MCU1 performance improvement & browser improvement. Simple trick by Thomas The Tesla Tuner..

[whitex]

You've hit the nail on the head. That illogical overlays design doubts me too.

BTW, I think with proper active cooling there would be no throttling so performance could be even better. I would also root it and try overclocking to 1,7 GHz - hopefully no throttling with that speed with a copper cooling device.

I hope Mr Musk won't be angry

First, great information! Thanks for sharing it.

Keep in mind few things if you're planning to overclock:

1. Typically chips are rated for specific clock speeds to meet reliability and longevity goals. A lot of chips nowadays you can overclock, but that reduces their life expectancy (think PC overclocking, CPU's, memory, GPU's). You might also find that the same chips used in consumer electronics are running faster than in automotive - that is because cars have a much longer lifecycle than a cell phone, hence they run the parts slower/cooler to make them last longer.
2. Overclocking will age your part faster. All electronics nowadays age and get slower with time (ever seen the experiment to measure PC performance, then use the PC for 2 years, rerun the same performance test and realize your PC just got slower, even if you used the original hdd image to boot, so the exact same OS, drivers, benchmark software, etc). So overclocking may give faster performance now, but slower later.
3. I wouldn't disable thermal throttling (I didn't see you suggest that, but mentioning for completeness). A while back I remember seeing someone run a cell phone rated at 1.4GHz at 2GHz - it ran and got great benchmarks, then died less than an hour later.
4. Significant overclocking can cause computational errors, sometimes temperature related (runs fine when cold, then hangs when it gets warmer)

 

[P100D_Me]

I can confirm that this issue exists in 2019.12 firmware (QtCar process spikes up to 150% CPU utilization when displaying traffic overlays on the map). However, I'm fairly confident that Tesla fixed this bug in 2019.12.1.1+ (just tested it on 2019.12.1.2 myself) and QtCar stays nice and calm at around 25% CPU with traffic turned on/off. I had noticed that MCU1 felt snappier after installing 2019.12.1.1, and this confirms why.

Would be great if the original poster mentioned what firmware version they found the 120mS traffic refresh bug in and if they can confirm it has been fixed in the versions you mentioned above.

 

[hulk2k17]

I don't think it's fixed in 12.1.1. I have this firmware and the browser is basically unusable when I have live traffic turned on. But as soon as I turn it off, websites will load. If I set the map to always show north instead of rotate based on my direction the whole MCU is much snappier.

 

[mike25]

I have 12.1.2 and it isn't fixed either. Disabling traffic improve things considerable.

 

[hulk2k17]

I'm curious is the new 2019.16 update fixes this. I'm guessing no...

 

[supratachophobia]

The *best* way is to tap the Tesla logo 3x which opens the drawing app. This hides the car navigation completely and results in improved performance of windows/overlays.

Hey, that's my hack!

 

[jddssc121]

Could be my mistake on Carplay and Android auto fees. I’ve never looked it up.

AKA - "I made it up because it fit my narrative".

 

[Corsair]

First, great information! Thanks for sharing it.

Keep in mind few things if you're planning to overclock:

1. Typically chips are rated for specific clock speeds to meet reliability and longevity goals. A lot of chips nowadays you can overclock, but that reduces their life expectancy (think PC overclocking, CPU's, memory, GPU's). You might also find that the same chips used in consumer electronics are running faster than in automotive - that is because cars have a much longer lifecycle than a cell phone, hence they run the parts slower/cooler to make them last longer.
2. Overclocking will age your part faster. All electronics nowadays age and get slower with time (ever seen the experiment to measure PC performance, then use the PC for 2 years, rerun the same performance test and realize your PC just got slower, even if you used the original hdd image to boot, so the exact same OS, drivers, benchmark software, etc). So overclocking may give faster performance now, but slower later.
3. I wouldn't disable thermal throttling (I didn't see you suggest that, but mentioning for completeness). A while back I remember seeing someone run a cell phone rated at 1.4GHz at 2GHz - it ran and got great benchmarks, then died less than an hour later.
4. Significant overclocking can cause computational errors, sometimes temperature related (runs fine when cold, then hangs when it gets warmer)

Aah.... reminded me of the days we'd oc'ed the first gen Intel Celeron chips from 1.6 to 2.3Ghz but could never run the computer stable enough for long periods of time as it would do random reboots/ shutdowns due to overheating

 

[supratachophobia]

Aah.... reminded me of the days we'd oc'ed the first gen Intel Celeron chips from 1.6 to 2.3Ghz but could never run the computer stable enough for long periods of time as it would do random reboots/ shutdowns due to overheating

Turn that Celer-yawn into a Celer-gone!

 

[AustinP]

UPDATE:

I can confirm that this issue exists in 2019.12 firmware (QtCar process spikes up to 150% CPU utilization when displaying traffic overlays on the map). However, I'm fairly confident that Tesla fixed this bug in 2019.12.1.1+ (just tested it on 2019.12.1.2 myself) and QtCar stays nice and calm at around 25% CPU with traffic turned on/off. I had noticed that MCU1 felt snappier after installing 2019.12.1.1, and this confirms why.

Good work @Accelev on noticing this. Looks like Tesla just fixed it.

However, I would be VERY interested to hear your successes in adding additional thermal cooling to the Tegra and your overclocking efforts. I'd be interested indeed.

So @greentheonly (on Twitter) confirms it is not fixed in the .1.2 either.

green on Twitter

 

[whitex]

So @greentheonly (on Twitter) confirms it is not fixed in the .1.2 either.

green on Twitter

Not a high priority item for Elon if it doesn't affect new cars (i.e. MCU2).

 

[AustinP]

Not a high priority item for Elon if it doesn't affect new cars (i.e. MCU2).

I’m not sure it does not affect them as well.
MCU2 has more power and that wrong setting might be less visible.
It could be as they share versions, that this config is also wrong in MCU2

 

[scaesare]

So @greentheonly (on Twitter) confirms it is not fixed in the .1.2 either.

green on Twitter

I just recently updated, and same on mine... the map still clobbers the browser.

 

[whitex]

I’m not sure it does not affect them as well.
MCU2 has more power and that wrong setting might be less visible.
It could be as they share versions, that this config is also wrong in MCU2

Elon is all about visibility. If it's not visible, it doesn't exist. Even long term effects don't matter. As pointed out by others, for example Tesla doesn't bother disabling useless linux logging used only in development (i.e. not by techs to debug your car), which puts quiet a lot of wear on the emmc (flash memory) parts, causing MCU's to fail. But, the good news (for Elon) is, those mostly fail after warranty, so not something worth fixing - people can pay $2,500-$5,000 to replace them, more money for Tesla.

PS> The logging fix is trivial, but would consume resources as they'd have to do a QA round with logging (so developers can debug easier), then once all approved bugs are fixed, do QA without logging to make sure disabling logging didn't mess something up. You know, proper development lifecycle. Tesla seems to basically be shipping dev versions of software which passed QA, and QA might primarily be Elon driving to work. If Elon doesn't see it on his morning commute, and it doesn't get his attention on twitter (many people pointed out dead browser on Twitter, he ignores it), then the problem doesn't exist.

 

[azmodls]

I've tried both methods to improve performance (paint app or traffic off), and traffic off gives me the best performance for Tesla Waze. It's finally usable again .

 

[KyleDay]

So @greentheonly (on Twitter) confirms it is not fixed in the .1.2 either.

green on Twitter

Yes I've spoken with @verygreen and I did test it on 2019.12.1.2. I was able to test and observe CPU loads and I did not get large loads with traffic on or off. However, @verygreen later corrected my testing and confirmed the bug still exists. Sad face.

Sorry for the false hope. I will re-test, but at this point it looks like the bug still exists and we should disable traffic to get better performance

 

[KyleDay]

Here's something for you all to laugh at during dinner tonight. Just got this email from Tesla right now after a several week old email asking about MCU2 retrofits:

"Hello Kyle,

Thank you for reaching out to Tesla. I am sorry for the delay in responding to your email.

We are not planning to offer MCU retrofits at this time.The recent software releases have increased the performance and speed of the UI on all Tesla's, especially those with the original MCU hardware.

We thank you for helping Tesla to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy."

I wish the UI was indeed faster on original MCU hardware.

 

[whitex]

Here's something for you all to laugh at during dinner tonight. Just got this email from Tesla right now after a several week old email asking about MCU2 retrofits:

"Hello Kyle,

Thank you for reaching out to Tesla. I am sorry for the delay in responding to your email.

We are not planning to offer MCU retrofits at this time.The recent software releases have increased the performance and speed of the UI on all Tesla's, especially those with the original MCU hardware.

We thank you for helping Tesla to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy."

I wish the UI was indeed faster on original MCU hardware.

You could reply asking which release specifically fixed it. Maybe ask them whether the browser is supposed to work again in that release.

 

[kqnjml]

2019.16 is awesome for MCU1 . Really, much faster even with satellite on. I don't need to tweak it anymore and It feels almost like MCU2.

You could reply asking which release specifically fixed it. Maybe ask them whether the browser is supposed to work again in that release.

 

[whitex]

2019.16 is awesome for MCU1 . Really, much faster even with satellite on. I don't need to tweak it anymore and It feels almost like MCU2.

I will believe it when I see it. Currently on 2019.12.1, browser dead until traffic is turned off, but even then requires reboot to get going if it hasn't been rebooted in a few days.