Mele overclockers wanted!

Lets see how fast this thing will go!

Clock speed is controlled by the script.bin file. It is close to the top under the [target] header. The variable to set is boot_clock. The stated speed for my tablet was 1.2GHz , but boot_clock is set at 1008. Does the clock change after boot?

According to posts on the 'net the max speed of the A10 is 1.5GHz. It requires a heatsink to achieve that speed, supposedly. Will it go faster with a fan/heatsink combo? What about liquid cooling?

We need a fast armv7 vfp build platform. So get overclocking!

I might be able to shed a little light on this for you. SoC chips are stated at x speed but in actuality they are clocked 200Mhz below that. It goes across the board vendor/producer and stated clock speed. Talking to a vl guy it mostly has to do with the prefab centers. Quality control isnt always the greatest and when running at the "stated" clock speed some lockup and have issues. I have heard of geting to true 1.2Ghz without any heatsinks or anything anything past that it just locks, no idea though if anyone has tried heatsinks or anything though.

My Mele A2000 works up to 1.2 GHZ clock in Android ICS without issues. With higher clock, it crashes in benchmarks

Quote

With higher clock, it crashes in benchmarks

:(
Have you tried any additional cooling?

It seems like I saw somewhere someone had added a heatsink to the SoC and got it stable to 1.5 GHz.

Also I think in the script.bin there may be voltage adjustments which may help. But I can't recall for certain.

Not yet.

Quote

d1dd1 Wrote:

My Mele A2000 works up to 1.2 GHZ clock in Android ICS without issues. With higher clock, it crashes in benchmarks

Care to share how you accomplished that? I'm playing with an MK802 and wish to accomplish something similar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2012 09:12PM by Tatanko.

Quote

Care to share how you accomplished that?

You edit the script.bin file with the new clock rate. It is usually right at the top of the fex file after the bin is decompiled.

Quote

You edit the script.bin file with the new clock rate. It is usually right at the top of the fex file after the bin is decompiled.

Really? That's it? Seems too simple. Nobody has managed to successfully overclock on a MK802 yet, but I'm not sure if anybody has really tried. I'm relatively new to Android and Java, so everything seems more challenging to me than what I'm used to, but this almost seems too easy. I guess I'll give it a try tomorrow or tonight after work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2012 09:21PM by Tatanko.

@Tatanko,
Be advised that the MK802 has a simpler voltage regulator than the standard A10 configuration (which usually includes a more sophisticated AXP209 power controller). As such, as far as I know there is no way to vary the voltage supplied to the A10 CPU, and also the cpufreq driver in the Linux kernel (amery v2 branch) must be disabled. The result is that your A10 will be working at a fixed frequency determined at boot time by the setting in the script.bin file, and at a fixed voltage determined at the factory as the minimum voltage to make the CPU run stable at 1GHz.
Under these conditions I doubt there is much margin to overclock the A10, but a 20% clock increase might be feasible i.e. a stable1.2GHz setting. Above that I don't believe a stable operation can be achieved.
All this is apart from any heat buildup considerations, the case of the MK802 has very little ventilation and there is no heatsink on top of the CPU.

Quote

Nobody has managed to successfully overclock on a MK802 yet

I really doubt that. . . It looks like they are doing it here, for example . . . that was just the first Google hit.

But the MK802 has very poor cooling. Unless you remove the casing you may have a hard time overclocking it. There is a reason why most A10's are clocked at 1GHz. . . Just drop it in a vat of liquid nitrogen first. Then it should really overclock!

Edit: Andrew just slipped in his very informative post above mine. The VR stuff on the MK802 is good to know. I should also point out that in the forum I linked to above, although I just glanced at it, even though they were able to overclock it the gain was little to none in performance. Since the MK802 is very enclosed I don't think the gain is worth the possible consequences.

There is a reason why this thread was titled Mele overclockers. . . I don't think it is appropriate to try on tablets or MK802's.

Edit: removed bold highlights.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2012 02:00PM by gnexus.

@Andrew:

Thanks for the extremely helpful post! More importantly, thank you for not simply discouraging it and instead giving me the information I need to make an informed decision on my own. It's unfortunate that the MK802 doesn't have a better voltage regulator, but I'll make due... or maybe I'll find a way to remedy that situation, but likely not, doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort. I hadn't mentioned it yet, but I am actually adding heat sinks to my MK802. I'll be modifying the case so that they have room to stick out the back side, and there will likely be one small sink per major component (CPU, memory, etc.). This has already been done on a Russian forum with relatively good success at the factory clock speed (they abused it pretty badly and still managed to keep the unit cool).


@gnexus:

The link you provided is the forum I spend most of my time on. From what I am reading there, that wasn't actually a successful overclock. At least, I don't see any proof of that. They were messing around with overclocking apps, but I've already done that with absolutely no result. The apps have a 1504 MHz setting on them, but the actual device will not go beyond the factory 912 MHz clock speed no matter what you set it at. Also, see above about my heat sink plans.

Either way, please try to be a little less hostile. I understand that I sort of threw myself into the discussion here, but I very much enjoy my MK802 and it's great to be able to trade information with others on any A10 forum. No one forum can accomplish everything by itself, so why not be friendly and help each other out?

Quote

Either way, please try to be a little less hostile.

I'm very sorry if it sounded it sounded discouraging or hostile to you. I certainly did not intend for it to be. If you are willing to try it, and know the possible consequences, I'm all for it and really hope you succeed. It will help us all to find the limits of these devices. That is why I started this thread. But I don't want people to hold me or anybody else here responsible for burning up their SoC.

@Tatanko
You are welcome! If you manage to overclock the MK802 please post your results, even a 10% performance gain is worth it!

@everybody
If you guys are looking for an easy to hack and inexpensive A10 platform, please take a look at this:
http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/07/27/smallart-u-host-hackable-mini-pc-unboxing-and-review/
The real advantage over the Mele 1000/2000 is the 1GB DDR3 RAM.
Also this one has a proper AXP209 power controller, unlike the MK802. And the case seems easy to open, so it should be possible to just glue a small heatsink on top the A10 CPU.

@gnexus
I agree with you about avoiding overclocking tablets and the MK802. There isn't much thermal margin in these devices, and they are not "hacker friendly". The Mele 1000/2000, on the other hand, are easy to open and there is plenty of space and ventilation.

@gnexus:

No worries. I fully understand what I'm getting myself into, but it's exactly why I bought the device in the first place. I wanted something to tinker with. If I break it, no big deal, it was only $70 ;)


@Andrew:

It looks like I shouldn't have too much of a problem going to 1.0, 1.1, or 1.2 GHz (the MK802 is clocked at 912 MHz by default). 1008 MHz should be easy since that's what some "knock-off" MK802's were originally clocked at (hard to call it a knock-off, but I didn't really know a better term for it), and my eventual goal is a safe and reliable 1.2 GHz. That's about a 33% bump in processing power, and that would certainly come in handy while playing games or something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2012 09:54PM by Tatanko.

@Tatanko
Yes, 1.2GHz may be possible on the MK802, with a little luck. If you take a look at the kernel source code, and check the cpufreq files, you'll notice that from 1.008GHz up to 1.2GHz the clock dividers are the same, so there is no need to worry about that. On the other hand the recommended CPU voltage up to 1.008 GHz is 1.4V, anything faster requires 1.5V. I suggest you check with a voltmeter the (fixed) voltage supplied to the CPU on the MK802. If it is anywhere around 1.4V you'll need some luck to overclock to 1.2GHz. If it is around 1.5V then you just need a good heatsink! ;)
Just a note: you can set the frequencies by increasing by 48MHz steps, so 1008, 1056, 1104, 1152, 1200 MHz are possible steps. As usual: check the source code!

@Andrew

Thanks for the tips! It's a shame the voltage is fixed. Is there anything I can do about that? If there is I'm guessing it's not worth the trouble haha. If I can't do anything about the voltage, than can I even overclock past 1008 MHz? Or am I just stuck? At the very least I'll try and get it to that point. A small increase is better than no increase.

Hi Tatanko,

Tatanko Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @Andrew
>
> Thanks for the tips! It's a shame the voltage is
> fixed. Is there anything I can do about that?

If you are going to open the MK802 case and have some knowledge in electronics, I would appreciate it if you would sketch a rough schematic of the voltage regulator. Then we could see if there is a way to change the default voltage by simply changing the value of a resistor.

> If
> there is I'm guessing it's not worth the trouble
> haha. If I can't do anything about the voltage,
> than can I even overclock past 1008 MHz? Or am I
> just stuck?

It really depends very much on the chip design and there is also a variance between batches. Usually the manufacturer specifies a minimum voltage that will *guarantee* stable operation at a certain frequency, so there is usually a margin for overclocking. I have no idea (and I doubt anybody knows much at this point in time) how much these A10 CPUs can overclock and at what voltages. It all takes a lot of testing to get some empirical data. Be warned that usually a couple of chips get burned on the way to knowledge... hehe! ;)

> At the very least I'll try and get it
> to that point. A small increase is better than no
> increase.

Yes, that's what I would recommend: small steps and always checking for stability and safe temperatures. Good luck!

Thanks for all the info! A few newbie questions:

(1) Does the voltage regulator on smallart-uhost android stick you mentioned make it possible to push a higher clock speed (with a big heat sink)?

(2) What would it take to experiment with *undervolting* the A10 --- in conjunction with and indep of overclocking --- do I have to manually edit and recompile the kernel everytime I make a change? And is there a difference between doing this for android vs linux?
For nook color running CM there is an open-source app ("nook tweak") for adjusting the voltage for each clock speed. What would it take to port that (or something similar) to the uhost stick?

I'm just starting to learn about kernels so apologies about my dumb questions, and thanks in advance for your patient and info!

Hi sao,

sao Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for all the info! A few newbie
> questions:
>
> (1) Does the voltage regulator on smallart-uhost
> android stick you mentioned make it possible to
> push a higher clock speed (with a big heat sink)?

The AXP209 is usually called a "power controller" because it is a highly flexible device. The datasheet is here: http://www.x-powers.com/download/AXP209%20Datasheet%20v1.0_cn.pdf
>
> (2) What would it take to experiment with
> *undervolting* the A10 --- in conjunction with and
> indep of overclocking --- do I have to manually
> edit and recompile the kernel everytime I make a
> change? And is there a difference between doing
> this for android vs linux?

All you need is access to the AXP209 registers. Since there is a kernel driver for it, I would think that if you write a program (in Perl, C, whatever) that interfaces with /sys/...(path to AXP209) you can change the appropriate values in the appropriate registers, as described in the datasheet.

> For nook color running CM there is an open-source
> app ("nook tweak") for adjusting the voltage for
> each clock speed. What would it take to port
> that (or something similar) to the uhost stick?

Where is the source code? I can check if you point me to it.
>
> I'm just starting to learn about kernels so
> apologies about my dumb questions, and thanks in
> advance for your patient and info!

These are rather good questions, actually. :)

Andrew Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > (2) What would it take to experiment with
> > *undervolting* the A10 --- in conjunction with and
> > indep of overclocking --- do I have to manually
> > edit and recompile the kernel everytime I make a
> > change? And is there a difference between
> > doing this for android vs linux?
>
> All you need is access to the AXP209 registers.
> Since there is a kernel driver for it, I would
> think that if you write a program (in Perl, C,
> whatever) that interfaces with /sys/...(path to
> AXP209) you can change the appropriate values in
> the appropriate registers, as described in the
> datasheet.

Google turns up the following documents:

http://openmindedbrain.info/09/05/2010/undervolting-in-ubuntu-10-04-lucid-lts/ (note: this comes from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786402 and seems to suggest that different version of ubuntu require different undervolt/oc methods)

http://androidforums.com/droid-x-all-things-root/201920-droid-x-2-2-overclock-kernel-module-w-instructions.html (see e.g. post #15 for undervolt instruction)

Both of these seem to require a custom kernel. Would the same be true for the A10?

> > For nook color running CM there is an open-source
> > app ("nook tweak") for adjusting the voltage for
> > each clock speed. What would it take to port
> > that (or something similar) to the uhost stick?
>
> Where is the source code? I can check if you point me to it.

I was wrong -- the app is free but the source code does not seem to be available. I did find the source code for

https://code.google.com/p/milestone-overclock/

which is supposed to be the foundation of the (free) undervolt app http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=898036

> > I'm just starting to learn about kernels so
> > apologies about my dumb questions, and thanks in
> > advance for your patient and info!
>
> These are rather good questions, actually. :)

THANKS!

OK, I managed to overclock my MK802. What follows is an outline of the steps to overclock the MK802 and probably all other A10 devices, under Linux or Android:

First, the required warning:

WARNING! OVERCLOCKING YOUR A10 DEVICE CAN POTENTIALLY CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE AND KILL THE CAT TOO!!!

There, you have been warned!

Also note that the MK802 has a simple voltage regulator that supplies it with a fixed voltage (I believe, something around 1.400V), and using any USB devices powered by the MK802 will severely overload the device and cause heat buildup. So, if you are using your MK802 with extra USB devices, MAKE SURE YOU USE A POWERED USB HUB.

Next thing is: you'll have to recompile the kernel. If you don't have some experience with kernel compilation, just wait until someone recompiles the kernel with the overclocking features that you need/want. There is a rather steep learning curve to kernel compilation, specially with the A10 and other SoCs, and it can be rather frustrating.

Let's go on:


Step 1:

Edit the following files in linux-allwinner/arch/arm/mach-sun4i/cpu-freq;

cpu-freq.c : {.freq = 1056000000, .volt = 1500} ....> change to {.freq = 1056000000, .volt = 1400}

cpu-freq.h : #define SUN4I_CPUFREQ_MAX (1008000000) ......> change to #define SUN4I_CPUFREQ_MAX (1056000000)


Step 2:

Change the kernel configuration so that the CPUFREQ options are as follows:


#
# CPU Power Management
#

#
# CPU Frequency scaling
#
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT_DETAILS is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_INTERACTIVE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_FANTASY is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_SMARTASS2 is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_INTERACTIVE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_FANTASY=m
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_SMARTASS2 is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_USR_EVNT_NOTIFY=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DVFS is not set
CONFIG_CPU_IDLE=y
CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_LADDER=y
CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_MENU=y


Step 3:

Recompile the kernel and install kernel and modules, reboot.

cat /proc/cpuinfo:

# cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 1049.59
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x3
CPU part : 0xc08
CPU revision : 2

Hardware : sun4i
Revision : 0000
Serial : 0000000000000000


Step 4:

Enjoy your MK802 overclocked by 48MHz!


Conclusion:

The steps above can be tested for frequencies above 1.056GHz, always in steps of 48MHz. At 1.056 GHz my stock 1GB MK802 is perfectly stable and I can't say that it's running any hotter than usual, so it will stay like that for the moment.

Note: Apparently editing script.bin or evb.bin has no effect on the A10 devices because the operating frequency is hard-coded in the kernel, but I also edited them, just in case. The steps to edit script.bin and evb.bin are described elsewhere in this forum.

Hello,
i want my MK802 to run at maximal 1.5Ghz as i thought it would be when i bought it.
Is it possible? With attached heatsinks ?
Thanks for response

@Andrew

Sorry for taking forever to comment, but thanks for your post! I appreciate the work you've done to at least prove that this is feasible. A couple questions for you:

1. Did you modify your hardware at all? In other words did you add heat sinks, do anything to the case, etc.

2. Which firmware are you running?

3. Could I talk you into compiling a kernel? :D I would even be willing to use whatever it is you're already using without making any changes just for experimental purposes.


@lutzaha

1.5 GHz probably will not be happening for you. If you read the posts above yours discussing the MK802, it has a fixed voltage which limits what you can do safely with clock speed. I won't go into further detail because @Andrew's post does a much better job of describing it than I ever could. The reason you likely believed your device should be 1.5 GHz from the factory is due to confusion with the packaging. When it states that speed, it is the combined processing power of both the CPU and GPU, not the CPU by itself.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2012 07:54PM by Tatanko.

@Tatanko

1) No changes to the hardware, this is my 1GB MK802 as I received it.
2) I tested my oc kernel with Toby Corkindale's armhf Linaro 12.06 firmware on an 8GB microSD card.
3) I just have to find a place to upload my kernel to, and everybody can have a go at it. :)
Any suggestions?

Who in the right state of mind would sum clocks of CPU and GPU and present it as CPU speed ?
Also here:
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2399149/all
the guy writes that "overclock to 1.5ghz!" is tested and ok.

lutzaha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who in the right state of mind would sum clocks of
> CPU and GPU and present it as CPU speed ?
> Also here:
> http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2399149/all
> the guy writes that "overclock to 1.5ghz!" is
> tested and ok.

Sure... proves once again that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet!