Hacking Question How safe is overclocking the Nintendo Switch?

[Chocola]

Placebo and/or other factors.
Nintendo doesn’t adjust clocks based on temps, it’ll always run at whatever the devs set it to until it reaches overheating ranges, where it’ll force sleep/shut off.

Yes, im not good on English, that part its just one of my things, but didn't know if its because this.

Then should be other factors, because my Switch still loading more fast, 2s aprox on the first load (tested now again opening the game at same time) and are the same revision (v1 Erista).

 

[MrSandstorm]

What about the Switch Lite? Does anyone know anything about the power delivery on those boards?

From the iFixit teardown it uses the MAX77620HEWJ pmic, but there doesn't seem to be any datasheet available for the MAX77620 series. Closest thing I could find was an Nvidia datasheet for a Jetson TX1 module that uses the same SoC and a MAX77620 pmic. That one mentions a "total module power" between 6.5 and 15W, but that number may be very different on the Lite.

I'd expect it should be able to handle at least something like 10W, maybe 15W since Nintendo went through the trouble of giving it active cooling, but that's just guessing.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

What about the Switch Lite? Does anyone know anything about the power delivery on those boards?

From the iFixit teardown it uses the MAX77620HEWJ pmic, but there doesn't seem to be any datasheet available for the MAX77620 series. Closest thing I could find was an Nvidia datasheet for a Jetson TX1 module that uses the same SoC and a MAX77620 pmic. That one mentions a "total module power" between 6.5 and 15W, but that number may be very different on the Lite.

I'd expect it should be able to handle at least something like 10W, maybe 15W since Nintendo went through the trouble of giving it active cooling, but that's just guessing.

Switchbrew says marikos (both Lite and normal) use “MAX77812“
https://switchbrew.org/wiki/Hardware

Nintendo allows the system to pull 18W from a charger, you probably don’t want to go much past that, though you’d probably have a pretty hard time doing so on Mariko anyway.

 

[MrSandstorm]

Switchbrew says marikos (both Lite and normal) use “MAX77812“
https://switchbrew.org/wiki/Hardware

Nintendo allows the system to pull 18W from a charger, you probably don’t want to go much past that, though you’d probably have a pretty hard time doing so on Mariko anyway.

That answers it perfectly. The MAX77812 has a datasheet available and according to that it has four 5A phases. I don't know at which voltage the Mariko chip runs at, but 20A should be enough to handle it, assuming Nintendo didn't undersize caps or something like that.

As a safety measure of sorts, I run my Lite out of a 10W charger, so if the battery starts to drain with that connected, I dial back the clocks. A bit of an exaggeration, maybe, but gives me peace of mind, and so far I've been able to run 768MHz GPU, 1600MHz RAM and at least 1224MHz CPU on everything I tested without issues.

 

[bonoboy]

1.7 ghz for emulation only for 2 years ago (N64, NDS, N3DS and PSP)

 

[RRuler]

I am still unsure as to what would be considered absolutely safe in regards to the power drawn. As I am scared to really impact the life span of my Switch due to damaging the board because of too much power drawn, as was mentioned here quite a few times.

I am currently playing Nocturne HD Remaster, which has big fps drop issues. I am playing in Handheld, cause it is generally a lot better there and tried to OC a little bit to see if it gets better, and it does.

Right now I am running 460MHz GPU and 1224MHz CPU in Handheld (Without a charger). Will this be perfectly safe? I've read somewhere that I shouldnt go above 460MHz in Handheld, so I did not.

In Handheld (When charging) I am running 1224MHz CPU and 768MHz GPU, will this also be perfectly safe? From what I understood it is fine to go a lot higher when a charger is connected, right?

I just want to make sure I am not being stupid here and doing anything harmful to my Switch.

 

[Jayro]

The chip was underclocked to begin with, and even at max "overclock" speeds, the chip still doesn't reach it's regular X1 baseclock. So it should more accurately be called "Stock-clocking" the Switch.

 

[linuxares]

I am still unsure as to what would be considered absolutely safe in regards to the power drawn. As I am scared to really impact the life span of my Switch due to damaging the board because of too much power drawn, as was mentioned here quite a few times.

I am currently playing Nocturne HD Remaster, which has big fps drop issues. I am playing in Handheld, cause it is generally a lot better there and tried to OC a little bit to see if it gets better, and it does.

Right now I am running 460MHz GPU and 1224MHz CPU in Handheld (Without a charger). Will this be perfectly safe? I've read somewhere that I shouldnt go above 460MHz in Handheld, so I did not.

In Handheld (When charging) I am running 1224MHz CPU and 768MHz GPU, will this also be perfectly safe? From what I understood it is fine to go a lot higher when a charger is connected, right?

I just want to make sure I am not being stupid here and doing anything harmful to my Switch.

I managed to overheat my Switch. I applied a OC patch to Bravely Default 2, plus put EVERYTHING at max. Using it docked. All it did was to sound like a vaccumcleaner, and when it overheated it just said "It's overheating!" and turned off. Nothing dangerous about it.
So if you over do it, just lower your clocks.


EDIT: The best way to get better clocks. CHANGE THE THERMAL PASTE! The white cream from Nintendo is shit.

 

[RRuler]

Could I even easily go any higher somewhere? For example it would help a lot if I overclock the CPU a little higher, will 1581MHz still be safe when charging? Can you even set this for non-charging handheld?

Is 460MHz really the safe-space limit for handheld? So many questions, sorry

BTW I am not worried about the temperature, bout about the power that flows through the board when overclocking. This got mentioned here a lot and it makes sense to me, thats what worries me a lot.


Edit: 768MHz GPU and 1581MHz CPU seems to be the sweet spot here btw. From what I read it shouldnt be much higher than the clocks in docked mode, so it should be fine right? Just not sure if its also fine to set this clocks when not charging

 

[Ninn]

I managed to overheat my Switch. I applied a OC patch to Bravely Default 2, plus put EVERYTHING at max. Using it docked. All it did was to sound like a vaccumcleaner, and when it overheated it just said "It's overheating!" and turned off. Nothing dangerous about it.
So if you over do it, just lower your clocks.


EDIT: The best way to get better clocks. CHANGE THE THERMAL PASTE! The white cream from Nintendo is shit.

So, it didnt overheat after you change thermal paste while playing Bravely Default 2 at max?

 

[Xilith]

i think it's worse than overclocking a laptop, especially in summer it can be a bad idea xD

 

[linuxares]

So, it didnt overheat after you change thermal paste while playing Bravely Default 2 at max?

oh it did. But it took like an hour on it to reach 85c. I were watching it. It was mostly in cities it got superwarm. I know I were pushing it, it was my whole point to see if I could run MAX on everything.

 

[Ninn]

Yeah, ill change the thermal paste in both my switches in the not too distant future.

Too lazy to do it now.

 

[linuxares]

Yeah, ill change the thermal paste in both my switches in the not too distant future.

Too lazy to do it now.

hehe perfectly fine. I used MX4. I also put on the copper pipe.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

The chip was underclocked to begin with, and even at max "overclock" speeds, the chip still doesn't reach it's regular X1 baseclock. So it should more accurately be called "Stock-clocking" the Switch.

Not how it works here. The board was only designed to handle around 18W, if you go past that, which can happen at max clocks, you risk causing damage. It was designed for what N runs it at.

 

[Anxiety_timmy]

Could I even easily go any higher somewhere? For example it would help a lot if I overclock the CPU a little higher, will 1581MHz still be safe when charging? Can you even set this for non-charging handheld?

Is 460MHz really the safe-space limit for handheld? So many questions, sorry

BTW I am not worried about the temperature, bout about the power that flows through the board when overclocking. This got mentioned here a lot and it makes sense to me, thats what worries me a lot.


Edit: 768MHz GPU and 1581MHz CPU seems to be the sweet spot here btw. From what I read it shouldnt be much higher than the clocks in docked mode, so it should be fine right? Just not sure if its also fine to set this clocks when not charging

460 should be fine, as nintendo uses it. depending on the charger it would be fine.

 

[MrSandstorm]

It's exactly what Zachy said. The Tegra SoC is not the only component involved with running the system. The concern here is also regarding the circuitry that delivers power to it.

There's a reason why the voltage regulators on a PC motherboard meant for overclocking have heatsinks and sometimes fans on them. Their equivalents on the Switch, however, don't have any kind of cooling, and passives like capacitors and inductors are not known to handle heat particularly well.

Heat damage on electronics is not usually something that happens quickly, but over time. Your system could seem to be running fine, but start crashing after a few years, potentially leading you to think it's the fault of homebrew, and this is not the only issue. There are manufacturing tolerances on everything, and if you're unlucky enough to get a component that barely meets spec and run too much current through it, for example, it could fail regardless of temperature.

 

[RRuler]

Not how it works here. The board was only designed to handle around 18W, if you go past that, which can happen at max clocks, you risk causing damage. It was designed for what N runs it at.

So how do I know how much Wattage is being used at what clock? Will 1581MHz CPU & 768MHz GPU be causing too much wattage to be drained?
Why is there even a difference between handheld with and without charger?

Sorry for asking so much here, I'm just desperate for information on this topic and I cant find that much online.

 

[themosteve]

yolo mode 2 years cpu 1785mhz gpu 921mhz ram 1600mhz for game with 60 fps mod
and for resolution mod with reverseNX use 1020mhz 768mhz 1600mhz

never get force shutdown or crash
max temperature 65-70 with yolo mode
90% play handheld with power bank PD xiaomi pro 3 20000 mah and ravpower PD pb95 20000 mah

Monster Hunter rise 60fps FTW

 

[ZachyCatGames]

So how do I know how much Wattage is being used at what clock? Will 1581MHz CPU & 768MHz GPU be causing too much wattage to be drained?
Why is there even a difference between handheld with and without charger?

Sorry for asking so much here, I'm just desperate for information on this topic and I cant find that much online.

Dunno. If the battery isn't draining like crazy with an official charger it's "probably" fine.