The document discusses starting an overclocking community for mobile devices by establishing the pillars of an overclocking ecosystem. It notes that overclocking on desktop PCs is driven by dedicated benchmarks, competitions, hardware designed for overclocking, and unlocked BIOS/tools, while mobile overclocking lacks structure and industry support. The author proposes that Hackerspace Taipei help kick off a mobile overclocking ecosystem by preparing the HWBOT Prime benchmark for Android, developing unlocked kernels for devices like Raspberry Pi and Odroid to enable overclocking, and building custom ROMs that integrate overclocking tools. Challenges are outlined for each of these projects.

1. WE NEED TO START
OVERCLOCKING MOBILE!
FOR HACKERSPACE TAIPEI
DATE: DECEMBER 10, 2013
BY PIETER (HWBOT.ORG)

2. LET’S TALK OVERCLOCKING
•
•
•
•
•
Overclocking
Undervolt
Performance
Tuning
Underclocking
Overvolt
Saving $$
Free additional performance
Free power saving
Two axes: frequency and voltage
Temperature and power consumption trade-off

3. COMMUNITY (“YOU’RE NOT ALONE”)
• Hundreds of communities worldwide
• Estimate ~ 10,000 overclockers worldwide
• Varying from stock cooling to liquid helium
Haswell Cooling @ HWBOT
Air
18%
Cascade
3%
Water
43%
Dry Ice
3%
LN2
19%
Stock
8%
Phase Change
6%

4. IT’S GOOD FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
TOO
RMA of Desktop Motherboards
(source: hardware.fr)
3.50%
3.00%
2.98%
2.50%
2.54%
2.49%
2.00%
2.21%
1.95%
1.50%
1.85%
2.01%
2.03%
1.80%
1.00%
0.50%
Oct-09
Dec-09
Feb-10
Apr-10
Jun-10
Aug-10
Oct-10
Dec-10
Feb-11
Apr-11
Jun-11
Aug-11
Oct-11
Dec-11
Feb-12
Apr-12
Jun-12
Aug-12
Oct-12
Dec-12
Feb-13
Apr-13
Jun-13
Aug-13
Oct-13
0.00%

5. COMPETITION DRIVES INNOVATION
• Ten years ago, industry disliked overclocking. Now we have dedicated
products!
1998
2003
2008
2013

6. SO OVERCLOCKING IS GOOD!
• It’s fun, entertainment
• Getting the more for the same value
• Improve hardware design
• Driving technology through competitive spirit
• Community feeling

7. DESKTOP 10 YEARS AGO: ENTHUSIASTS!!!
Turbo PLL
(overclock FSB higher than bios allows)
Voltage modification
(overvolt higher than bios allows)

8. MOBILE IS LAGGING TEN YEARS BEHIND
• Is it overclockable? Sure.
• What’s the record? No idea.
• Lack of structure, dedicated
community, competition
• Information is out there (“PLL4
overclock”), but hard to find
and hard to do

9. FOUR PILLARS OF THE OVERCLOCKING
ECO-SYSTEM
PLATFORM
BENCHMARK
HARDWARE
TOOLS

10. FOUR PILLARS OF THE OVERCLOCKING
ECO-SYSTEM – APPLIED TO DESKTOP
PLATFORM
BENCHMARK
HARDWARE
TOOLS
•
•
•
•
• Plenty available
• Good security
• Very competitive
• Designed
specifically for
OC
• In-house
overclockers
(RD)
• BIOS fully
unlocked
• Special software
• Extreme OC
bioses
Desktop PC
Windows OS
(rarely Linux)
Driven by
gaming
Overclocking on desktop has a fully functional eco-system, where users have options provided
by the industry and can push hardware to its limits

11. FOUR PILLARS OF THE OVERCLOCKING
ECO-SYSTEM – APPLIED TO MOBILE
PLATFORM
BENCHMARK
HARDWARE
TOOLS
• Mobile devices
• Android
• Linux
• Plenty available
• Lots of security
issues
• Under scrutiny
nowadays (ask
mobilegeeks!)
• Designed only for
specific purpose (no
oc)
• No attention for
performance tuning
(eg: OS update
schedule nonGoogle)
• Kernel: only built by
enthusiasts
• Roms: only built by
enthusiasts
• Software: only built
by enthusiasts
Overclocking mobile devices (and derivatives) is only driven by enthusiasts. Lack of competitive
spirit to drive the industry to build better hardware and provide OC tools.

12. KICK OFF THE ECO-SYSTEM
Benchmark +
Competition
Overclockable
devices
Kernel / rom
devs want
“fastest”

13. HOW HACKERSPACE CAN HELP
BENCHMARK: HWBOT Prime
• Prepare for Android platform
• Open source (everyone can check the code)
• Secure submission to competitive ranking
TOOL: Kernel unlocking
• Raspberry Pi or Odroid
• Develop open / unlocked kernel for overclocking
TOOL: Rom for overclocking
• Rasperry Pi or Odroid
• Build OS for overclocking

14. HWBOT PRIME CHALLENGES
• Java-based benchmark
• Github: https://github.com/frederikcolardyn/benchbot/
• Challenges
•
•
•
•
Improve compatibility with Android platform
Use HWBOT API to send scores online
Hardware detection
(match to HWBOT database)

15. Desktop version
Mobile version

16. KERNEL CHALLENGES
• Choose specific device, project is “Full Unlock”
• Raspberry Pi, Odroid
• Challenges
•
•
•
•
Improve DVFS tables
Study available datasheets
Unlock “PLL overclocking”
Unlock GPU overclocking

17. ROM CHALLENGES
• Choose specific device, project is “Full Unlock”
• Raspberry Pi, Odroid
• Challenges
• Compatibility with kernel
• Build OC tool (eg: with slider)
• Optimize file system for benchmark