Overclock the S905Y2?

Zero Series
1

Hi,

Is it possible and safe to overclock the S905Y2? How?..

Thanks! :slightly_smiling_face:

…

UPDATE 09/22/2023

You can easyly overclock your Radxa Zero or any other S905Y2 pc with linux, following this useful video by Salva of Microlinux.

It’s the same solution suggested by c0rnelius, decompiling and recompiling the dtb. It works fine. The Zero feels faster…

2

I do so and haven’t had any problems. I patch the following when building a kernel.

--- a/arch/arm64/boot/dts/amlogic/meson-g12a.dtsi	2021-12-02 05:44:16.837136220 -0500
+++ b/arch/arm64/boot/dts/amlogic/meson-g12a.dtsi	2021-12-04 05:40:01.518834737 -0500
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@
 			opp-hz = /bits/ 64 <1800000000>;
 			opp-microvolt = <981000>;
 		};
+
+		opp-2004000000 {
+			opp-hz = /bits/ 64 <2004000000>;
+			opp-microvolt = <1022000>;
+			turbo-mode;
+		};
 	};
 };

I would guess, maybe an overlay could be created that would achieve the same goal or one could just edit the dtb file on the board. Anyway, once applied echo "1" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost and it will boost the cores: 1992000 1992000 1992000 1992000

3

Hi,

Thanks c0rnelius.

I don’t compile the kernel.

So no easier way to do it?

Thanx!

4

Well we could try decompiling and recompiling the dtb. In my testing it looked like it would work.

sudo apt update; sudo apt install -y device-tree-compiler
mv meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dtb meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dtb.orig
dtc -I dtb -O dts meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dtb.orig -o meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dts

Edit the dts using your preferred text editor and scroll down to the opp-table.

Make it look exactly like this: (we are only adding the opp-2000000000 bit)

		opp-1800000000 {
			opp-hz = <0x00 0x6b49d200>;
			opp-microvolt = <0xef808>;
		};

		opp-2004000000 {
			opp-hz = /bits/ 64 <2004000000>;
			opp-microvolt = <1022000>;
			turbo-mode;
		};
	};

Compile:
dtc -I dts -O dtb meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dts -o meson-g12a-radxa-zero.dtb

After reboot check:
ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost

if available:
echo "1" | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost

1 Like
5

This overlay should also work.

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

/ {
	compatible = "radxa,zero", "amlogic,g12a";

	fragment@0 {
		target-path = "/opp-table";
		__overlay__ {
			opp-2004000000 {
				opp-hz = /bits/ 64 <2004000000>;
				opp-microvolt = <1022000>;
				turbo-mode;
			};
		};
	};
};
6

I managed to compile overlay like this and it works alright. But /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost always resets on boot. How do i activate boost permanently (not in a way to stop cpu from lowering clocks on idle, just so i don’t have to activate it every reset)

7

remove turbo-mode; from the overlay or create a script and service.

paste the following into a terminal:

sudo tee /usr/bin/tweaks <<EOF
#!/bin/bash

if [ -f /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost ]; then
	echo "1" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost;
fi
EOF
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/tweaks
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/tweaks.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Radxa Zero System Tweaks
ConditionFileIsExecutable=/usr/bin/tweaks
After=sysinit.target local-fs.target network.target bluetooth.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/bin/tweaks
TimeoutSec=0
RemainAfterExit=yes
StandardOutput=journal+console
StandardError=journal+console

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
sudo systemctl enable tweaks
sudo systemctl start tweaks
8

Hi sorry to jump on the thread – I felt that this is relevant to others reading this thread.

Has anyone tried pushing the limits of the S905Y2 overclocking? 2.0GHz I believe is a “within spec” overclock.

Perhaps has anyone tried 2.1 or 2.2GHz (or beyond)? Are you able to share your DTC configurations for us to replicate as well?

10

Overlay

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

/ {
	fragment@0 {
		target-path = "/opp-table";
		__overlay__ {
			opp-2004000000 {
				opp-hz = /bits/ 64 <2004000000>;
				opp-microvolt = <1022000>;
			};
		};
	};
};
11

Hey @c0rnelius thank you for your reply.

However, I noticed the overlay only adds a new speed for 2.04GHz?

Is it possible to overclock the S905Y2 beyond 2.04GHz? (I can take “no” for an answer XD)

12

No. It might boot, but will crash. At least in my testing.

1 Like