Raspberry Pi clock speed won't increase

Question

I overclocked the Raspberry Pi to 900 MHz with raspi-config, however, when I use cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq to check the speed, I get 600,000 (600 MHz). This is causing lag for my Raspberry Pi Minecraft server. Is there a way to force the clock speed to increase to at least 800 MHz? Or, what should I do to make the Raspberry Pi increase its speed on it own? (I did restart after I changed the clock speed.)

Answer 1

Overclocking RPi only affects how much arm_freq is used under hight CPU demand. If you want to test your overclock, install sysbench with sudo apt-get install sysbench and then run this command:

• sysbench --num-threads=4 --validate=on --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=10000 run
• While sysbench is running, call cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq and check your CPU freq, you will see your RPi working at maximum speed.

If you are using RaspberryPi2, I recommend this config.txt overclock:

########################################
# GPU MEMORY : Max stable memory alloc #
########################################
gpu_mem=256
gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
gpu_mem_1024=256

########################################
# CPU OVERCLOCK : Max stable overclock #
########################################
arm_freq=1100
core_freq=550
sdram_freq=483
over_voltage=6
over_voltage_sdram=2
temp_limit=60
force_turbo=0
initial_turbo=60

########################################
# HDMI CONFIG : Force HDMI output      #
########################################
hdmi_drive=2
hdmi_ignore_cec=0
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
hdmi_ignore_hotplug=0
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

#disable_overscan=0
#overscan_scale=1

#overscan_left=49
#overscan_right=49
#overscan_top=29
#overscan_bottom=25

########################################
# MISC CONFIG : SPI, USB, Sound        #
########################################
max_usb_current=0
dtparam=audio=on
dtparam=spi=on

If you are using RaspberryPi3, I recommend this config.txt overclock:

force_turbo=1               #Enable cpu-overclock over 1300MHz
avoid_pwm_pll=1             #Enable no-relative freq between cpu and gpu cores

arm_freq=1400               #Frequency of ARM processor core in MHz
core_freq=550               #Frequency of GPU processor core in MHz
over_voltage=6              #ARM/GPU core voltage adjust, values over 6 voids warranty

sdram_freq=600              #Frequency of SDRAM in MHz
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020     #Set SDRAM schmoo to get more than 500MHz freq
over_voltage_sdram_p=6      #SDRAM phy voltage adjust
over_voltage_sdram_i=4      #SDRAM I/O voltage adjust
over_voltage_sdram_c=4      #SDRAM controller voltage adjust

gpu_mem=256                 #GPU memory in MB. Memory split between the ARM and GPU
gpu_freq=550                #Sets core_freq h264_freq isp_freq v3d_freq together
v3d_freq=500                #Frequency of 3D block in MHz
h264_freq=350               #Frequency of hardware video block in MHz

dtparam=sd_overclock=100    #Clock in MHz to use for MMC micrSD
dtparam=audio=on            #Enables the onboard ALSA audio
dtparam=spi=on              #Enables the SPI interfaces

temp_limit=80               #Overheat protection. Disable overclock if SoC reaches this temp
initial_turbo=60            #Enables turbo mode from boot for the given value in seconds

start_x=1                   #Enable software decoding (MPEG-2, VC-1, VP6, VP8, Theora, etc)
overscan_scale=1            #Respect the overscan for HDMI output, avoid black borders on TV

Remeber to use some heatsink or fan to reduce RPi temperature

---

If you want to run a full benchmark to test your RPi overclock/speed, copy and paste this command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aikoncwd/rpi-benchmark/master/rpi-benchmark.sh | sudo bash