Guide to Android Overclocking
Posted by Kike, on October 3rd 2012 7:14 AM (EET)
Welcome back readers and viewers. Today I have a bit of a treat for you: A guide to Android Overclocking.
Note: Your phone will not need a heatsink.
Before we go on to tell you how your Android device can outperform some of today’s biggest players like the HTC One series and Samsung’s Galaxy Series, we have a disclaimer:
This is very intense stuff, overclocking that is. Overclocking, while a rewarding process, is also very risky, so we ask that only users who are comfortable with performing more advanced forms of resuscitation to their devices try this. Neither nikosite.net, nor I, or anyone associated with nikosite.net, is responsible for ruined devices. You have been warned.
If anything goes wrong I am happy to help. However, if you blame any of us for your choices, we might not be as willing to help you bring your device back to life.
The moral of the story is be responsible and careful. Remember to follow the instructions and if you ever feel like you are going too far, stop.
Let’s begin.
For those of you who may not know what overclocking is: Overclocking is the process of raising the frequency at which your processor, or system on a chip CPU, operates. What this does for the chip is allows it to handle more instructions per second, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigaherz (GHz). Basically, it’s giving your phone a speed boost.
A larger frequency requires more current from your device, which means two things:
1. Your battery life will be severely shortened
2. Your phone will generate more heat. Sometimes enough heat is generated to fry and destroy your phone, so BE CAREFUL!
There are a few things you should do before you can overclock. Because overclocking is a low-level interaction from the kernel to the hardware, you will need to obtain superuser rights, better known as “root,” in order to overclock. Also, a kernel that supports these interactions. Most custom compiled kernel supports this, however, it is good to check before flashing any kernels. Typically this information can be found in the changelog or github.
I will not be covering how to obtain root in this guide because this is an overclocking guide. However, if enough requests come in I will gladly show you how to obtain root or how to install a kernel that supports overclock.
Once you have the kernel to root your device you will need to find the best way to overclock your device, which can be either in the form of an application or through a ROM.
Before we go on to tell you how your Android device can outperform some of today’s biggest players like the HTC One series and Samsung’s Galaxy Series, we have a disclaimer:
This is very intense stuff, overclocking that is. Overclocking, while a rewarding process, is also very risky, so we ask that only users who are comfortable with performing more advanced forms of resuscitation to their devices try this. Neither nikosite.net, nor I, or anyone associated with nikosite.net, is responsible for ruined devices. You have been warned.
If anything goes wrong I am happy to help. However, if you blame any of us for your choices, we might not be as willing to help you bring your device back to life.
The moral of the story is be responsible and careful. Remember to follow the instructions and if you ever feel like you are going too far, stop.
Let’s begin.
For those of you who may not know what overclocking is: Overclocking is the process of raising the frequency at which your processor, or system on a chip CPU, operates. What this does for the chip is allows it to handle more instructions per second, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigaherz (GHz). Basically, it’s giving your phone a speed boost.
A larger frequency requires more current from your device, which means two things:
1. Your battery life will be severely shortened
2. Your phone will generate more heat. Sometimes enough heat is generated to fry and destroy your phone, so BE CAREFUL!
There are a few things you should do before you can overclock. Because overclocking is a low-level interaction from the kernel to the hardware, you will need to obtain superuser rights, better known as “root,” in order to overclock. Also, a kernel that supports these interactions. Most custom compiled kernel supports this, however, it is good to check before flashing any kernels. Typically this information can be found in the changelog or github.
I will not be covering how to obtain root in this guide because this is an overclocking guide. However, if enough requests come in I will gladly show you how to obtain root or how to install a kernel that supports overclock.
Once you have the kernel to root your device you will need to find the best way to overclock your device, which can be either in the form of an application or through a ROM.
Some applications that are available are no-frills CPU, Tegrak overclock (only for Galaxy devices), SetCPU and Antutu CPU Master, to name a few. Most applications are universal, which means they will work on any Android device they are installed on. When you first open the application, it will ask for Superuser rights. This is good, since you want the application interacting with those special rights, so hit “allow” to grant the application permissions.
Before having fun with your phone, you should explore the application to make sure that you know where all of the options are. A good rule for this step is to avoid touching anything that you don’t know what it does. While taking a tour of the application, it is also a good idea to look for any kind of voltage control the application has. If you don’t see any voltage settings, don’t worry, simply download Voltage Control from the market and familiarize yourself with the application. While in the Play market, also download a benchmarking application, or a really hardware intensive game to test your overclock with. Quadrant Standard is a great option because it delivers a reasonably intense test that also isn’t too long.
Once you have an overclocking application, some form of voltage control and a stress test of some sort, we can begin the actual overclocking process.
Here are the steps to follow
1. Check your phone’s CPU frequency through the overclocking app. This is what the manufacturer thinks is the best frequency for a decent performance to battery life ratio, so we will treat this as your 0 value, or the origon.
2. Once you know your device’s stock frequency, take a look at the stock voltages. Write these down somewhere, they will be useful later.
3. To begin overclocking, we have to test the maximum frequency your phone is able to attain with a stock voltage. To do this simply raise the maximum CPU frequency by around 100MHz, or .1GHz at a time. Leave the minimum frequency alone (you can also raise this to be really close to the maximum frequency to ensure a more stable overclock, but this isn’t necessary). After you change the frequency count to ten to allow the new frequency to be set and open up your stress test application. If you are using quadrant standard run the full benchmark. While the test runs pay close attention to your device. You want to watch out for screen freezing and/or extreme heat (feel the back of your phone).
If your screen freezes this is a sign that your overclock is losing stability. In extreme scenarios your phone may simply shut down and try to reboot. This is caused by either the temperature of the hardware being too high or your voltage being too low.
- If your phone survives the full benchmark and doesn’t feel ridiculously hot, then try raising the frequency some more and stressing the hardware again until your device either fails (reboot/frozen screen), or you reach the maximum frequency.
- If your device is too hot, then it’s probably a good idea to stop and set your frequency as your maximum overclock. If your device gets too hot and shuts down then power it back on and lower the frequency. You went too high and you are at risk of frying your phone.
- If your screen freezes and your phone is within a reasonable temperature then you are probably in need of more voltage from the battery. To solve this get your phone running again and raise the voltage by about 50 mA. Try the stress test again.
- If your screen freezes and your phone is too hot then stop, lower the frequency and do not overclock anymore. You are at risk of melting your phone’s chipset.
Congratulations, you have achieved a stable overclock!
Your goal as an overclocker is to achieve a level of performance that you like. This hardly ever means maxing out your overclock since the newer generations of Android are fairly well optimized. If your goal is to reach a maximum overclock or a new benchmark high score then you want to reach the highest possible frequency with the lowest possible voltage.
It is always a good idea to write down frequencies and voltages on paper so that you may refer back to values that are stable.
There is an optional side of overclocking that involves two things called CPU governors and Memory Scheduler.
What the governor basically does is decide how your frequency is decided when you allow your phone to have a range of frequencies, for example, having a minimum frequency of 200 MHz and a maximum frequency of 1200 MHz.
The scheduler decides how to prioritize tasks that require reading or writing from your Memory (SD card NAND memory, not RAM). Since there are hundreds of governors and schedulers I have simply included a link to a very helpful post that outlines some of the major ones. Click HERE to access the site.
As a final note, to all of you benchmark junkies: remember that benchmark scores only represent theoretical performance under very ideal conditions. This means that my OG Galaxy S with a quadrant standard score of 2500 can operate just as smoothly as my Galaxy S II, which has a quadrant score that matches the Galaxy S III.
Also, every device is different. Just because someone achieves a 1.6 GHz Overclock on their SGS II doesn’t mean that your SGS II will be limited to, or even reach, 1.6 GHz.
As a last note of wisdom, remember the words of the most interesting man in the world:
“I don’t always overclock my Android, but when I do, I prefer to play it safely. Play it safely my friends.”
Nikosite