The Raspberry Pi 4 currently has stock problems, but that does not mean that they continue to sell millions of boards. The price of the base model has gone up, but it is still a great option for a fast and versatile board. A few days ago we learned that they were equipping more powerful models, but capable, and now the performance improvement comes to those users.
At the end of September we learned that the last Raspberry Pi 4 sold were incorporating a different chip from the first. The chip in particular is a Broadcom BCM2711 with four cores at 1.5 GHz. The initial model that equipped the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B had the revision ” B0T “, while in recent months the one that ends in “C0T“.
The new chip can now be enjoyed at 1.8 GHz
That revision “C0T” is the same one that equips the Raspberry Pi 400 , integrated into the keyboard that the company launched a year ago. The difference between both models is the frequency, since the Raspberry Pi 4 was limited to 1.5 GHz , and the chip equipped in the Raspberry Pi 400 operated up to 1.8 GHz .
Therefore, there was no reason why the C0T that they have started to equip in the new boards could not operate at that frequency. And indeed, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced that with a simple software update we can enjoy this new speed.
Thus, by installing Bullseye , the new version of Raspberry Pi OS, we not only have a multitude of improvements in terms of performance or usability with its new interface, but it also increases the frequency of the board from 1.5 to 1.8 GHz . This applies to all supported 2, 4, or 8 GB RAM models.
We say compatible because not all Raspberry Pi 4 Model B are valid. The automatic frequency increase will occur only if we have specific switches on the board. With them, the necessary voltage and energy for the chip to operate at a higher frequency can be guaranteed. The change to implement them they did when they released the 8GB model . In the following image we can see the switches that indicate if we can safely raise the frequency or not.
From the Raspberry Pi Foundation they claim that they have found a correct voltage for the board to operate without failures, and with the new switch they can guarantee performance and optical temperatures even under high processing loads.
Old plates can also go up frequency
In the case of having an old motherboard, it is not the end of the world either, since they have integrated a native overclock function in Bullseye . To use it, all you have to do is add the line arm_freq = 1800 in the config.txt file. This will automatically determine the best voltage for the operating system to function properly.
If we find any stability issues, such as the board rebooting automatically, we can reduce the frequency in 50 MHz steps until we find a stable frequency. Instead, we can also set the voltage ourselves. If you do, keep in mind that you must have a microSD card available in case the one you are using on the motherboard becomes inaccessible.
