As fast as possible config

[ZacharyI123]

In /boot/config.txt, what should the following variables be to make the pi as fast as possible?:

gpu_mem (I have model b rev 1)
arm_freq
gpu_freq
core_freq
sdram_freq
over_voltage

I don't mind heat because I use the pi in cool conditions and I don't mind voiding the warranty but don't ruin (burn/melt or break) my processor. As you know, I want to use eclipse, it does work but I would prefer it to be quicker. I heard that it doesn't matter how high that stuff is, because it will stop over locking when it is too hot. So what should I set them to?

[redhawk]

There's no fast as possible setting because what works for one Pi may not work for another.
The CPUs are fabricated to work without fail at 700MHz but the maximum reliable speed depends pretty much on the quality of the processor.
In any case you should be careful not to push the clock speed too high it can lead to SD Card corruption as reported by some users.

Trail and error is the only way to tweak your Pi I'm afraid.

Richard S.

[Mobius]

If you are running a recent version of Debian Wheezy then raspi-config will allow you to set Turbo mode without having to manually edit files. I think that sets it to a max of 1Ghz and increases other factors to safe maximums. You can incrementally increase from there but you are on your own.

[ZacharyI123]

There's no fast as possible setting because what works for one Pi may not work for another.
The CPUs are fabricated to work without fail at 700MHz but the maximum reliable speed depends pretty much on the quality of the processor.
In any case you should be careful not to push the clock speed too high it can lead to SD Card corruption as reported by some users.

Trail and error is the only way to tweak your Pi I'm afraid.

Richard S.

Is that the only risk? If I backup my sd card regularly then I can have it as high as I wish without risking the processor?

Do you recommend I change things through raspi-config to the highest that gives me?

[ghans]

Overclocking does affect the lifetime of the processor AFAIK.
Thats why dynamic overclocking has been advised.
But as other posters have already explained , each SoC
has individual limits. They are guaranteed to run at 700 MHz ,
but not above.
How do you know your overclock isn't working ?
1) The Pi doesn't boot.
2) The Pi crashes frequently.
3) SD Card gets trashed.

Not: To overclock highly , you'll have to overvolt , too.
Hopefully somebody can explain the effects of cooling here.


ghans

[ZacharyI123]

Overclocking does affect the lifetime of the processor AFAIK.
Thats why dynamic overclocking has been advised.
But as other posters have already explained , each SoC
has individual limits. They are guaranteed to run at 700 MHz ,
but not above.
How do you know your overclock isn't working ?
1) The Pi doesn't boot.
2) The Pi crashes frequently.
3) SD Card gets trashed.

Not: To overclock highly , you'll have to overvolt , too.
Hopefully somebody can explain the effects of cooling here.


ghans

So where should I start?

[amyren]

So where should I start?

One good place to start is to read the overclocking section of this guide:
http://elinux.org/RPiconfig

Just try a few settings and see how far you can stretch it before it gets unstable.
If you find your limits, put your settings a bit lower than that.

First time I tried to overclock my pi, I only did test the cpu settings. At one point I had it running at 1100mhz for testing.
My current settings now are like this in config.txt

force_turbo=1
over_voltage=6
arm_freq=1000
sdram_freq=400

Other settings I did try previously:
arm_freq=900
core_freq=450
sdram_freq=450

and:
arm_freq=800
gpu_freq=400
sdram_freq=500

A good measure to check if its stable is to run quake3 on it. I found that my pi boots and runs for longer periods with some higher settings, but running quake3 resulted in crashes more rapidly. And then I had to reduce my settings until it ran stable.

[timmoore46]

I always thought overclocking was a good way to flush lots and lots of time down the toilet,

Why not wait 6 months/12/18 and buy the latest release of RPi which may well be faster with more ram ?

Hey everyone has a view on overclocking, so go ahead if that's your thing. (liquid nitrogen is a good coolant)



Tim

[ghans]

The foundation plans no updates for the next *few* years .
I am personally very happy that they distance themselves
from the artificial obsolesence business our popular fruit-themed
company practices.

If that doesn't fit you , there are always alternatives.
The Cubieboard looks promising, and the prices of
Android TV Sticks seem to falling into a bottomless pit
(for singlecores).


ghans

[cmatthews]

As someone explained to you in another thread, eclipse is very RAM hungry indeed. It is unlikely that higher CPU speeds, or increasing voltages is going to improve things much. You might look at your RAM/GPU memory split and see if that helps, but I doubt that it will. Eclipse is fundamentally not well suited to the RPi.