The MagPi - February 2020

Run your Raspberry Pi 4 faster with our guide to

overclocking the CPU and GPU. By Lucy Hattersley

A

t the heart of Raspberry Pi 4 sits an ARM

Cortex-A72 CPU (central processing unit)

running at a maximum clock speed of

1,500MHz (or 1.5GHz).

The clock is the electronic pulse used to

synchronise all the components in a processor

(foldoc.org/clock). A maximum clock speed of

1.5GHz means the processor updates one-and-a-

half billion times per second.

This is the maximum speed: Raspberry Pi

typically idles at 600MHz and switches to the

maximum speed when needed. Overclocking is

the process of setting a higher maximum speed

for computer components. We can adjust the

settings in config.txt to overclock both the CPU

and GPU (graphics processing unit).

We’ve experimented with speeds up to

2.147GHz for the CPU and 750MHz for the GPU (up

from its 500MHz default). These are the kinds of

speeds found on high-end desktop computers.

Your mileage will vary, and if Raspberry Pi gets

too hot it will slow right down. Experimenting

with overclocking will crash Raspbian, and there

is a high chance your Raspberry Pi will refuse to

start at some point. If programs start crashing,

or Raspbian refuses to start, you will need to dial

back on the speed. But overclocking is fun and

potentially a way to get more from Raspberry Pi.

01

Raspberry Pi 4 Stand

We start by placing Raspberry Pi 4 in a

vertical position. This improves airflow around

the components and is surprisingly effective

at keeping the temperature down (see Thermal

Testing in magpi.cc/88).

Use the Raspberry Pi 4 Stand on the front

of the print edition of The MagPi #90 to run

Raspberry Pi in a vertical position. If you don’t

Lucy

Hattersley

Lucy is editor of The

MagPi magazine

and enjoys tinkering

with gadgets. She’s

been wanting to

write this tutorial for

a while now.

magpi.cc

MAKER

Overclock

Raspberry Pi 4

You’ll Need

> Raspberry Pi 4

> Raspberry

Pi 4 Stand (or

cooling case)

> Raspbian OS

Place Raspberry Pi 4

in the stand so it sits

vertically. This enables

the ARM Cortex-A72

CPU to run cooler

We take the ARM Cortex-A72

CPU from its default clock

speed to 2.147GHz and the

GPU to 750MHz

Warning!

Crash likely!

Experimenting to find the

highest stable overclock

involves crashing

Raspberry Pi 4. There is

a chance of corrupting

the microSD card.

Experiment with a clean

Raspbian installation

and ensure no important

data is at risk.

TUTORIAL

34 magpi.cc Overclock Raspberry Pi 4