RB1100 - Overclocking results

roc-noc.com · January 7, 2011, 4:46am

Good news. My preliminary tests show that the RB1100 might be quite reliable when overclocked to 1GHz.

I have been testing new brands of RAM with RB1100 boards this week. I decided to test several of them with all available CPU and RAM speed settings.

The default speed as shipped is 800MHz CPU and 400MHz for RAM.
The bottom available speed is 333MHz CPU and 333MHz for RAM. The top available speed is 1066MHz for CPU speed and 533MHz for RAM.

With the RAM that I consider compatible, I didn’t have a single failure at any of the speeds. I am now running a test unit at high speed for the next few days to see how it handles the extra clock speed.

I’d like to hear from others that are overclocking RB1100 or RB800 units which are very similar.

Tom

TKITFrank · January 7, 2011, 10:25am

Hi,

My test RB800 @home with 2 R52n + noname CF and running ROS 5.0rc7

Normal settings

/system routerboard settings print

baud-rate: 115200
boot-delay: 2s
enter-setup-on: any-key
boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
cpu-frequency: 800MHz
memory-data-rate: 400DDR
boot-protocol: bootp
enable-jumper-reset: yes
force-backup-booter: no
silent-boot: no

Available options…
CPU

/system routerboard settings change-frequency frequency=?
Frequency ::= 1000MHz | 1200MHz | 400MHz | 600MHz | 800MHz

Memory

/system routerboard settings set memory-data-rate=?
MemoryDataRate ::= 333DDR | 400DDR | 533DDR

Overclocked

/system routerboard settings print

baud-rate: 115200
boot-delay: 2s
enter-setup-on: any-key
boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
cpu-frequency: 1200MHz
memory-data-rate: 400DDR
boot-protocol: bootp
enable-jumper-reset: yes
force-backup-booter: no
silent-boot: no

Temperature

/system health print

fan-mode: manual
use-fan: main
active-fan: main
voltage: 51.1V
cpu-temperature: 59C

I have not tried to change memory rate…
system routerboard settings set memory-data-rate=533Mhz

I guess this would make it a 1333Mhz? But I don’t know how the R52n cards will react.

roc-noc.com · January 7, 2011, 4:15pm

What RouterBoot version are you running in this 800? I am not seeing the 1200 MHz option with RouterBoot 2.9 on a RB1100 running ROS 5.0rc7.

Tom

TKITFrank · January 7, 2011, 4:23pm

I am running 2.29

kapulan · January 7, 2011, 9:20pm

One year working fine rb800 to full heat outdoor cabinet ,processor overclock to 1333mhz. Amazing speed and great performance the network.

TKITFrank · January 7, 2011, 9:59pm

What is your temperature and settings + radio interface kapulan?

disca · January 9, 2011, 11:46pm

I’ve just installed an RB1100 set to 1066Mhz CPU/533Mhz Ram in our DC. today. Boot 2.29. ROS 4.16.

Rack in DC isn’t particularly well cooled - cpu is at 51C - rises to 59C when taxed to 100% cpu for 5 minutes. Is running maybe 10C hotter then ambient in our office here.

I have no stability issues in a weeks “testing” - will see how it does in DC.

freethought · January 24, 2011, 10:09pm

We have had a pair of RB1100 devices in one of our racks in a professionally run UK data centre (i.e. decent controlled ambient temperature, redundant CRACs etc.) running at 1333MHz with 533MHz RAM since May/June last year and they have been perfectly stable with a very respectable temperature:

These have multiple internal and external BGP feeds and do all of our routing both between VLANs and out to the internet, so they see a good work out 24/7.

meno · January 24, 2011, 10:16pm

ive running mine @ 1333Mhz

hedele · January 25, 2011, 8:12pm

Does anyone know if the stock RAM is capable of running at 533 MHz?
I might consider a RB1100 as suitable replacement for dying RB1000’s if I can reliably clock them to 1333/533 MHz…

meno · January 25, 2011, 11:45pm

yes it does im using it

sariao · January 26, 2011, 7:27am

Greetings

how did you manage to change CPU frequency? when i used change-frequency command it gave me:

/system routerboard settings change-frequency frequency=?
Frequency ::= 1000MHz | 400MHz | 600MHz | 800MHz

when i try to change the frequency higher or lower it say:

 /system routerboard settings change-frequency frequency=1000
frequency is not suported on this board

then when i tried to change memory rate to 533 CPU jump to 1066MHz for about 20 sec then memory rate get back to 400 , result where as follow:

/system routerboard settings set memory-data-rate=533
/system routerboard settings print
            baud-rate: 115200
           boot-delay: 2s
          boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
       enter-setup-on: any-key
        cpu-frequency: 1066MHz
     memory-data-rate: 533DDR
        boot-protocol: bootp
  enable-jumper-reset: yes
  force-backup-booter: no
          silent-boot: no

/system routerboard settings> /sys resource print
                   uptime: 34m41s
                  version: "4.16"
              free-memory: 1009232kB
             total-memory: 1036540kB
                      cpu: "e500v2"
                cpu-count: 1
            cpu-frequency: 799MHz
                 cpu-load: 0
           free-hdd-space: 460820kB
          total-hdd-space: 520192kB
  write-sect-since-reboot: 2147
         write-sect-total: 48890
               bad-blocks: 0%
        architecture-name: "powerpc"
               board-name: "RB1100"
                 platform: "MikroTik"

after 20 sec

baud-rate: 115200
           boot-delay: 2s
          boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
       enter-setup-on: any-key
        cpu-frequency: 800MHz
     memory-data-rate: 400DDR
        boot-protocol: bootp
  enable-jumper-reset: yes
  force-backup-booter: no
          silent-boot: no

i am running firmware 2.30

any ideas?

BR

disca · January 26, 2011, 9:35am

Sariao. I had the same problem - you just have to play around with it.

I suspect the best way to do it is via serial port/bootloader as like you the 1333mhz option doesnt appear in winbox/CLI for me.

Change your ram frequency to 533mhz first then reboot and you should see different cpu frequency options.

freethought · January 26, 2011, 10:01am

I changed ours from RouterBOOT via the serial console:

Change the RAM to 533MHz
Reboot and run the built in RAM test utility
Change the processor to 1333MHz
Reboot and run the built in RAM test utility

normis · January 26, 2011, 10:19am

1333MHz was included by accident, this device is not meant to run at this speed. Only some versions of RouterBOARD 1100 will show this as an option.

sariao · January 26, 2011, 10:21am

Thanks guys that was useful.

Another Thing, does anyone tried to utilize the microSD for web caching ?
i used it for usermaneger and it worked just fine, but when i use it for web caching the router CPU jump to 100% and the router disconnect every time Webproxy tries to load or save anything to microSD cache!

anybody had the same issue?

normis · January 26, 2011, 10:30am

microSD speed is not so good, if many writes/reads are done, CPU will climb.

hedele · January 28, 2011, 5:29pm

OK, so what is the maximum “non-accidential” Speed a RB800 or RB1100 can be overclocked to?

disca · January 28, 2011, 5:49pm

hedele: 1066Mhz on my RB1100. Can’t comment on RB800.

hedele · January 28, 2011, 6:41pm

Thanks for the quick reply, disca.
1066 is still a nice chunk slower than the old RB 1000, but still better than nothing…

@MT Staff: Isn’t it possible to re-enable 1333 MHz with a RouterBoot Upgrade?
We are really dependent on every CPU cycle we can get for pushing traffic through…

Right now, if an RB 1000 were to fail, I would have to replace it with something way slower, or go the experimental route
with some x86 Appliance for 5-times the amount of money and then have a lot of problems resulting from multi-core usage…