• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root What's a safe overclock

If it's not locked, it should be relatively "safe". I'd make sure it doesn't get too hot though.

Obviously the phone is designed to run at a certain speed and running it at higher speeds will shorten the life of the handset.


well the kernal will allow me to go up to 2ghz but I'm at 1.2ghz right now and it plenty fast.
 
Upvote 0
mines stable at 1.9 but it gets kind of hot when multiple browser tabs are open and loading lots of stuff on the 3G radio, for daily use I keep it at 1.5, thats enough for bragging rights, and still usable for tasks without overheating, on my phone at least.

I dont worry about battery life, when a battery gets low, I swap it for a fresh one. I have a few now. their really cheap, ya know. I will say battery life decreases dramatically when your max is 1ghz as opposed to the max being 1.6, but my cpu spends more time at max becuase of how I use it, so thats my experience.

if you only have one battery during the course of a day, 1GHz is plenty fast.
 
Upvote 0
Upvote 0
Just an FYI, there is no speed you can overclock at that is completely safe. There is always a chance of messing up your phone. You can probably OC to 1.4ish and be fine, but that is not guaranteed. I had mine OC'ed (1.2 ghz and 1.4 ghz) for a bit (theOC kernel for CM7) and didnt really have any issues, but I really don't notice any difference compared to keeping it at 1ghz. Unless there is a specific reason that you feel you need to OC, it probably is just taking an unnecessary chance of ruining your phone.
 
Upvote 0
what kernal are you using for a stable 2 ghz? Also does anyone know which governor is the best I don't know the difference in them.

I'm running speed demon 5.0 right now. Most kernels would do 2Ghz for me but I bumped into a few, even different builds from the same developer, that would make my phone quirky at that frequency.
Basically over volting your cpu is always a risk. No matter what you always have silicon migration when you have electricity moving through a circuit. Raising the voltage increases the rate of degradation and raises the thermal output both of which will, no matter what, shorten the life span of the CPU. There's just no way of telling by how much.
I say if it runs stable and cool you're probably fine. You will be shortening the life span and if I were worried about keeping the same phone for 5+ years I would be concerned but I'm not.
Heat's what will kill it quickly. You also have to worry about applying too much voltage but if you're just using the stock voltage table and not over volting beyond whats default in the kernels that shouldn't be a problem.
It's very similar to overclocking a PC in most regards. Be reasonable with the voltage, keep the temps at a safe level, then just start increasing the frequency until it either becomes unstable or the temps get too high then back it down a little below that threshold for some wiggle room.
It's no worse to oc to 2Ghz than 1.6Ghz if you're using the same voltage. You just have to check you tables and use incredi control to set the voltage as low as you can while keeping it stable.
I also use the smartassV2 generally because it seems more responsive while giving me ok battery life. I tried savagedzen and interactivex for a while, but they felt too sluggish and ondemand works ok but it draws more battery.
[EDIT]
I forgot to mention that this is my second triumph because my first one started to develop a bad connection on the USB port. My first one would OC to 2Ghz fine also and it would actually let me undervolt more than my current triumph does. You just have to remember than not all CPU's are created equal and it's mostly a matter of luck what your max stable OC is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TriumphLance
Upvote 0
Well I would say up to 1.4 GHZ is pretty much as safe as your going to get. If you take a look at the official qualcomm s2 snapdragon spec sheet from their website (the link is just to s2 spec sheet which is pdf.) you'll notice that it says
CPU Single-core Scorpion CPU up to 1.4GHz
I think this should shed some light. This means that it should run absolutely stably with no problems or issues upto 1.4GHZ after that its your call.

EDIT: Oh and by the way if you don't know we have a qualcomm s2 msm8655 snapdragon SoC. Just so you know :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: TriumphLance
Upvote 0
Well I would say up to 1.4 GHZ is pretty much as safe as your going to get. If you take a look at the official qualcomm s2 snapdragon spec sheet from their website (the link is just to s2 spec sheet which is pdf.) you'll notice that it says I think this should shed some light. This means that it should run absolutely stably with no problems or issues upto 1.4GHZ after that its your call.

EDIT: Oh and by the way if you don't know we have a qualcomm s2 msm8655 snapdragon SoC. Just so you know :D

I would say you are mostly correct, but if the phone was completely stable/safe at 1.4 they would market it at that. There is a reason it is sold at 1ghz.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TriumphLance
Upvote 0
I would say you are mostly correct, but if the phone was completely stable/safe at 1.4 they would market it at that. There is a reason it is sold at 1ghz.

Yarr!

Yeah, processors are designed to run at certain speeds and running at even a slight increase for any sustained period of time, can have severe effects on the shelf life of the CPU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TriumphLance
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones