Homebrew Discussion Switch overclocking released (improved N64 & PSX emu)

[Billy Acuña]

I agree. Dynarec is one of the first things you should work on when porting an emulator. ARM dynarecs already exist for most systems, they should be portable with little to no effort. There's also optimizations that can be done by using platform specific extensions, which I believe the Tegra SoCs have. And just general optimizations to the code. There's no reason N64 and PSX couldn't run full-speed at stock clock. The OpenPandora managed full-speed PSX at a measly 600mhz, N64 is not so easy and still struggled at 1ghz, but that was a rather old SoC with a weak GPU and it seemed to be more limited by that. Plus it ran a full Linux distro, the Switch OS by comparison is more barebones.

Except that the Switch is Aarch64, not ARM(32), the dynarec needs to be written from scratch for the existing emulators (mupen, pcsx rearmed, picodrive and reicast, ppsspp is the only one which has Aarch64 dynarec). Also the Switch overheat is just a bad meme.

 

[Agusto101]

y


This week most likely.

Ohh...ok thats Fine i guess, and it will be compatible with sx os or only atmos and reinx?

 

[Twistedziefer]

Except that the Switch is Aarch64, not ARM(32), the dynarec needs to be written from scratch for the existing emulators (mupen, pcsx rearmed, picodrive and reicast, ppsspp is the only one which has Aarch64 dynarec). Also the Switch overheat is just a bad meme.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Except that the Switch is Aarch64, not ARN(32), the dynarec needs to be written from scratch for the existing emulators (mupen, pcsx rearmed, picodrive and reicast, ppsspp is the only one which has Aarch64 dynarec). Also the Switch overheat is just a bad meme.

Are the CPU instructions that different?
And yeah, it takes quite a lot to make the Switch overheat, you have to physically disable the fan to make it get hot enough to shut down. Doesn't mean it can't cause damage though, like the cracked shells we've been seeing.
Also, in a particularly dusty place or after years, the fan/heatsink could get dusty enough that the Switch will overheat. It happens to laptops, so it can definitely happen to the Switch.

 

[Billy Acuña]

Are the CPU instructions that different?
And yeah, it takes quite a lot to make the Switch overheat, you have to physically disable the fan to make it get hot enough to shut down. Doesn't mean it can't cause damage though, like the cracked shells we've been seeing.
Also, in a particularly dusty place or after years, the fan/heatsink could get dusty enough that the Switch will overheat. It happens to laptops, so it can definitely happen to the Switch.

Yeah, it may happen, even with default clockspeeds.

 

[jakkal]

What risks? The only people who have problems with Auto RCM don't understand what it does and freak out when their switch won't turn on

@the_randomizer is never happy about anything. hes known for moaning about everything, everytime

 

[V-Temp]

............is that supposed to exclude the fact that more voltage means more heat? Heat will only be an issue if you go too high.

Clocking up the CPU shouldn't be an issue.

The real concern (for overclocking) would be someone overclocking the GPU while using the display. Then your thermal profile is basically fucked, and if you had bad paste, your Switch will likely quickly start to warp under the heat. Given that some units already warp under the basic clock speeds in dock, there's a non-negligible number of bad thermal paste jobs by default and the heat profile already has issues staying under damaging-spec in that case.

CPU, though, that's barely going to add anything to the whole equation. It will just decrease battery life.

 

[Girtana1]

get ready to see an army of swollen switches hitting second hand shelves or ebay soon.

You realize a battery can be replaced easily and for relatively cheap? lol

 

[V-Temp]

You realize a battery can be replaced easily and for relatively cheap? lol

Users here often have trouble understanding the RCM exploit or how to properly short pins, nevermind replacing a battery.

 

[Naked_Snake]

mmm overclocking the Switch.. yeah great idea with the Australian summer rapidly approaching where the ambient temperatures are usually in the 35-45 degrees Celsius range (95-113 farenheit for the antiquated Americans in the audience)

This is the only thing I’m not looking forward to about rdr2 lol *even with aircon

 

[eldavo2090]

@the_randomizer is never happy about anything. hes known for moaning about everything, everytime

He just needs the attention...
This is good, until we have a proper dynarect we can play some 64... didn't know the cpu speed used in lakka was really high!
In comparison to this clockspeed I would not get that worried... It's just one case of a person with a swollen battery and it was pushing the limit on the cpu, I guess we would be ok with this patch...

 

[Girtana1]

Users here often have trouble understanding the RCM exploit or how to properly short pins, nevermind replacing a battery.

because most of them are young children or foreigners who dont understand shit in English

 

[Small Kat]

After reading everyone's opinions, it just boils down to this.

Lakka has a giant OC on both the CPU and GPU which would mean a double OC. Double the heat and battery usage, and over time, damage to the switch.
This type of OC in HOS (Horizon) is a smaller OC 1.9>1.5Ghz and the GPU speed is untouched. This is a big difference in the overall use of the switch.

If you are still worried for this OC patch, don't enable it. Its that simple, just wait for the dynarec.
If you understand the purpose of this patch, then use it and enjoy the benefits until the bounty is claimed.

 

[linuxares]

People... The switch to a overheat protection, it will simply turn off at 67C. Your Switch won't melt, it won't explode the battery, it won't break it...
Lakka doesn't have this protection...

Jesus, it's like most of you never overclocked a PC before. It won't damage the chips, it won't really impact the lifespan of the Switch either, it's marginal at best. This is 2018, not 1997.

Here, he tested to overheat it here:


So in conclution,
Don't run Linux on your Switch, yet...

 

[ShadowOne333]

People... The switch to a overheat protection, it will simply turn off at 67C. Your Switch won't melt, it won't explode the battery, it won't break it...
Lakka doesn't have this protection...

Jesus, it's like most of you never overclocked a PC before. It won't damage the chips, it won't really impact the lifespan of the Switch either, it's marginal at best. This is 2018, not 1997.

Here, he tested to overheat it here:


So in conclution,
Don't run Linux on your Switch, yet...

Awwww but I wanted some fireworks out of the Switch :'(

 

[linuxares]

Awwww but I wanted some fireworks out of the Switch :'(

Then run Lakka in serious overclocks?

 

[m4xw]

Btw the 1.5ghz OC patch seems to be unstable in some games and causes the SoC to reset.
After that it wont boot until it's booted up once without the patch (works fine afterwards)
The 1.2ghz patch doesn't seem to have these Issues.
Both work fine for hb emulation, no problems whatsoever. 1.5ghz works for botw just fine too.
But that means only 1.2ghz should only ever be considered to be used as default for the system if someone wants to play affected titles.
Knowing that I decided to only release it once I finished the hbapi to request it.

Aaaand thats why testing is needed.

 

[the_randomizer]

I agree. Dynarec is one of the first things you should work on when porting an emulator. ARM dynarecs already exist for most systems, they should be portable with little to no effort. There's also optimizations that can be done by using platform specific extensions, which I believe the Tegra SoCs have. And just general optimizations to the code. There's no reason N64 and PSX couldn't run full-speed at stock clock. The OpenPandora managed full-speed PSX at a measly 600mhz, N64 is not so easy and still struggled at 1ghz, but that was a rather old SoC with a weak GPU and it seemed to be more limited by that. Plus it ran a full Linux distro, the Switch OS by comparison is more barebones.

N64's MIPS CPU is an odd beast, well, so is the hardware, not to mention how poorly documented it is, doesn't do any favors. N64 emulation has made a lot of strides lately, but is still one that struggles on a lot of devices. Doesn't help that it's a 64-bit CPU that uses 32-bit data operations, apparently, not to mention, translating MIPS to ARM, yeah, it'll be a while.

Edit: Just found out the PSX CPU is a MIPS R3000A and the N64 is a MIPS R3400i, interesting.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

mmm overclocking the Switch.. yeah great idea with the Australian summer rapidly approaching where the ambient temperatures are usually in the 35-45 degrees Celsius range (95-113 farenheit for the antiquated Americans in the audience)

You guys don't get AC over there?

 

[ScarletDreamz]

Btw the 1.5ghz OC patch seems to be unstable in some games and causes the SoC to reset.
After that it wont boot until it's booted up once without the patch (works fine afterwards)
The 1.2ghz patch doesn't seem to have these Issues.
Both work fine for hb emulation, no problems whatsoever. 1.5ghz works for botw just fine too.
But that means only 1.2ghz should only ever be considered to be used as default for the system if someone wants to play affected titles.
Knowing that I decided to only release it once I finished the hbapi to request it.

Aaaand thats why testing is needed.

Whats the default undocked and docked speed of the CPU?