Erista OC Guide

Made with love by Dominatorul. Some parts of this guide belong to ChanseyIsTheBest and Lightos_


Table of Contents


Safety Disclaimer

All overclocking is unsafe as you are pushing the system outside of its original design, however the level of risk is dependent on how much you overclock and stay within the limits of the chip and the hardware.

Unstable RAM overclocking can cause SYSNAND/EMUNAND corruption and SD card corruption, particularly if done on SYSNAND. Test the overclock settings on EMUNAND and back it up before installing Switchcraft.


Erista Limits

Charger IC Limit:

  • Erista has a 15A PMIC, usually this limit won't be reached during overclocking.
  • The main limiting factor for Erista units is the 18W limit.

Erista CPU Limits:

  • The board limit of 18W is reached at 1785 MHz without any UV or 2091 MHz with CPU UV1.

Erista GPU Limits:

  • The board limit of 18W is reached at 921 MHz without GPU UV with moderate speedos.

Reducing the voltage (undervolting, UV) decreases power draw, current, heat and helps avoid exceeding the board limit.

GPU Scheduling:

  • On: Caps gpu usage at ~96.7%
  • Off: Caps gpu usage at ~99.7%
  • Recommended: GPU scheduling on.

Warning: Disabling GPU Scheduling will slightly increase power draw. Use it with caution.


Monitoring Your Switch

  • Use status monitor overlay to indicate if you've bypassed the charger IC limit (e.g., -1W displayed while charging).
  • To get the best results, be sure your battery is 10-90% to display the real charging.
  • If the battery is above 90%, power drawn from the charger gets reduced.
  • A slight negative power draw (roughly -0.1W) is fine if the battery is above 90%.
  • A higher negative power draw (~-0.5W) is not safe.
  • For accurate results, test with a lower battery.

Checking Speedo and RAM Type

  1. Boot Hekate.
  2. Go to Console Info > HW & Fuses.
  3. Note your DRAM ID, CPU Speedo 0, CPU Speedo 2, and SoC Speedo.

CPU/GPU Speedos range from approximately 1980 to 2200, with SoC speedos ranging from approximately 1899 to 2050. An Erista with a higher speedo requires less voltage to meet the same clock speed compared to another Switch with a lower speedo. A CPU/GPU speedo of 2100 is generally considered good.

Speedo Brackets

  • Speedos are divided into brackets.
  • CPU UV mode depends on the position within your bracket, but the resulting voltage depends on your specific speedo.
  • It doesn’t matter how high you can set CPU UV mode — what matters is using your maximum possible CPU UV mode.

RAM Types

There are various RAM types for Erista, and better types can reach higher clocks, require lower voltages, and support tighter timings at the same clocks compared to worse types. Not only do RAM types matter, but RAM bin matters, meaning that worse RAM types can outperform higher RAM types. Here are some RAM types:

  • Samsung MGCH
  • Hynix NLE
  • Micron WT:C

Almost all Erista units have Samsung MGCH RAM. Hynix NLE and Micron WT:C are rare but can potentially achieve slightly higher clocks, test carefully.


OC Settings for Switchcraft

CPU Settings

  • Boost Clock:
    • 2091 MHz: <2080 speedo
    • 2295 MHz: >2080 speedo
  • Undervolt Mode: 1–5 (use the maximum stable value)
  • Vmin: 800 mV
  • Voltage Limit: 1225 mV

ℹ️ Note: Exceeding the PMIC limit during Boost Mode is safe, as it only occurs for short bursts (typically under 30 seconds), preventing long-term hardware stress.

GPU Settings

  • Undervolt Mode: 2
  • Vmin: 740–780 mV
  • Voltage Offset: 0–30

⚠️ Note: To safely use a 998 MHz GPU clock, keep GPU voltage below 950 mV (exact value may vary slightly depending on IDDQ and temperature).

RAM Settings

  • DRAM Timing:

    • 0 — AUTO_ADJ: Auto-adjust MTC table with LPDDR4 3733 Mbps specs, 16Gb density. Change timing with Advanced Config (Default).
    • 1 — AUTO_ADJ_HP: Same as AUTO_ADJ, but with RAM power-down disabled.

    ℹ️ Tip: AUTO_ADJ_HP improves latency, but some RAM modules — especially on Erista — may not handle it well.

    • First, find your maximum RAM clocks and timings with AUTO_ADJ.
    • Then test AUTO_ADJ_HP. If stable, use it. Otherwise, stick with AUTO_ADJ.
  • DVB Shift: 1–5 (boosts SoC voltage to help stabilize RAM).
    • In most cases, a shift of 2 is sufficient.

Samsung MGCH RAM

  • RAM Clock: 1862–2133 MHz
    • Very strong bins may reach slightly higher.
    • With overvolting, up to 2246 MHz may be possible.
  • VDD2: 1175–1237 mV
    • Rated for 1175 mV (guaranteed safe).
    • You can overvolt slightly for a frequency boost (1237 mV is allowed in L4T and assumed to be safe).
  • Timings:
    • Common: (4-4-4) → 0-1-5-4-6
    • Super Tight (ST): (4-5-9) → 1-2-6-4-6
    • ST timings provide enhanced performance compared to common timings.

🧪 Testing Method:

  1. Start with DVB = 2 using common preset.
  2. Test ST timings.
  3. If ST fails, relax timings incrementally in this order: t8 → t1 → t2 → t3 → t6 → t7 → t4 → t5.
  4. To push beyond ST timings, apply the same incremental approach.

⚡ Performance: Super Tight timings deliver improved performance compared to common timings.

⚠️ Stability Notes:

  • Lower T5, T6, or T3 if you encounter issues.
  • RAM contributes the most to overall performance — prioritize maximizing frequency first.

Clock Settings

Erista Max Plugged [HAC-001(-01), HEG-001]

Switch units available from August 2019 and beyond, includes OLED & requires modchip

  • CPU: 2295 MHz (Use only with UV5 on good speedo), 2091 MHz (Use only with UV3-5), 1785 MHz (UV is recommended)
  • GPU: 998 MHz (Use it only with UV2, try to avoid going over 950 mV), 921 MHz (safe, use it with undervolt)
  • RAM: 1862 MHz-2133 MHz+ (whatever is stable and within 1175 mV VDD2) (HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON RAM TYPE)

Erista Max Safe Clocks on Battery [HDH-001]

  • CPU: 1785 MHz
  • GPU: 460 MHz
  • RAM: 1862 MHz-2133 MHz+ (whatever is stable and within 1175 mV VDD2) (HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON RAM TYPE)
  • If you have a good ram module that can hit 2208 MHz+, it's recommended to use at most 2188 MHz to safe battery.
  • The SoC cannot handle high frequencies very well and power draw skyrockets past said frequency.

Note: Drawing over 8.6W on battery will cause battery issues. Please avoid doing that for extended periods!


For stability testing, follow this guide.

Troubleshooting

My Switch won't boot into EMUNAND after I have installed SWITCHCRAFT:

  • Your atmosphere or EOS version is likely not up-to-date, update your atmosphere or EOS version.
  • CPU UV level is too high, lower it or set it to 0.

My configs are not being applied:

  • Ensure you reboot your console after changing settings in SWITCHCRAFT.

I can't set my clocks above 1785/921/1600:

  • Your kip is not being loaded, check if it is located in /atmosphere/kips
  • Your hekate_ipl.ini file is not set up correctly:
    • Validate that your boot entry contains kip1=atmosphere/kips/loader.kip
    • It has to be below pkg3=atmosphere/package3 (or fss0)

Need Help with Setup?

Follow this guide for a step-by-step setup.

Edit

Pub: 13 May 2024 20:14 UTC

Edit: 22 Aug 2025 10:47 UTC

Views: 13084