Homebrew Question Question about overclocking

[City Hunter]

Hello,

I am a father of 2 small children, so I use the Switch only on the train (I am living in Japan, so I spend long hours on the train during my commute to work) and during the lunch break. I never even connected the dock to my tv.

So with Dragon Quest XI coming now, I assume the performance in handheld mode will somehow be inferior to the performance in docked mode.

I already did a cooling mod (replaced thermal paste, added thermal pads) and now I want to overlock my switch so that I can enjoy DQ XI the best possible way on switch. Battery is not a real concern for me since I normally always have a powerbank with me. However, I am a newbie when it comes to overclocking the switch, so I have some questions:

1. Which Tool are you using and to what level do you overclock and did you do it for a long time so it can be considered safe? Also do you use overclocking in handheld or docked mode? I would like to overclock in handheld at least to the docked settings.
2. Do all switch Games use dynamic resolution, meaning the system will recognize a drop in fps and will lower the resolution accordingly?
3. Do Games also automatically lower their settings when in handheld even if the clock is overclocked to the dock levels and is there a workaround to fool the game to always assume the console is in docked mode?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[GBADWB]

1. There are primarily 2 options for overclocking the switch, Freebird, which does on the fly overclocking(can toggle it) or sys-clk which allows you to change CPU, GPU and memory speeds based on flags whether something is plugged in, and such. Slightly longer setup time but more precise. The developers mostly place the limits in fairly safe levels. Most of them will cap around 1.7ghz which by standard is what the tegra x1 was designed for. If it gives you calm of mind, the Nvidia Shield TV runs at a higher 1.9ghz clock and is a smaller device compared to the switch.

2. No

3. yes on a normal basis. Many games check the internal switch flag on whether the device is docked or not. You can bypass this requirement by tricking your switch in a different state by using reverse-nx, which allows you to run the switch in "docked mode" in handheld and vice versa. Take for example Crash Team Racing. Normally its Docked 720p30 and Handheld 480p30. reverse-nx would allow you to play CTR in 720p30 in handheld

 

[ZachyCatGames]

1. I use and prefer sysclk. There’s also another utility called freebird, but it doesn’t seem to be actively developed anymore. Generally the highest speeds considered to be safe for handheld are 460mhz GPU, 1581mhz CPU and 1600mhz mem, in docked you can go to max speeds without issue. I use overclocking in handheld and docked. Docked speeds in handheld are strongly recommended against unless you have a charging device that can charge the system just as well as the original charger.

2. No, but most 3D games do

3. Yes and yes, reverseNX can be used to use docked graphics settings in handheld https://gbatemp.net/threads/reversenx-flag-your-console-as-handheld-or-docked.543625/

 

[City Hunter]

Thank you.

If I use reverse-NX, I must still overclock the switch manually, because this tool will only tell the game to use the docked settings, so that without overclocking there would be big performance issues?

Why isn’t it recommended to use docked settings in handheld mode? Is it just the battery drain? I would assume my ravpower provide via USB-C connection nearly the same power supply as an ac line, but perhaps someone can confirm this.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

Thank you.

If I use reverse-NX, I must still overclock the switch manually, because this tool will only tell the game to use the docked settings, so that without overclocking there would be big performance issues?

Why isn’t it recommended to use docked settings in handheld mode? Is it just the battery drain? I would assume my ravpower provide via USB-C connection nearly the same power supply as an ac line, but perhaps someone can confirm this.

Yes, reverseNX only tells the games to use docked graphical settings. Some games will run fine without OC, and others won’t.

Mainly because it’s bad for the battery. The fan also can’t run as fast in handheld as it can in docked (it can only run at about 60% speed in handheld iirc) so it could cause temperature issues if you’re using super high clocks or are in a hot environment.