since there see to be some devs that lurk around in here, perhaps you can shed some light on this for me. perhaps im not even approaching this from the right perspective, correct me please if what im suggesting above is just complete bullshit.
 
Hmm, I hope this doesn't sink the battery life on the regular PSP down too much, or I'll have to start reading packages to see which games I can buy. :/
 
flarkminator said:
Our game has been running at 222 since we first started showing it. If our game looks better than anyone else, it's because we have the extremely talented and dedicated people bleeding their last breath into our engine. Our engine is incredibly robust and allows our artists to work to the fullest of their talent.

What's Sony's policy on going higher than 222mhz? Or is that a stupid question?

P.S. 333mhz doesn't kill the battery, given the fact that I run my PSP only in 333 and haven't really noticed the battery exploding after an hour or anything like that. If anything will kill your battery, it's that 4th brightness level.
 
Aristotlekh said:
What's Sony's policy on going higher than 222mhz? Or is that a stupid question?

I have no idea. As far as I know, until this announcement it was "don't". Other than that my knowledge is pretty limited. I got bigger things to worry about =P
 

Lain

Member
pancakesandsex said:
right what im wondering is if:
1. software runs at a default clock speed and that has just now been increased to 333
2. software runs at a set clock speed and 333 has been "allowed" for future titles
3. software runs at a default clock speed and can now be forced by new software to run higher, but the default is still 222

on official firmware
i'm well aware the custom allows forcing of higher clock speeds

I think this is simply for developers (as the thread title implies).
My copy of Daxter has huge slowdowns still when running around the port, when it autosaves and in some levels when turning around the camera and this is all under 3.50.
If a game has been programmed to run at 222mhz, it will still run at that frequency.
 

SRG01

Member
Lain said:
If a game has been programmed to run at 222mhz, it will still run at that frequency.

Not quite. Most modern games and systems don't have their timings fixed to the clockspeed (it ain't the early 90s anymore), so increasing it from 222 to 333 simply makes instructions perform faster. For example, if a given instruction takes 1us to execute :)lol) at 222 MHz, it will definitely be shorter under 333 MHz (edit: maybe on the order of 25%). However, there are dimishing returns in terms of increasing clock speed after a certain point.

You can definitely force the processor to run at a higher clockspeed than the game was programmed under.
 
flarkminator said:
I have no idea. As far as I know, until this announcement it was "don't". Other than that my knowledge is pretty limited. I got bigger things to worry about =P

is the clockspeed a game runs under dependent on the game code, or is that determined by the firmware itself?

if its dependent on how the game is coded, can it be "variable", or is it locked. is there a choice in the matter?

this assumes the clock speed can be set by software of course.
 

diddlyD

Banned
like i said before, games specify how fast they want the cpu to run in game code. unless there is some hack being used to trick the psp api into setting the cpu to a different clock speed than the game actually requested, old games will still run at the same speed they did before 3.5.
 
diddlyD said:
like i said before, games specify how fast they want the cpu to run in game code. unless there is some hack being used to trick the psp api into setting the cpu to a different clock speed than the game actually requested, old games will still run at the same speed they did before 3.5.

credible responses only please.
 

SRG01

Member
pancakesandsex said:
is the clockspeed a game runs under dependent on the game code, or is that determined by the firmware itself?

if its dependent on how the game is coded, can it be "variable", or is it locked. is there a choice in the matter?

this assumes the clock speed can be set by software of course.

diddlyD said:
like i said before, games specify how fast they want the cpu to run in game code. unless there is some hack being used to trick the psp api into setting the cpu to a different clock speed than the game actually requested, old games will still run at the same speed they did before 3.5.


Interesting. If clockspeed, which typically requires lower level (ie. firmware or hardware) access, can indeed be specifiable under run-time game code, then that's a potentailly huge security hole.

edit: To elaborate (and from my experience as an EE), most clockspeed specific parameters are defined during compile time unless the programmer wishes to have variable clockspeeds during run time.
 

BuddyC

Member
diddlyD said:
like i said before, games specify how fast they want the cpu to run in game code. unless there is some hack being used to trick the psp api into setting the cpu to a different clock speed than the game actually requested, old games will still run at the same speed they did before 3.5.
You're right, I just heard back from SCEA.

Update: The availability of the PSP's full CPU speed only affects in-development titles, a SCE representative has told Shacknews. Previously released PSP games continue to operate at the speed they were originally programmed for, and do not see any sort of change in performance or battery life.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/47564
 
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