In a previous post I was able to overclock a Raspberry Pi 4 to 2.175 Ghz. Recently others have been able to push that overclock to 2.3 Ghz.
Here's how you can do it.
First off, I do not recommend any overclock on the Pi 4 without using a fan. I highly recommend checking out my post on if cooling matters for the Raspberry Pi 4.
While the Raspberry Pi 4 is capable of hitting 2.3 Ghz, not all will be able to reach this frequency and 2.275 Ghz is safer and does not require lowering the GPU frequency. I will show how to do both speeds.
Warning, using force_turbo=1 option may void your warranty.
Preparations
Update Packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
Update Firmware:
sudo rpi-update
Reboot:
sudo reboot
2.3 Ghz overclock
Edit the file `/boot/config.txt'
Verify you do not have any of these settings in your file already and place this at the end of the file.
arm_freq=2300
gpu_freq=500
over_voltage=14
Reboot and you can use the following command to check your frequency.
vcgencmd measure_clock arm
This configuration will not keep the CPU at turbo speeds at all times, so you will need to actually do something to ensure it is running in turbo mode.
You can enable the following setting to keep the CPU at turbo speeds at all time and potentially void your warranty.
force_turbo=1
Overclock 2.275 GHz
Edit the file `/boot/config.txt'
Verify you do not have any of these settings in your file already and place this at the end of the file.
arm_freq=2275
gpu_freq=750
over_voltage=8
Reboot and you can use the following command to check your frequency.
vcgencmd measure_clock arm
This second option allows you to keep the GPU overclocked 50% over stock frequencies and reduces the over-voltage by quite a bit. This is the overclock I would recommend if doing something like a RetroPi.
Overclock 2.147 GHz
I am going to include the previous overclock 2.147 GHz to give you all options. This was the previous best overclock for the Raspberry Pi 4.
Edit the file `/boot/config.txt'
Verify you do not have any of these settings in your file already and place this at the end of the file.
arm_freq=2147
gpu_freq=750
over_voltage=6
Reboot and you can use the following command to check your frequency.
vcgencmd measure_clock arm
Conclusion
The Raspberry Pi 4 can achieve some impressive overclocks from the default 1.5 GHz speeds with only moderate cooling (a single 40mm fan). I have had success using a single fan with reduced speed (by undervolting the fan) that was adequate even while overclocking.
The GPU on the Raspberry Pi 4 can easily achieve 50% overclock which is pretty impressive. If you are using the Raspberry Pi 4 for running X Windows or a Retro Pi, I highly recommend maximizing the GPU overclock for massive improvements.
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