Share your overclocking experiences

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1

Just thought it'd be nice to have a master thread where we share our collective experience with overclocking, and what settings are working with our RPis.

 

The best balance I've been able to find thus far that balances performance and stability have been:

 

 

arm_freq=950
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=2
gpu_mem_256=100
gpu_mem_512=200

 

This is on a stock RPi with 512 MB in a Short Crust case, standard-ish power adapter, with no additional cooling (heat sink or fan).
 
Has anyone had luck going higher? What have your experiences been? How much do fans and heat sinks help? Any other tips?
2

Just thought it'd be nice to have a master thread where we share our collective experience with overclocking, and what settings are working with our RPis.

The best balance I've been able to find thus far that balances performance and stability have been:

arm_freq=950
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=2
gpu_mem_256=100
gpu_mem_512=200
This is on a stock RPi with 512 MB in a Short Crust case, standard-ish power adapter, with no additional cooling (heat sink or fan).
 
Has anyone had luck going higher? What have your experiences been? How much do fans and heat sinks help? Any other tips?

Can you clarify "standard-ish" power adapter?

I used to run mine on a Blackberry power adapter, until I decided to power it from the USB port on the TV for logistical reasons (and for the added bonus that the TV powers the Pi down automatically). While it's enough for a good experience (no high bitrate movies though - > 10 Mbps), the only time I tried overclocking I failed miserably. The Pi booted up and then froze on the Plex main screen.

3

Can you clarify "standard-ish" power adapter?

I used to run mine on a Blackberry power adapter, until I decided to power it from the USB port on the TV for logistical reasons (and for the added bonus that the TV powers the Pi down automatically). While it's enough for a good experience (no high bitrate movies though - > 10 Mbps), the only time I tried overclocking I failed miserably. The Pi booted up and then froze on the Plex main screen.

I am using a power adapter that was specifically sold as a tested Raspberry Pi power adapter. I had lots of trouble when I was using a generic USB power adapter, like an iPad charger, or Blackberry adapter. They are cheap on Amazon and will likely give you better results!

4

Just thought it'd be nice to have a master thread where we share our collective experience with overclocking, and what settings are working with our RPis.

The best balance I've been able to find thus far that balances performance and stability have been:

arm_freq=950
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=2
gpu_mem_256=100
gpu_mem_512=200
This is on a stock RPi with 512 MB in a Short Crust case, standard-ish power adapter, with no additional cooling (heat sink or fan).
 
Has anyone had luck going higher? What have your experiences been? How much do fans and heat sinks help? Any other tips?

Please help:

I have succesfully installed RasPlex on USB (system=sd, storage=usb)

Using Refocus theme.

Although when trying to edit the config file with your exact setting above

(power down Pi, remove USB dongle, insert into laptop, edit config as per above.)

Re-insert USB, power up

Run RasPlex, navigate and play a show...

in the meantime via puTTy on Win7, SSH'ing "cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq" returns 700000 all the time.

where I am expecting 950000.

Please any help on how to correctly trial Overclocking whenusing the USB?

Note:

I have never been able to view the SD card installs of RasPlex on my Win7 machine, however I could view/edit the RasPlex install/files on the USB install of RasPlex.

I assume the config file settings I've edited on the USB are not actioning - hence do I need to edit the config file off of the SD card?

If so, how to do this in a manner such that I can easily re-edit the Overclock figures to home into the sweet spot for my Raspberry Pi.

Again, I can achieve this on the USB easily, however am unsure if I need to actually perform the overclock on the SD config file? (again if so, then how to do this repeatedly & efficiently.)

This is my last opportunity of tweaking the Pi & would like it to achieve the best it can.

(I have attached a Heat Sink and a small 40mm fan powered externally off of a 9V battery with a swtich - excessive perhaps, but cheap/cheerful/effective.)

Thanks in advance

5

I've noticed the same issue too when running from USB. The config.txt settings on the USB volume are ignored and instead read from the SD card.

To edit the contents of your SD card (when also using a USB drive), you have to attach it to a Mac/PC. As far as I know, there's no way to access it via SSH/STFP.

6

I've noticed the same issue too when running from USB. The config.txt settings on the USB volume are ignored and instead read from the SD card.

To edit the contents of your SD card (when also using a USB drive), you have to attach it to a Mac/PC. As far as I know, there's no way to access it via SSH/STFP.

Sorted.

Basically I have a Sd card slot in my Vaio - for whatever reason using that, the SD card always prompted a format instead of showing me the rasplex installed file system partition.

Using the SD card in a USB dongle adapter resolves this quirk.

==== Now: =====

By editing the config file to adjust CPU Overclocking values on the SD, I'm hoping the Overclocking sticks.

When booting and running off of USB and ssh'ing from puTTy I'd hope to see the CPU return these new values assigned on the edited/overclocked SD's config file [cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq]

=============

As it is, currently even without Overclocking, I have come to quite a STABLE refined set-up (after many different configs: sd vs usb, bleeding edge vs older releases.

Compared to the original releases of Rasplex, the combination of small edits have amounted to a VERY USABLE RasPlex Experience.

I mention this without Placebo but after many different efforts in the past few weeks.

I will put together a all in one walk through of my setup tomorrow - nothing drastic as such, just a combination of approaches and tweaks already detailed on this forum.

Also, anyone had any luck with a SWAP partition (for Ram) - advisable route to expand on RAM for RasPlex or not so much?

7

Sorted.

Basically I have a Sd card slot in my Vaio - for whatever reason using that, the SD card always prompted a format instead of showing me the rasplex installed file system partition.

Using the SD card in a USB dongle adapter resolves this quirk.

==== Now: =====

By editing the config file to adjust CPU Overclocking values on the SD, I'm hoping the Overclocking sticks.

When booting and running off of USB and ssh'ing from puTTy I'd hope to see the CPU return these new values assigned on the edited/overclocked SD's config file [cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq]

I look forward to testing Overclocking tomorrow and will be sure to report back.

=============

As it is, currently even without Overclocking, I have come to quite a STABLE refined set-up (after many different configs: sd vs usb, bleeding edge vs older releases.

Compared to the original releases of Rasplex, the combination of small edits have amounted to a VERY USABLE RasPlex Experience.

I mention this without Placebo but after many different efforts in the past few weeks.

I will put together a all in one walk through of my setup tomorrow - nothing drastic as such, just a combination of approaches and tweaks already detailed on this forum.

With the potential for further improvement with Overclocking, my current setup has the opportunity to advance further - if my Pi takes well to Overclocking as well as some of you have experienced on this thread and the likes. 

==== Side Note ====

Also, anyone had any luck with a SWAP partition (for Ram) - advisable route to expand on RAM for RasPlex or not so much?

8

Deleted

9 
arm_freq=950
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=2
gpu_mem_256=100
gpu_mem_512=200

Thanks for this. After retrying, I am now able to play 1080p movies (~14 mbps) without a problem. After an hour or so of playback some stutter occurs, but a simple stop and restart solve the problem, whereas before I had to physically remove power at the beginning of playback.

I have a standard installation of Rasplex (no USB devices are attached).

10

This works really well in my setup.

arm_freq=930
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=1
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_drive=2
gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=200
hdmi_force_edid_audio=1
initial_turbo=30
11

################################################################################
#
# >>>>>>>> RasPlex default settings override <<<<<<<<<
#
################################################################################
 
gpu_mem=200
arm_freq=950
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450
over_voltage=6
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_drive=2
decode_MPG2=000000000
decode_WVC1=000000000
 
 
################################################################################
# End of default configuration
# all values below this line were inserted from config.txt.bk (your old config)
# and can be merged with the above values
################################################################################

works flawless for me,

cheers,

12

After a lot of testing these are what I have settled on, works fine for me and I have never had any hangs/shudders/corruption or anything of the sort.

It must be said my content is never more than 720P, so not sure how this would fair with 1080P, might get too hot or something ... mine averages about 55-65 degrees C even under load.

RPi 512MB, Integral 8GB UltimaPro X SDHC UHS-I Class 10 Card (95MB/s 90MB/s Re
ad/Write), Short Crust case, heatsinks, 5V 2A Ultra HQ USB Power Supply from ModMyPi tested with Rasplex 3.0 - 3.1 & 9.9.10 - 9.9.12.

over_voltage=8
over_voltage_sdram=4
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
hdmi_drive=2
gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
arm_freq=1100    
core_freq=500
sdram_freq=500
disable_splash=1

13

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