Developed by Anton Tomov
Reviewed by PC Counselor
Note: This review will be updated with any new changes in the program.
Last Updated: October 14, 2004 05:47 PM -0700
Firstly I should say that this is not a User Manual neither a User Guide, this is just a review so I don't pretend to explain here all the options up to the minimum detail.
Pocket Hack Master is an overclock utility for XScale devices that give you the opportunity to test your device with different settings and find what is the best and more stable speed for your unit. This point is what makes it different from the rest of all overclocking utilities but it makes it the most dangerous at the same time. This is the main reason why I highly recommend to do a full backup of your unit before you test this program, I have found that even in the same brand this program can work different so because I said that in one specific brand one specific speed works stable that's not mean that in your device which is the same brand and model it will work too.
When you run the program for first time you will have these screens in front of you:
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From these 7 screens the first two are "the overclocking battle field", the rest are info screens with some functionality as is the case of the Processes screen. Starting from version 1.90 was included a new screen "Scale" that allows you to select different % for each CPU Load level.
All the speeds listed under the Quick and More columns are safe (Dell PPCs at 400 MHz do not support the 472 MHz ). So my recommendations is to stay with those during your first steps using the program.
There you can select between run in Turbo Mode or Run Mode:
"In Run mode, the core of the CPU runs at its normal frequency. In this mode, the core is assumed to be doing frequent external memory accesses, so running slower is optimum for the best power/performance trade-off.
In Turbo mode, the core runs at its peak frequency. In this mode, make very few external memory accesses because the core must wait on external memory." (Anton Tomov)
So in conclusion: Turbo mode means "speed".
From there we can set our four favorites speeds so they can be selected from the tray menu.
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To do that just click on the speed you like then apply it by using the Change Processor Speed To button and then select from the Favorites Menu one of the options listed there.
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There is another Menu, the Scale. For first time our XScale devices has the ability of really Scale, which means: switch from one speed to another depending of the CPU load. Hack Master give you 4 settings: 25, 50, 75 and 100%, these levels can be changed by using the Scale screen.
The process of selecting those speed is the same than with the Favorites Menu, just select the speed and apply it, then select from the menu at what % of the CPU load you want to be activated that speed.
In my case I wanted my pda to run as fast possible and only safe energy while I have the pda off or either I'm not using it. So my selection for the percentages and speeds were:
| Percentage | Speed (Mhz) | MEMCLK | Color in the Tray |
| 51-100 | 472 | 1X | Red |
| 26-50 | 472 | 1X | Yellow |
| 11-25 | 472 | 1X | Green |
| 0~10 | 236 | 1X | Blue |
I have found that while using Excel and Word (mainly the applications that I used daily) the CPU load was always between 5-15% so that is the main reason why I selected to have 472 for all the settings > 26 MHz.
(I found that even having the first scale step set to 5~10% (maximum limited for the step) and have it running at 100 Mhz was not a good idea, so at the end I applied to that step 236 (32x2x1)
So this is my ideal configuration:
0-(5~10) ------ 236 Mhz (32x2x1)
(5~10)-25----- 472
26-50----------- 472
51-100----------472
Having more speeds in there could seem to be a good idea but after a few minutes of real life use you will find that in the reality is not a good idea. )
The MEMCLK parameter can be selected from the SDRAM screen.
This multiplier determines the speed at which the SDRAM will run. There are two possible values:
1x The SDRAM runs at the same speed as the system bus
1/2x The SDRAM runs at half the speed of the system bus
The SDRAM Refresh parameter "allows changing the refresh cycles of the SDRAM. Slower refresh (more cycles) gives more performance. Be extremely careful, if your SDRAM cannot refresh with the cycles you select here, you’ll have to hard reset your device. This option is for advanced users only. " (Anton Tomov) The default value is 8 and my tests with the rests of them as ended in a Hard Reset.
The File Menu will allow you to minimize the application or just exit from it.
The above picture shows the Hack Master's Tray Icon which will change colors according to the speed if the Scale option is selected. By clicking on top you will get a main menu.
The Restore option will return you to the above described screens.
The Settings give you a new menu:
As you can see in my case I have selected the Scale option to allow the program to switch from one speed to another automatically.
Here is the description of the other options taken from the program manual:
Minimize on start: When this option is checked, Hack Master will minimize to system tray immediately after started.
Enable sounds: When this option is checked, Hack Master will produce a short beep each time it changes the processor frequency, run mode or SDRAM settings.
Sticky CPU speed: When this option is checked, Hack Master will start to monitor the processor speed. If the speed was changed (by a power off of the device or third party software for example), Hack Master will try to restore the CPU speed.
Sticky MEMCLK speed: When this option is checked, Hack Master will try to restore the MEMCLK option state if the CPU speed was altered. This option works only if the Sticky CPU speed option is checked.
Change CPU speed on startup: When this option is checked, Hack Master will change the CPU speed when the program is stared.
Change MEMCLK on startup: When this option is checked, Hack Master will change the MEMCLK speed when the program is stared if Change CPU speed on startup option is also selected.
Turbo mode: When this option is checked, Hack Master will change the processor mode to Turbo. If Switch CPU modes instantly options is checked, this will be done instantly after selecting the Turbo mode option, else the changes will take place the next time the CPU speed is changed by pressing the “Change speed to … MHz” button.
Switch CPU modes instantly: This option determines whether the processor will change it’s run mode immediately or after a frequency change. This option should be unmarked for Toshiba e740s.
The sticky CPU Speed can be used only if the Scale option is unchecked.
The SDRAM option give you the option of selecting between different Clock refresh sets and MEMCLK multipliers.
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The next option is the CPU Clock from where you can select any of the available speeds:
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This section contains tests results, benchmarks and tips. If you have not created yet a full backup it's the best time to do it.
| L | M | N | Turbo Freq MHZ |
| 27 | 1 | 1 | 99.5 |
| 32 | 1 | 1 | 118 |
| 27 | 1 | 1.5 | 149.25 |
| 32 | 1 | 1.5 | 177 |
| 27 | 1 | 2 | 199 |
| 27 | 2 | 1 | 199 |
| 32 | 1 | 2 | 236 |
| 32 | 2 | 1 | 236 |
| 27 | 2 | 1.5 | 298.5 |
| 32 | 2 | 1.5 | 354 |
| 27 | 2 | 2 | 398 |
| 32 | 2 | 2 | 472 |
The ASUS A600 can run at 444 (40x2x1.5), 500 (27x2x2.5) and 528 (36x2x2) because it CPU bus can be overclocked higher than in the rest of all pdas tested. The DELL AXIM 400 can be overclocked at 500 Mhz using (27x2x2.5) but it can not be overclocked at 472. HP iPaqs can be overclocked too to 500 Mhz (27x2x2.5)
To prove this statement I will present you a simple test.
| BMQ Results | 500(27x1x5) | 472(32x2x2) |
| Inte. | 1033 | 1402 |
| Float | 59 | 122 |
| Draw | 108 | 216 |
| Window | 71 | 128 |
| Memory | 607 | 1237 |
| Total | 375 | 621 |
The reason behind these results is simple at 472 we have the CPU bus overclocked at 118 MHz (M=2) at 500 MHz we have the CPU bus running at 98.5 MHz, as you can recall the XScale devices perform slower than ARM because the CPU bus is slower for 3 MHz in XScale devices. In the same way, 500 using 27x2x2.5 is faster than 27x1x1.5 but the first one can't be used in all PDAs.
| VOBenchMarc | 300 | 400 | 472 |
| Float | 9.5 | 12.67 | 15.02 |
| Int | 20.14 | 26.94 | 31.92 |
| Bitblt | 97.92 | 102.63 | 121.43 |
| Stretchblt | 4.98 | 4.85 | 4.5 |
| ellipse | 1.71 | 1.65 | 1.98 |
| rect | 7.87 | 8.11 | 9.97 |
| rounded | 1.39 | 1.35 | 1.6 |
| mem alloc | 9.53 | 11.92 | 14.09 |
| mem fill | 0.95 | 0.96 | 1.13 |
| mem move | 0.37 | 0.39 | 0.46 |
| Text | 4.01 | 4.29 | 5.06 |
Red means that these parameters are what show you when a pda is running faster or not.
For this test I used Quake I, because this game really load your CPU.
| 400 MHz | 472MHz |
| 8.2 FPS | 10.1 FPS |
I have not performed myself any battery life test but after a week running at 472 MHz it seems to me that my battery life is around 10 min less that what it was at 400 Mhz. I have seen a user reporting around 2.5 times more battery life running at 100 MHz than what he had running at 400 MHz.
Check for Major Updates this page.
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