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Nintendo NES Overclocking Guide

Posted by timothy on from the what-everyone's-been-waiting-for dept.

Deven "Epicenter" Gallo writes "I've perfected a process by which to overclock the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to run games smoother without slowdown. The NES CPU normally runs at 1.79 MHz, I've reached a stable maximum of 4.2 MHz, about a 230% overclock. The games do not run faster than they should, the CPU never overheats, and most games are perfect up to 3.3 MHz!" Here's the guide on how to perform the modification, along with photos and demonstration videos

11 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Yay! by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 1, Funny

    Does it run Linux? :D

    --
    Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
  2. That's nothing by FractusMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    I overclocked the NES to about 300MHz once. It was easy. First, I took the NES case itself and opened it up, revealing the delicate insides. Using a small screwdriver, I removed the mainboard and switches and power supply from the plastic case. Then I threw that shit away. I put in a small motherboard with a 266MHz Intel, hooked up a keyboard and mouse and monitor, and small HD. Downloaded an emulator. Used some fancy soldering to hook the NES controller up to the parallel port. Boom, there you go.

    1. Re:That's nothing by EEBaum · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does your emulator use NES cartridges? Is blowing at different speeds and angles across the unit and cartridges the solution to all its technical woes?

      I didn't think so.

      --
      -- I prefer the term "karma escort."
  3. Warning! by falzer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think carefully before overclocking your NES. This procedure will most likely void the warranty.

  4. 1.79 to 4.2MHz on air cooling by Amiga+Lover · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's pretty impressive - more than double clock speed increase.

    I wonder how far it could be pushed with heatsinks & active cooling. Time to being those finnish guys and their liquid nitrogen in, see if we can push it past 6MHz

    1. Re:1.79 to 4.2MHz on air cooling by notthe9 · · Score: 3, Funny

      That would be a little excessive, man. Who would need that much processing power?

  5. Next, we start overclocking coffeemakers.and then: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    then we water-cool our coffeemakers...

  6. Re:Ummm by Mishra100 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Because nerds love to overclock things. Improvement or not, ITS STILL GOING FASTER. ;)

  7. Re:Jumpy games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    AHHH the dreaded nes slowdown as we called it? How young were you? I didn't get my NES until I was 8 but the stark memory of Contra and Ducktales both slowing down when there were too many sprites on screen will always be sketched into my brain. Contra was difficult to slow down, as were most games. I think 2 player during one of the boss battles got hit. Ducktales seemed to get it a lot more often, especially the transylvania level. I don't know whats worse, that I remember, in detail, the specifics of games over 15 years ago, or that I wrote about them in a public space :)

  8. Just in time for Christmas! by Okonomiyaki · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot has gotten really slopppy. Wasn't this story supposed to be posted 15 years ago?

  9. Re:Good by Zorilla · · Score: 2, Funny

    When we were kids and didn't know better, we thought the slowdown was a special effect in the game.

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    It would be cool if it didn't suck.