Hacking Question How safe is overclocking the Nintendo Switch?

[coppertj]

Whenever overclocking you take the risk of potentially damaging your device.

In my case just recently, my overclocked 780ti bit the dust and I had to upgrade to a rx 580. So stating this I know that devices are delicate with heat and I'm seeing apps on the Switch that take use of 1785 MHz now when the base clock is 1020 MHz.
I've seen threads stating people have been able to clock to 1.9 GHz but at that point things get a little unstable/hot. If that's the extreme on a scale to 1-9 with the smallest being 1020 MHz then the average is a clock of 1460 MHz.
So, I guess my real question is how safe is overclocking in general? Is 1785 MHz pushing it or is this nothing for the switch?

 

[Illuminaticy]

The way I see it is, my switch gets hot enough to hurt my skin playing Mario Kart 8 on medium brightness/airplane mode, gets even hotter playing online/LAN, I sometimes have to give it a break it's getting so hot, it scares me lol.

When I overclock in RetroArch, my switch is much, much cooler then playing Zelda, MK8, demanding switch games. Yes, it's overclocking the CPU, I'm sure long term it's not good for it. (or maybe it won't hurt? only time will tell)

I'd rather overclock in RetroArch all day everyday, then run MK8 all day everyday.

 

[coppertj]

What about other demanding homebrew titles like the new N64 dynarac emulator or the streaming software? Accidentally left it running while plugged in to the wall clocked at 1780 with GTA V being streamed to it which when I noticed after like 45 minutes of not moving it, it wasn't hot to the touch like how you described mario kart 8 but... I guess that's not that bad then if the switch is really able to get that hot.

 

[Illuminaticy]

Yeah I definitely wouldn't leave it overclocked past my playtime, I also only play handheld so battery is usually dead before anything like that could happen lol. The switch can get really hot before shut down, I saw a video early in the switch life, some dude had to cover the vents with towels for it to actually shut down, so I'm not worried too much about the heat from normal switch games, I could see overclock shortening the life of your CPU if it's done way too much for sure. But I've still never had my switch heat up as much as MK8 heats it. I also live in hot ass humid Florida so air temp is always a bit warmer and doesn't help anything

 

[Sakuraibr]

Whenever overclocking you take the risk of potentially damaging your device.

In my case just recently, my overclocked 780ti bit the dust and I had to upgrade to a rx 580. So stating this I know that devices are delicate with heat and I'm seeing apps on the Switch that take use of 1785 MHz now when the base clock is 1020 MHz.
I've seen threads stating people have been able to clock to 1.9 GHz but at that point things get a little unstable/hot. If that's the extreme on a scale to 1-9 with the smallest being 1020 MHz then the average is a clock of 1460 MHz.
So, I guess my real question is how safe is overclocking in general? Is 1785 MHz pushing it or is this nothing for the switch?

1.7 GHz is the safe-zone limit for the Tegra X1 chip but possibly not the safe-zone for the Switch due to heat (and battery drain, of course). 1785 MHz is not pushing the console beyond the limit, so you can use it if you keep the temps in check. I don't remember hardware health problems being reported because of 1785 MHz overclock (specially because overclocking's still not common outside RetroArch).

I always use the Switch stock clock, btw, due to Switch overclocking being something new yet and I'm not taking any risks. I choose to wait for better software optimization instead.

 

[cagycee]

im sorry but i had to choose the last option. was too funny to me.

 

[stephrk398]

Ah yes, another painful reminder of when overclocked my first android tablet and ruined the battery in the process. Never again will I overclock a tablet device. Ever!

 

[username23bob]

i haven’t noticed any side effects (new retroarch n64). i guess just don’t play for ridiculous amounts of time? like you said, switch gets hotter playing mk8 and zelda in handheld mode than overclocked retroarch running oot lol

 

[NRamos]

In my personal experience playing overclocked Retroarch set to max settings, Docked in TV mode (5-6hours daily) Doing this weeks ago:
I have not had any issues whatsoever. The heat i feel from my nintendo switch is still lower(cooler) in comparison than when i use a nintedo switch game itself, playing 2-3 hours docked with a nintendo switch game when i undock it, it blows and flushes away the hotness(Makes like a wushhhhh sound)
It is fine for me.

 

[JuansPotatoes]

So the only risk with clocking to 1785 is heat?

 

[nifoc2099]

The way I see it is, my switch gets hot enough to hurt my skin playing Mario Kart 8 on medium brightness/airplane mode......

I recommend testing out Witcher 3 using the Dynamic Resolution Tweak & do tell which game gives out more heat

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

What about other demanding homebrew titles like the new N64 dynarac emulator or the streaming software?

May i know which streaming software you use that requires CPU OC instead of using the full RAM access (Press R Method)?

 

[xboxhaxorz]

So if i only play switch games in docked mode, is overclocking of no benefit to me since the overclocking only supports the performance of stock docked mode?

 

[ZachyCatGames]

So if i only play switch games in docked mode, is overclocking of no benefit to me since the overclocking only supports the performance of stock docked mode?

You can go upto 921mhz/1785mhz GPU/CPU in docked mode, which is higher than the officially supported 768mhz/1020mhz GPU/CPU speeds for docked mode. So you can get better performance and there is a benefit, but it (obviously) may impact your console's lifespan negatively.

 

[dust213dust]

i have just noticed that on witcher 3 without overclockig memory clock is at 1331mhz... i know that stock clock should be mush lower.so what happens here? did i broke something? i was using sys-clk for over clockin but at that moment it was all off...

 

[Wasyl]

Hello, it is possibile to OC GPU more that 460Mhz in handheld Mode?

thanks

 

[ZachyCatGames]

Hello, it is possibile to OC GPU more that 460Mhz in handheld Mode?

thanks

Use a charger.

 

[Wasyl]

Use a charger.

I know, but I ask „ it is possible to OC GPU more than 460 Mhz in handheld Mode?” without connect to charger, only power delivery from battery

 

[Draxzelex]

I know, but I ask „ it is possible to OC GPU more than 460 Mhz in handheld Mode?” without connect to charger, only power delivery from battery

If there was a way, I'm pretty sure he would've told you a way without a charger.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

If there was a way, I'm pretty sure he would've told you a way without a charger.

There's a way, it's an artificial limit in sysclk, not a system limit. I don't really want to get into the specifics though.
I've actually posted a build on one of the SX threads that checks the hardware type and disables the limit if it's being ran on one that uses Mariko

 

[Tilde88]

There's a way, it's an artificial limit in sysclk, not a system limit. I don't really want to get into the specifics though.
I've actually posted a build on one of the SX threads that checks the hardware type and disables the limit if it's being ran on one that uses Mariko

hi there. sorry to resurrect such an old comment. could you maybe point me into the direction of removing, or perhaps upping the imposed battery mode cap? i dont mind compiling from source, just not sure what to modify. thanks

edit : ah, is it https://github.com/retronx-team/sys-clk/blob/develop/common/include/sysclk/clocks.h line 61? i think so lol

update : confirmed. compiled the sysmodule, just replaced exefs file, and good to go. thank you for the idea !!