Raspberry Pi Gets a Turbo Mode to Take it To 1GHz

Raspberry Pi has captured the minds of developers around the world. Despite the fact that it was designed for teaching kids the basics of computer science, the tiny $35 computer has found its way into the hearts of grown-up devs. Today brings good news to those who've spent their time overclocking and overvolting Raspberry Pi, warranty be damned.

"We've been doing a lot of work to understand the impact of voltage and temperature on lifetime, and are now able to offer a 'turbo mode,' which dynamically enables overclock and overvolt under the control of a cpufreq driver, without affecting your warranty," Eben writes. "We are happy that the combination of only applying turbo when busy, and limiting turbo when the BCM2835′s internal temperature reaches 85°C, means there will be no measurable reduction in the lifetime of your Raspberry Pi."

According to Eben, the author of the post on the Raspberry Pi Foundation's blog, comparing the new image with 1GHz turbo enabled, against the previous image at 700MHz, nbench reports 52 percent faster on integer, 64 percent faster on floating point and 55 percent faster on memory. Eben writes that there are five overclock presets in raspi-config, with the highest running the ARM at 1GHz. However, the level of stable overclock you'll be able to achieve will depend on your own Raspberry Pi and the PSU you're using. To that end, the Foundation recommends using Quake 3 as a stress test to check stability.

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Jane McEntegart
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.

  • amuffin
    Well, I'm buying one now....
    Reply
  • neiroatopelcc
    Great news though mine hasn't arrived yet
    Reply
  • spasmolytic46
    So why is a Microsoft surface gonna cost like $600?
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    What do raspberry pi and Kickstarter have in common?

    They're two things I can't wait for people on tech sites to stop bringing up on a near-daily basis.
    Reply
  • memadmax
    Quake 3 as a stress test huh =O
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    These things have a warranty??
    Reply
  • bucknutty
    My order keeps getting cancled. They took my money then refunded it 3 times in the past 6 months.
    Reply
  • idroid
    the Foundation recommends using Quake 3 as a stress test to check stability.

    BS, use minesweeper
    Reply
  • razor512
    too bad it only has 256MB RAM (makes browsing the web and doing other basic functions quite difficult)

    I ended up selling mine and will wait for a devide with at elast 1GB of memory.
    Reply
  • Ohmybad
    the PI isnt made to be an internet browser, it in fact can... but it's a learning tool for basic programming and other linux based applications. they're a lot of fun to play with and learn with!

    for it being a customized cellphone platform of sorts (S.o.C +size +price)

    cool beans
    Reply