Who doesn’t likes to have anything Extra at a Same cost? Be it a Pizza or be it the smoothness in working of a Phone? Everyone likes to have Good things in Excess. By the above lines you would have understood by what I meant by Overclocking? for those who understood or are already knowing about Overclocking, you can head towards “How to Overclock an Android Phone” the rest start continue reading.
What is Overclocking?
Overclocking is a process through which you can cross the Standard Clock rate of your CPU. Every CPU comes with a Standard clock rate which is set by the Manufacturer. The limit is set by the manufacturer to protect the hardware from getting Damaged. But the CPU possess the capability to run at a clock rate which is a bit more than the Standard Clock rate, and the process of raising the clock rate of the CPU above the standard clock rate is called Overclocking.
For an instance : You have a Phone which is clocked at 1.2 gHz but the processor in that phone has the capability to run at a Clock rate more than 1.2 gHz, it can be clocked at 1.4 gHz and the performance would boost up a lot, but not increasing to the clock rate at a high-rate can cause damage to the Phone and the hardware in it!
How to Overclock an Android Phone?
So understood “What is overclocking?” Let’s begin with “Overclocking”.
To remind you about Overclocking, with some Advantages, some problems may arise. For an instance if you overclock a phone by a very high clock rate then that can cause heating issues. In case any problem arises neither Droidmen nor the sources would be responsible, you can install the stock rom and get back the warranty status or take a nandroid backup to prevent yourself from any problems caused.
Steps in short : Find a Kernel -> Boot into Recovery Mode -> Flash the Kernel -> Reboot into system
To Begin with Overclocking an Android Phone, you would require some pre-requisites without which you cannot overclock the Android Phone you have. Following are the things you will need to overclock an Android Phone :
- Android Phone
- Root Access
- Custom Recovery Installed (To Flash Kernel)
- Internet Connection (To Download Kernel)
- No Frills or any other CPU Frequency Setter (Android App)
1.) Find a Kernel
So overclocking is not very difficult, what you have to do is simply find a Kernel which has the CPU overclocked. It’s not difficult to find the kernel as well, if you want to find a kernel for your device. Then navigate to XDA-Developers and Type in your Device and In the Kernel Section, you will Find the Kernels recommended for your Phone. There are different Kernels for different phones so we can’t list out the kernels here, but for your convenience you can post the device model so that I’ll personally find a kernel for your Phone. Download the Kernel and store it in SD card of your Phone.
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2.) Boot into Recovery Mode
After getting the Kernel for your Phone and storing it in your SD Card, Reboot the phone into recovery mode, if you haven’t installed a Recovery then install a Custom Recovery like : ClockworkMod or TWRP Recovery and then reboot into recovery mode. You can follow the guide : Boot into Recovery Mode without Pressing Key Combinations. By following this you don’t need to remember the key combinations to reboot into recovery mode.
3.) Flashing the Kernel
Well, once you reboot into recovery mode you will find options with different names but with same functionality, so incase you are using ClockworkMod, Click on Install Zip and then select the Kernel from the location where you’ve stored it, and in case of TWRP recover click on Install and then navigate to the location where you stored the kernel and then flash it. Once you’ve done it, you can wipe cache and dalvik cache and Reboot into system/Phone.
That’s it you’ve successfully flashed the Kernel to the Phone and the processor in your phone is instructed to run at the speed more than the clock rate but by default it won’t be activated to run at the overclocked speed. so follow the below step.
4.) Start No-Frills or any CPU Frequency or Clock Rate Setter App.
As said above in the pre-requisites you will need a CPU Frequency Setter (any Android App) which will set the Frequency of the CPU, No-Frills is one of them, so start the app and use all the schedulers which are available, on using different for different times you will know which one works smooth and later set that as the Default profile.
That’s it Folks, You’ve successfully Overclocked the CPU of your Android Phone, For any Queries simply navigate to Contact Page or comment the issue over here. I’ll try to solve the problem, Here are some Frequently asked questions, please refer to these if you have some doubts.
CPU Overclocking FAQs
Will I Lose the Warranty?
Yes, on Overclocking your Android Phone, you will have to root your Android Phone and rooting your Phone causes loss of warranty. But these days you can check if your phone doesn’t have a counter then you might get back the warranty by flashing the stock ROM with the stock kernel.
Will the Phone get Heated?
Well, this depends on the kernel and the way it was build, but even if the kernel is built in a proper way and you try to use your Phone at the Maximum Frequency then your phone might get heated and some of your cores might stop working for sometime, and would start working once your phone works normally again.
Can I Overclock more than the Limit of the Kernel?
Yes, the kernel developers also don’t exceed the limit by 100-300 mhz because that can cause damage to the phone hardware which might result in some hardware damages, but still if you want to then you can modify the kernel and flash it. As I’ve told I won’t be responsible for any damages.
Will Overclocking Improve the Performance of my Droid?
Yes, it would boost the performance of your phone. For an instance take a S3 which is clocked at 1.4 Ghz and then we overclock the Phone to 1.6 Ghz, you will see that all the cores (4 cores in quad core) would have the capacity of operating at 1.6 Ghz which is 200 x 4 = 800 mhz more than the normal phone, so you will see the Phone working at it’s best.
Can I Overclock Android Phone without Rooting ?
Nope, you cannot overclock your Phone without rooting the Phone, because flashing the kernel requires access to the root and without rooting your phone you cannot have access to superuser and without SuperUser Permissions you can’t flash the kernel. Hence it’s not possible to overclock the Phone without rooting it.
