Gaming Hacks

Overclock Your Console

Want your console to run faster than it does right now? It’s possible.

PC overclocking is passé, at least for practical purposes. You can buy faster and faster graphics cards to compensate for almost any eventuality, so most overclocking is done for show. Hardly any recent PC overclocking hack, either of a CPU or graphics card, can make a nonplayable game playable or a super-jerky game super-smooth. Maybe I’m just a console snob—overclocking is sometimes a very cool thing on the PC—but I really dig console overclocking.

From speeding up your Sega Genesis to previously untenable speeds to making your Nintendo 64 run in overdrive, you can sometimes achieve major framerate hikes via overclocking. Sure, sometimes you’ll have glitches and crashes too, but pioneers and trailblazers can’t have everything. The following sections demonstrate a few console overclocking tips.

Overclocking Your Nintendo 64

There’s one main font of knowledge in the West regarding overclocking: Robert Ivy (http://www.geocities.com/robivy64/Welcome.html). Though he mentions the excellent GameSX.com web site as another good source of information, start with his site. Be aware, though, that overclocking a N64 requires very precise soldering. This is fun to contemplate, but it’s only for advanced users to do.

Robert’s site warns you of the obvious: if the game already ran at a full frame-rate, overclocking won’t make any difference. Because the developers intended their N64 games to run only on ...