N64 games crashing RetroPie after some minutes of gameplay

sgrontflix

I've got a Raspberry Pi 3B running RetroPie 4.6 (I downloaded the official IMG file and followed this guide to install it). I have an ICE Tower cooler installed and I only reach 30 °C or less after hours of playing PSX games. I decided to overclock my Pi to these settings:
gpu_mem=400
arm_freq=1450
over_voltage=6
sdram_freq=500
core_freq=500
gpu_freq=400

I don't have rainbow squares or lightning bolts on my screen and my temperature (after overclocking) sits at 35 °C or less.

I played Crash Team Racing without any problems for maybe half an hour, then I tried playing Super Mario 64 and Super Smash Bros and they both made my Pi crash after only 3 minutes or so of gameplay. I have the default N64 emulator (mupen64plus-auto).

I transferred all my ROMs over network using SMB.
I overclocked my Pi by plugging my microSD card into my Windows 10 computer and editing the config file. When I plugged the card in, it showed me an error message saying I had to format the unit before using it, but then it allowed me to access the files anyway.

Is the problem the overclock, the ROMs, the emulator or the error message?

Keep in mind that I'm still a noob to RetroPie, so please be very clear when giving instructions!

Thank you in advance!

dankcushions

@sgrontflix completely remove your overclock changes in the first instance. any instability issues - overclocking is a likely culprit.

sgrontflix

@dankcushions I'll disable overclocking asap. Could you explain why you think it's the overclocking, even though my temps are stable and I don't have any low power icons on my screen?

dankcushions

@sgrontflix said in N64 games crashing RetroPie after some minutes of gameplay:

@dankcushions I'll disable overclocking asap. Could you explain why you think it's the overclocking, even though my temps are stable and I don't have any low power icons on my screen?

overclocking can cause instability because your components cannot deliver the requested speed, regardless of temp or voltage. in fact, due to the way to pi throttles based on temp and voltage thresholds, i would guess it's unlikely you'll ever see crashes due to the temp/voltage reasons.

it seems to be a common misunderstanding but every bit of silicon has a limit, and it's not the same for everyone. for example, your sdram_freq of 500 would make my pi3 crash often, no matter what.

sgrontflix

@dankcushions Thank you for your explanation! I disabled overclocking and now my Pi is stable as before. I'll try with milder overclocking next time.