Overclocking safely?


zeldarocks

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Aug 22, 2010
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Given that my Pandora is now on the way (Yes, I just got a processing email a few hours ago), I was wondering; in terms of overclocking, how far can you feasibly go? What's the recommended overclock? What's the overall lifespan at said recommended overclock, and how would I go about achieving an optimal performance:lifetime ratio?
 
Me the highest I go is 750MHz because I'm the weary type of person who don't want to ruin an awesome device like this by running it at a high speed all the time. Not to mention most things I play run fine at 600MHz but if your a N64 fan you'll definitely run it higher than 600MHz.
 
Most of your questions cannot be answered simply because there is not enough data, and the overclocking limits for each unit varies.


Also, as Craig said, keep your overclocking under 1GHz and your overvolting under OPP5 to keep your warranty intact. I believe the estimated lifetime of the CPU at stock is 40K hours of continuous use (5 years), and at OPP5 it may ge as low as half that.
 
Most of your questions cannot be answered simply because there is not enough data, and the overclocking limits for each unit varies.


Also, as Craig said, keep your overclocking under 1GHz and your overvolting under OPP5 to keep your warranty intact. I believe the estimated lifetime of the CPU at stock is 40K hours of continuous use (5 years), and at OPP5 it may ge as low as half that.
I thought the stock was 20 years, reduced to 5 at higher speeds and voltage...


In addition, can I hit 750-800 at the default opp of 3?
 
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Pre hotfix5 overclocking and overvolting to go even higher with OPP voltage levels, was achieved with a script that Jdbye wrote to replace the default op_cpu_speed.sh file. Under HF5 its within the system settings menu's and you set the limits via a GUI rather than editing the script.


You want to walk before you run though and get the Pandora running fine for normal apps and more basic games etc before you see how far it will go. Otherwise you wont know whats an OC caused problem or not, not because its dangerous.


N64 emulation benefits from a default speed of about 800mhz and frame skip settings of 2, whilst PSX can benefit some games with alot higher than that, if your individual Pandora can achieve high speeds without locking up. Worse case scenario is a reboot or having to leave the battery out for a short time to re-enable further attempts at OC'ing at a lower level.


Lifespan overall is reduced from 10 to about 5 years in the theoretical scenario of running at 1ghz permanently for that duration according to TI chip specs, or something similar.


Best bet is to alter the settings to allow for the cpu slider to reach 1ghz and to slowly step up the OC whilst launching N64 or PCSX which allows OC alterations without leaving the emulator. Apparently the NEON optimisations in recent PCSX versions mean it may be more unstable when OC'd and require lower settings but I'm still using r6 and it runs okay upto 1050mhz. Firefox may benefit from about 800mhz and using a 512mb swap file, which is easily made via Dave1234's SD card installer if you plan to boot from SD card, which has advantages space wise and a NAND setup to fall back on if it corrupts. Once you've found your max, do as Prometheus advises and set the limits for the slider in the GUI again to avoid overstepping it. Every unit varies.


Have fun :)


There's a clan of ninja's hereabouts B)
 
Most of your questions cannot be answered simply because there is not enough data, and the overclocking limits for each unit varies.


Also, as Craig said, keep your overclocking under 1GHz and your overvolting under OPP5 to keep your warranty intact. I believe the estimated lifetime of the CPU at stock is 40K hours of continuous use (5 years), and at OPP5 it may ge as low as half that.
I thought the stock was 20 years, reduced to 5 at higher speeds and voltage...


In addition, can I hit 750-800 at the default opp of 3?
Yes most can and should at opp3.
 
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I would imagine the default would always be best, what is the default clock speed?


Also, will overclocking in itself reduce overall lifespan? Or does that apply solely to overvolting?
 
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I would imagine the default would always be best, what is the default clock speed?


Also, will overclocking in itself reduce overall lifespan? Or does that apply solely to overvolting?
1. 500, but 600 is technically specified, even though it was rumored to be actually 720, but TI never did any testing on this.


2. Both
 
Is it the general consensus that it would be worth it to OC the Pandora to 700-800 in order to make optimal use of the device?
 
Yep. And practically all units can overclock past 800 on OPP3. Mine goes up to 870, or thereabouts, without overvolting.
 
What about undervolting and overclocking? Can that offset the loss in longevity?


In addition, should I run at 700-800 at all times? Or as the need arises?


Thirdly, does the Pandora dynamically switch OPP and/or clock speed as needed?
 
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Well the default is 500, even though the spec of the chip is 600, to save power. So don't run it faster than you need and you'll get better battery life.


As I don't have mine yet I can't comment about undervolting... of course you won't be able to run as fast using undervolting, you may only be able to reach 500-600 or so then, and it may be unstable
 
What about undervolting and overclocking? Can that offset the loss in longevity?


In addition, should I run at 700-800 at all times? Or as the need arises?


Thirdly, does the Pandora dynamically switch OPP and/or clock speed as needed?
Any more opinions on the above?
 
What about undervolting and overclocking? Can that offset the loss in longevity?


In addition, should I run at 700-800 at all times? Or as the need arises?


Thirdly, does the Pandora dynamically switch OPP and/or clock speed as needed?
Any more opinions on the above?
I think the law of diminishing returns comes in to play when you start undervolting - any gain to the life of your unit probably won't be worth the trouble.


Also, to clarify something that was said earlier, while overclocking without overvoltill will reduce your CPU life, the loss is negligible in comparison to overvolting.
 
I have a linked question. Within hotfix 5 I have selected OPP4 as my max OPP level and 950 as max CPU speed. Most of the time 600 is fine but occasionally I need to crank it up. I have always wondered does my unit always run at OPP4 or does it switch when I increase the CPU speed for an application? If it increases it automatically at what CPU speed does this happen?


Any ideas?
 
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