Overclocking a Pi 4, yes I checked the stickies and the docs.

DTEAM

My configuration, coming from another member of this forum.

#OVERCLOCK v3d_freq = 850
over_voltage=6
v3d_freq=850
hdmi_enable_4kp60=1
arm_freq=2100

Clyde

@Great_Snake Do you have a good reason to overclock the Pi? Most games can be played smoothly on a stock Pi 4.

Overclocking will use more power and may lower the lifespan of your Pi. So I wouldn't recommend to overclock just "because you can".

acidtech

850 is too high from what I've read. 750 is max.

DTEAM

I've tested a lot of setup and this one is the best for me. Do the test with 750 and 850. For me It was better with 850. Check the FPS on Sega Saturn or Jaguar or take a look on the loading speed. You will see a difference.

quicksilver

There is no overclocking standard. You can't simply copy and paste other people's overclock settings and expect them to work properly. Overclocking is pointless if your pi becomes unstable and crashes all the time, especially if you want a child to have a good experience using it. As @Clyde said, why are you overclocking? What is the goal?

The overclock settings posted above are extremely aggressive and I would wager most pi 4s won't be stable with those frequencies. I know mine isn't.

DTEAM

If you want something smoother, try :

#OVERCLOCK v3d_freq = 750
over_voltage=6
v3d_freq=750
hdmi_enable_4kp60=1
arm_freq=2000

Like @quicksilver said: There is no overclocking standard. I read some people can't use arm_freq at 2100. I think you must test some setups.

Great_Snake

@Clyde
Yeah, my 4 year olds favorite game is Sonic Adventure 2, which lags pretty badly without an overclock.

Great_Snake

@DTEAM Thank you for that, consider me a complete Raspberry Pi noob, so that is helpful. I just need a tiny overclock so my kid can play Dreamcast games with no lag.

I'll open the config today on my PC with notepad++ and see if I can add that.

I've only had a Raspberry Pi for 3 days now, so I'm reading articles and the docs here as much as possible trying to figure this all out.

quicksilver

@Great_Snake which emulator are you using? Also if you are using your pi on a 4k display you should lower the default resolution to 1080p to improve performance greatly.

Great_Snake

@quicksilver The recommended for Retropi, I believe it is called Redream.

quicksilver

@Great_Snake did you lower the window resolution to 640x480 in the redream menu?

Great_Snake

@DTEAM I notice in your picture quote deal thing you don't have a GPU or a CPU overclock listed, is there a reason for that?

DTEAM

@Great_Snake If you talk about gpu_freq, with the Pi4 you don't play with that

From: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/overclocking.md

*he core_freq of the Raspberry Pi 4 can change from the default if either hdmi_enable_4kp60 or enable_tvout are used, due to relationship between internal clocks and the particular requirements of the requested display modes.

Display option Frequency
Default : 500
enable_tvout : 360
hdmi_enable_4kp60 : 550

Changing core_freq in config.txt is not supported on the Pi 4, any change from the default will almost certainly cause a failure to boot.

It is recommended when overclocking to use the individual frequency settings (isp_freq, v3d_freq etc) rather than gpu_freq, as since it attempts to set core_freq (which cannot be changed on the Pi 4), it is not likely to have the desired effect.*

IceChes1

Sonic Adventure lag badly even with an overclock on a Pi 4. Are you guys getting it to run smoothly?

Great_Snake

@quicksilver said in Overclocking a Pi 4, yes I checked the stickies and the docs.:

@Great_Snake did you lower the window resolution to 640x480 in the redream menu?

When I do that, it becomes a blurry mess.

quicksilver

@Great_Snake said in Overclocking a Pi 4, yes I checked the stickies and the docs.:

@quicksilver said in Overclocking a Pi 4, yes I checked the stickies and the docs.:

@Great_Snake did you lower the window resolution to 640x480 in the redream menu?

When I do that, it becomes a blurry mess.

The redream menu might get a little fuzzier but the actual gameplay shouldnt change that much since it's rendering at 640x480.

quicksilver

@IceChes1 sonic adventure 1 or 2? Last I played SA1 it seemed fine to me unless there has been a performance regression in the last couple months.

Riverstorm

@Clyde said in Overclocking a Pi 4, yes I checked the stickies and the docs.:

I wouldn't recommend to overclock just "because you can".

I think "because you can" is a good enough. For overclock hobbyists or enthusiasts that reason alone is good enough. There are entire communities dedicated to it. I wouldn't discourage people from exploring this "corner" of Pi hardware while doing a bit of gaming. If they have an interest at all in overclocking I would encourage doing some research first. Some good might come of it and if not it's easy to undo. As long as you understand the pros and cons you should be fine. I did it and I learned a few things through the process so it's a win-win!

The Pi foundation has pages dedicated to overclocking, parameters, arguments, ranges, etc. If they didn't want you to overclock they would probably just bin the chips and remove all the boot commands that facilitate such functionality.

From raspberrypi.org:

We’ve been doing a lot of work to understand the impact of voltage and temperature on lifetime, and are now able to offer a “turbo mode”, which dynamically enables overclock and overvolt under the control of a cpufreq driver, without affecting your warranty.

They have you covered if you want to give it a go!

@quicksilver also from raspberrypi.org

The level of stable overclock you can achieve will depend on your specific Pi and on the quality of your power supply; we suggest that Quake 3 is a good stress test for checking if a particular level is completely stable.

Most components are designed with a tolerance range or safety margin for parameters out of your control like ambient temps, voltage fluctuations, etc. which may work in your favor if your Pi is on top of the manufacturing bell curve.

There is a finite limit to how far you can go with it. Keeping the heat away from the SoC (don't melt the silicon ;) is probably the number one thing you can do to maintain a successful overclock well beyond the usefulness of the Pi and before you're on to the next generation.

Heat really is the killer here if you think about it. Cooling is key until you hit the device's max voltage tolerance and eventual destructive failure but you have to set the turbo bit before going past 1.3125V. Behind cooling always test, test and test your overclock settings for stability on every Pi purchased. They may vary wildly.

As for power it should be pretty minimal. 3A x 5v = 15w. So if I use my Pi 24 hours a day and with the cost of electricity here it would be a little under $10 a year if I am doing the calculations correctly.

As you can imagine the cost is very minimal to always have your Pi conveniently available. The difference between the base cost and overclocking would probably be pennies a year depending on your applications needs, power saving modes, etc.

Conversely those same set of commands may be used for underclocking to reduce power consumption and heat by trading off reductions in performance. As they say a penny saved is a penny earned...but I'm spending it on the convenience and time saved! :)

IceChes1

@quicksilver 1. I don't know why it's that way.

DTEAM

@Riverstorm

I agree with what you are saying.

However, Guarantee = safety factor in engineering. If I want to burn my Pi in 2 years instead of 20 and I want to approach S.F. to 1.0 by iteration because I want more from my machine, I do not see where the problem is. I saw a difference in the performance, that's the problem.

I think It's not a bad thing to explore It with knowingly and knowing the impacts.

Everyone has their opinion on the matter and that's fine like this.