Overclocking isn’t a new idea, and it isn’t limited to high-end processors, either. In high school I overclocked the Intel Xscale CPU in my Palm Tungsten T3 from 400Hz to 600Hz, just so I could play my Quicktime copy of the trailer for The Matrix Revolutions more smoothly. (In hindsight, it wasn’t worth it.) But the point is, you can overclock almost any computer processor, as one enterprising modder did to the little-SoC-that-could, the $35 Raspberry Pi.
Ivan “Merocle” Kuleshov of Uptime Lab carefully removed the lid on the Raspberry Pi CM4’s Broadcom BCM2711 processor, base clocked at 1.5GHz. He then installed the Pi onto a Compute Blade (also his own design!) to give it the necessary input, output, and storage, and to send 4.5 amps of power to the processor. After that he installed a relatively huge custom heat sink, and applied compressed air while the Pi was operating. To hit the custom 2.5GHz configuration with extra voltage, he had to constantly apply canned air to keep the whole thing at 6 degrees Celsius (43 Fahrenheit).
Kuleshov documented his little adventure over on Reddit (spotted by Tom’s Hardware). What will he do with his super-powered, tiny, incredibly efficient computer? Your guess is as good as mine. If you’re interested in tinkering with your own dirt-cheap mini-PC, here are 10 surprisingly practical Raspberry Pi projects anyone can do.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who's been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.