How to overclock Nexus 7?

Overclocking is the easiest way to improve overall performance on Google Nexus 7. NVIDIA Tegra 3 Super 4-PLUS-1 Quad Core CPU is clocked at 1.3 GHz by default on Nexus 7. However, you still can push its limit and improve overall Nexus 7 performance by overclock up to 1.7 GHz. Official Nexus 7 kernel does not support overclock feature. So you need to install custom kernel for Nexus 7 in order to overclock.

Note – overclock will reduce NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, GeForce GPU and other hardware components lifespan because it will overheat easily. Do it at your own risk.

How to overclock Google Nexus 7?

1. Install Nexus 7 custom kernel that support overclock.
2. Install SetCPU.
3. Slide the max bar to the speed that you wish (like above picture).
4. Run Stress test ~ Stress CPU to test stability (located at Info tab).
5. Or test the stability by playing 3D games (which use most of the CPU / GPU power).
6. That’s all.

Note – Only check ‘Set on Boot’ when you are confident that the overclocked speed won’t hang and stable all the time.

Wow… Quadrant benchmark score increased 38% by overclocked to 1.7 GHz. This highly increases overall Nexus 7 performance. And that is the highest speed that can be achieved on my Nexus 7 for the custom kernel that I use. Need to try out other custom kernel for Nexus 7 and fine tune the CPU voltage if I need to push it further.