Raspberry Pi 5 cannot overclock beyond 3.0GHz due to firmware limit(?)

[youmukonpaku1337]

Is this the right place for my bug report?
This issue seems to be firmware-related, as the clocking is done through it.

Describe the bug
Setting arm_freq beyond 3000 works fine, but vcgencmd measure_clock arm reports 3000 MHz, while software like Geekbench and btop detect it as the clock set by arm_freq, e.g. 3.1GHz

To reproduce

1. Set arm_freq beyond 3000, and an according over_voltage_delta
2. Reboot, and run vcgencmd measure_clock arm
3. Check with something else, like btop or Geekbench
4. Clocks will be mismatched and vcgencmd will only report 3.0GHz

Expected behaviour
The Pi is actually clocked beyond 3.0GHz and both vcgencmd and other software report it as such

Actual behaviour
The Pi is only clocked to 3.0GHz, and vcgencmd reports it as such, but software sees it as set in arm_freq

System
https://pastebin.com/U2KCBBnD

• Which model of Raspberry Pi?
  Pi 5
• Which OS and version (cat /etc/rpi-issue)?
  Raspberry Pi reference 2023-12-05 Generated using pi-gen, https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen, 70cd6f2a1e34d07f5cba7047aea5b92457372e05, stage4
• Which firmware version (vcgencmd version)?
  2024/02/16 15:28:41 Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom version 4c845bd3 (release) (embedded)
• Which kernel version (uname -a)?
  Linux q-raspi5 6.6.17-v8-16k+ #1735 SMP PREEMPT Wed Feb 21 14:45:17 GMT 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux
  Logs
  dmesg output is in the raspinfo paste

Additional context
If this is relevant, I used rpi-update to update to latest kernel and firmware version, no change
I have also set debian sources in sources.list to testing/trixie

[youmukonpaku1337]

I'm pretty sure the Pi 5 can handle clocks beyond 3.0GHz as it's extremely stable at that clock, so that as well

[popcornmix]

That's what we've been told is the limit of the PLL by Broadcom.

I've got a todo item to investigate what happens when this is exceeded, but it's not high on the priority list.

[youmukonpaku1337]

That's what we've been told is the limit of the PLL by Broadcom.

I've got a todo item to investigate what happens when this is exceeded, but it's not high on the priority list.

ah i see, that's sad, hope it gets fixed soon! would love to run my pi at absurd clocks

[popcornmix]

rpi-eeprom-recovery.zip

I've removed the 3GHz limit, and attached a zip file (you can flash it to an sdcard with rpi-imager) you can test.

Make sure you have no critical (unbacked up) data on the Pi you are testing.
Let me know if you succeed in going above 3GHz.

I could boot at 3.1GHz (and vcgencmd measure_clock arm confirmed that) but my Pi would crash when stressed.

[youmukonpaku1337]

that's actually awesome, tysm, i assume i just flash it to an sd card that isnt the one i have raspbian on and boot?

[popcornmix]

Yes - use a spare card.

[youmukonpaku1337]

alright, thanks, will test asap

[geerlingguy]

Dangit how did I not see this issue before now :)

Going to see if I accidentally nuke my 'blessed' Pi 5 (the only one I've been able to get to 3.0 GHz so far).

[youmukonpaku1337]

Dangit how did I not see this issue before now :)

Going to see if I accidentally nuke my 'blessed' Pi 5 (the only one I've been able to get to 3.0 GHz so far).

LMAO

[Mauker1]

Petition to make 3.14GHz the new upper limit in the firmware.

[geerlingguy]

So I've been trying to get a Geekbench 6 run to complete at 3.14 GHz, testing higher and higher over_voltage_delta (with force_turbo off and on), and so far can't quite hack it.

I wound up capturing this from dmesg:

[  326.258634] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[  326.258637] Firmware transaction timeout
[  326.258646] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 31 at drivers/firmware/raspberrypi.c:67 rpi_firmware_property_list+0x204/0x270
[  326.258654] Modules linked in: algif_hash algif_skcipher af_alg bnep vc4 snd_soc_hdmi_codec binfmt_misc aes_ce_blk drm_display_helper cec aes_ce_cipher drm_dma_helper drm_kms_helper hci_uart ghash_ce snd_soc_core btbcm gf128mul snd_compress sha2_ce snd_pcm_dmaengine brcmfmac sha256_arm64 sha1_ce bluetooth snd_pcm brcmutil snd_timer snd rpivid_hevc(C) cfg80211 v4l2_mem2mem pisp_be videobuf2_dma_contig videobuf2_memops videobuf2_v4l2 ecdh_generic fb_sys_fops ecc syscopyarea sysfillrect sysimgblt rfkill libaes videobuf2_common v3d videodev raspberrypi_hwmon mc gpu_sched drm_shmem_helper raspberrypi_gpiomem rp1_adc pwm_fan nvmem_rmem uio_pdrv_genirq uio fuse drm drm_panel_orientation_quirks backlight dm_mod ip_tables x_tables ipv6 spidev i2c_brcmstb spi_bcm2835 gpio_keys
[  326.258699] CPU: 3 PID: 31 Comm: kworker/3:0 Tainted: G         C         6.1.0-rpi7-rpi-2712 #1  Debian 1:6.1.63-1+rpt1
[  326.258702] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 (DT)
client_loop: send disconnect: Broken pipe

And the cursor blinks on the external display, but SSH goes away.

Checking the actual voltage:

$ vcgencmd measure_volts
volt=1.0000V

So I'm wondering if there's any way to boost that further, or if 1.0000V is the hard limit for the cores?

I should note I have an Argon THRML 60-RC and an additional giant 140mm Noctua fan blowing over everything, fan set to full blast (pinctrl FAN_PWM op dl — for some reason my custom setting for fan_temp0 through 4 to run the speed at 255 doesn't seem to make a difference).

[geerlingguy]

Yay! Got one run in at 3.14 GHz with:

over_voltage=8
arm_freq=3140
force_turbo=1

Honestly not sure if the over_voltage vs over_voltage_delta made a difference or if I just got lucky on this run and unlucky on the other runs.

Here's the result: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/5314274

And a video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTIkZBsVJyA

[youmukonpaku1337]

HELL YEAH!!!

[senothechad]

I've tried flashing, but I just see the boot menu. I tried two different drives with the bootloader but nothing happens?

[Cgamess]

rpi-eeprom-recovery.zip

I've removed the 3GHz limit, and attached a zip file (you can flash it to an sdcard with rpi-imager) you can test.

Make sure you have no critical (unbacked up) data on the Pi you are testing. Let me know if you succeed in going above 3GHz.

I could boot at 3.1GHz (and vcgencmd measure_clock arm confirmed that) but my Pi would crash when stressed.

How was it made?