Overclock your
uConsole.

Your uConsole's CPU and GPU run at conservative clock speeds out of the box. The CM4's BCM2711 defaults to 1.5 GHz on the CPU and 500 MHz on the GPU. The A06's Allwinner H616 runs at similar conservative frequencies. These are safe for passive cooling — but they leave performance on the table.

Overclocking raises these clock frequencies, giving the CPU and GPU more cycles per second. The result: faster compilation, snappier UI rendering, smoother retro emulation, and less waiting during heavy workloads. The tradeoff is more heat and higher power draw.

The CM4 uses the same BCM2711 SoC as the Raspberry Pi 4. Overclocking is done entirely through /boot/config.txt — the firmware reads this file at boot time and sets your clock speeds before Linux even starts.

Step 1: Open the config file

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Scroll to the bottom of the file. You'll add your overclock parameters in the [all] section, or create one if it doesn't exist.

Step 2: Understand the parameters

Step 3: Add a safe overclock profile

This is the community-recommended starting point. It gives a solid ~20% performance boost while remaining stable on most CM4 units with basic thermal management.

[all]
# ─── Pocket Forge Safe OC Profile ───
# +20% CPU, +20% GPU, moderate voltage bump
arm_freq=1800
gpu_freq=600
over_voltage=2

# Thermal protection
temp_soft_limit=70

# Keep dynamic clocking for battery life
# (CPU drops to arm_freq_min when idle)
arm_freq_min=600

Save with Ctrl+O, exit with Ctrl+X, then reboot:

sudo reboot

Recovery: if it won't boot

If your uConsole fails to boot after overclocking, don't panic. You have two options:

The A06 module uses an Allwinner H616 quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC. Unlike the CM4, there's no simple config.txt — the A06 uses device tree overlays and Linux kernel frequency scaling to control clock speeds.

The A06 has less overclocking headroom than the CM4. The H616 already runs close to its thermal limits at stock frequencies, and the Cortex-A53 cores don't scale as aggressively with higher clocks.

Check current frequency range

# See available frequencies
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies

# Check current frequency
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq

# Check current governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Temporary frequency override

You can temporarily push the max frequency via sysfs. This resets on reboot — useful for testing before committing.

# Set performance governor (locks at max freq)
echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

# Check that it took effect
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq

Permanent changes (advanced)

To permanently change the A06's frequency limits, you need to modify the device tree source (.dts) and recompile it, or apply a device tree overlay. This typically involves:

The uConsole has no active cooling out of the box. The aluminum shell acts as a partial heatsink, but there's no fan or dedicated thermal solution. This makes thermal management critical when overclocking.

Cooling modifications

After overclocking, you need to monitor your temps to make sure you're not constantly throttling. Here are the key tools.

Quick temp check (CM4)

# Current SoC temperature
vcgencmd measure_temp
# Output: temp=52.0'C

# Current clock speeds (verify OC is active)
vcgencmd measure_clock arm
vcgencmd measure_clock core

Throttle flag decoder (CM4)

vcgencmd get_throttled
# Output: throttled=0x0  (means: all clear)

The hex value is a bitmask. Here's what each bit means:

Universal temp check (CM4 & A06)

# Works on both CM4 and A06
cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
# Output: 52000 (divide by 1000 = 52.0°C)

Install lm-sensors

sudo apt install lm-sensors
sudo sensors-detect  # say YES to all prompts
sensors
# Output shows all detected temperature sensors

Live monitoring script

Run this while stress testing to watch temps in real time:

# Simple watch loop — updates every 2 seconds
watch -n 2 '  echo "=== uConsole Thermal Monitor ===";   echo "";   echo "CPU Temp: $(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp |     awk "{printf \"%.1f°C\", \$1/1000}")";   echo "CPU Freq: $(cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq |     awk "{printf \"%.0f MHz\", \$1/1000}")";   echo "Governor: $(cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor)";   echo "";   vcgencmd get_throttled 2>/dev/null || echo "vcgencmd not available"; '

An overclock that boots doesn't mean it's stable. You need to run stress tests for at least 10 minutes (ideally 30+) to verify thermal stability under sustained load.

Install test tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt install stress-ng sysbench

CPU stress test with stress-ng

# Hammer all 4 CPU cores for 10 minutes
stress-ng --cpu 4 --cpu-method matrixprod --timeout 600s --metrics

# More aggressive — also stress memory and cache
stress-ng --cpu 4 --vm 2 --vm-bytes 256M --timeout 600s --metrics

While this runs, open a second terminal and run the monitoring script from Section 5. Watch for temps above 80°C or throttle flags appearing.

Benchmark with sysbench

Run this before and after overclocking to measure your actual gains:

# CPU benchmark — run this at stock AND overclocked
sysbench cpu --threads=4 --time=30 run

# Memory benchmark
sysbench memory --threads=4 --time=30 run

# Full test script — saves results for comparison
echo "=== STOCK BENCHMARK ===" > ~/oc-bench.txt
echo "Date: $(date)" >> ~/oc-bench.txt
sysbench cpu --threads=4 --time=30 run >> ~/oc-bench.txt
echo "" >> ~/oc-bench.txt
echo "Temp: $(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp)" >> ~/oc-bench.txt
cat ~/oc-bench.txt

If it crashes or freezes

Overclocking increases power consumption. Higher clock speeds need more voltage, and power scales roughly with the square of voltage — so each voltage step costs more battery than the last. Here's the real-world impact on the uConsole's dual 18650 battery pack:

The key insight: force_turbo=1 is the biggest battery killer. It disables dynamic frequency scaling, so the CPU runs at max clocks even when idle. Without it, the CPU drops to 600 MHz when idle — saving significant power.

Best of both worlds: on-demand governor

Keep your overclock settings but use the ondemand governor (the default). This gives you full OC speeds under load and minimum power at idle. Avoid performance governor unless you're benchmarking.

# Check current governor
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

# Switch to ondemand (balanced — recommended)
echo ondemand | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

# Switch to performance (max speed, max power)
echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

# Switch to powersave (battery saver, ignores OC)
echo powersave | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

# Make ondemand persist across reboots (add to rc.local)
echo 'echo ondemand | tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor' |   sudo tee -a /etc/rc.local

Here are the two profiles we recommend. Start with Safe, run it for 24 hours of normal use, then consider Aggressive only if you have a heatsink installed.

[all]
# ─── Pocket Forge SAFE Overclock ───
# Tested stable on 90%+ of CM4 units
# ~20% performance gain, minimal risk

arm_freq=1800
gpu_freq=600
over_voltage=2

# Thermal guardrails
temp_soft_limit=70

# Dynamic clocking (saves battery when idle)
arm_freq_min=600
# force_turbo=0  (default, don't set to 1)

[all]
# ─── Pocket Forge AGGRESSIVE Overclock ───
# ⚠ Requires heatsink! Test thoroughly!
# ~40% performance gain, higher risk

arm_freq=2100
gpu_freq=750
over_voltage=6

# Higher thermal ceiling
temp_soft_limit=80

# Lock at max frequency (kills battery life)
force_turbo=1

# GPU memory split (more for GPU-heavy tasks)
gpu_mem=256