ESP32, board_build.f_cpu does nothing

I noticed that using “board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L” in the platform.ini file does not affect the speed.
Using an ESP32 Dev module, I have always included this in my platform.ini file to make it run as fast as possible:

; set frequency to 240MHz
board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L

I have often wondered if that was really doing anything, so today I set out to prove that.
I am running the following code.

#include <Arduino.h>

void setup() {

  pinMode(4, OUTPUT);

}

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(4, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(4, LOW);
}

I have my scope connected to pin 4, and this shot of the scope using
“board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L” in my .ini file.

I then commented out “board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L” in my .ini file. Re-compiled and uoploaded and here is the result of that.

I even tried changing it to “160000000L” and it still does not affect the GPIO speed.
So my question is, why doesn’t “board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L” in my .ini file. do anything ?

I guess this feature works only in ESP-IDF, not in Ardunio environment?

If clean a project and start building in verbose mode, do you see that F_CPU macro changes?

Nope, it has no affect in either environment.

yes, here is the output:

PS C:\Users\Mike\Documents\PlatformIO\Projects\CD_Motor_Spin> pio run -v
Processing esp32dev (monitor_port: COM5; board_build.f_cpu: 240000000L; framework: arduino; monitor_speed: 115200; platform: espressif32; upload_speed: 921600; board: esp32dev; upload_port: COM5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIGURATION: https://docs.platformio.org/page/boards/espressif32/esp32dev.html
PLATFORM: Espressif 32 > Espressif ESP32 Dev Module
SYSTEM: ESP32 240MHz 320KB RAM (4MB Flash)
DEBUG: CURRENT(esp-prog) EXTERNAL(esp-prog, minimodule, olimex-arm-usb-ocd, olimex-arm-usb-ocd-h, olimex-arm-usb-tiny-h, olimex-jtag-tiny)
Library Dependency Finder -> http://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
LDF MODES: FINDER(chain) COMPATIBILITY(soft)
Collected 24 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
No dependencies
<lambda>(["checkprogsize"], [".pioenvs\esp32dev\firmware.elf"])
MethodWrapper(["checkprogsize"], [".pioenvs\esp32dev\firmware.elf"])
Memory Usage -> http://bit.ly/pio-memory-usage
DATA:    [          ]   4.3% (used 13972 bytes from 327680 bytes)
PROGRAM: [=         ]  14.0% (used 182988 bytes from 1310720 bytes)
.pioenvs\esp32dev\firmware.elf  :
section                                                         size         addr
.rtc.text                                                          0   1074528256
.rtc_noinit                                                        0   1342177792
.iram0.vectors                                                  1024   1074266112
.iram0.text                                                    41132   1074267136
.dram0.data                                                     9172   1073479680
.noinit                                                            0   1073488852
.dram0.bss                                                      4800   1073488856
.flash.rodata                                                  34796   1061158944
.flash.text                                                    96864   1074593816
.comment                                                         419            0
.xtensa.info                                                      56            0
.xt.lit._ZN14HardwareSerialD5Ev                                    0            0
.xt.prop._ZN14HardwareSerialD5Ev                                   0            0
.xt.prop._ZN14HardwareSerialD2Ev                                  36            0
.xt.prop._ZN14HardwareSerialD0Ev                                  36            0
.xt.prop._ZTV14HardwareSerial                                     12            0
.xt.lit._ZN9IPAddressD5Ev                                          0            0
.xt.prop._ZN9IPAddressD5Ev                                         0            0
.xt.prop._ZN9IPAddressD2Ev                                        36            0
.xt.prop._ZN9IPAddressD0Ev                                        36            0
.xt.prop._ZTV9IPAddress                                           12            0
.xt.lit._ZN5Print5writeEPKc                                        8            0
.xt.prop._ZN5Print5writeEPKc                                      60            0
.xt.prop._ZTISt9exception                                         12            0
.xt.prop._ZTISt9bad_alloc                                         12            0
.xt.prop._ZTVN10__cxxabiv117__class_type_infoE                    12            0
.xt.lit._ZNK9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_error4whatEv            8            0
.xt.lit._ZNK9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_error4whatEv          8            0
.xt.lit._ZN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorD5Ev                8            0
.xt.lit._ZN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorD5Ev              8            0
.xt.lit._ZN9__gnu_cxx7__mutex4lockEv                               8            0
.xt.lit._ZN9__gnu_cxx13__scoped_lockD5Ev                           8            0
.xt.prop._ZNK9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_error4whatEv          48            0
.xt.prop._ZNK9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_error4whatEv        48            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorD5Ev              12            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorD5Ev            12            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx7__mutex4lockEv                             60            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx13__scoped_lockD5Ev                         12            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorD2Ev              36            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorD2Ev            36            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorD0Ev              36            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorD0Ev            36            0
.xt.prop._ZN9__gnu_cxx13__scoped_lockD2Ev                         72            0
.xt.prop._ZTIN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorE               12            0
.xt.prop._ZTIN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorE             12            0
.xt.prop._ZTVN9__gnu_cxx24__concurrence_lock_errorE               12            0
.xt.prop._ZTVN9__gnu_cxx26__concurrence_unlock_errorE             12            0
.xt.prop._ZTVSt9bad_alloc                                         12            0
.xt.prop._ZTVN10__cxxabiv120__si_class_type_infoE                 12            0
.debug_line                                                   557328            0
.debug_info                                                  1175663            0
.debug_abbrev                                                 148980            0
.debug_aranges                                                 26736            0
.debug_frame                                                   67616            0
.debug_loc                                                    468255            0
.debug_ranges                                                  27904            0
.debug_str                                                    203941            0
Total                                                        2865486
===================================================================================================== [SUCCESS] Took 3.28 seconds =====================================================================================================
PS C:\Users\Mike\Documents\PlatformIO\Projects\CD_Motor_Spin>

I mean build flags… Try to run these commands:

pio run -t clean
pio run -v

You should see -D F_CPU

I do see it (see below). I have tried re-making it with:
“board_build.f_cpu = 160000000L”
and
“board_build.f_cpu = 240000000L”

using this for both attempts

pio run -t clean
pio run -v

When I clean and build again i do see that "-DF_CPU= " what I set in the platform.ini file. However uploading it has no affect on the speed. I should also note that the speed on the GPIO pin shows its always running at 240MHZ regardless what I set “board_build.f_cpu =” to, and what “-DF_CPU=” stated in the build process.
.

I then jumped over to IDF using mingw32.exe and tried this example,

#include <stdio.h>
#include "driver/gpio.h"
#include "sdkconfig.h"

#define BLINK_GPIO 4

void app_main()
{
 
    gpio_pad_select_gpio(BLINK_GPIO);
    gpio_set_direction(BLINK_GPIO, GPIO_MODE_OUTPUT);

    while(1)
    {
        gpio_set_level(BLINK_GPIO, 0);
         gpio_set_level(BLINK_GPIO, 1);
    }


}

running menuconfig I changed it to 160MHZ & 240MHZ and it does indeed change the speed of the waveform.

Here is the output when I had “board_build.f_cpu = 160000000L”

Done cleaning
===================================================================================================== [SUCCESS] Took 1.83 seconds =====================================================================================================
PS C:\Users\Mike\Documents\PlatformIO\Projects\GPIOTest> pio run -v
Processing esp32dev (monitor_port: COM5; board_build.f_cpu: 160000000L; framework: arduino; monitor_speed: 115200; platform: espressif32; upload_speed: 921600; board: esp32dev; upload_port: COM5)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIGURATION: https://docs.platformio.org/page/boards/espressif32/esp32dev.html
PLATFORM: Espressif 32 > Espressif ESP32 Dev Module
SYSTEM: ESP32 160MHz 320KB RAM (4MB Flash)
DEBUG: CURRENT(esp-prog) EXTERNAL(esp-prog, minimodule, olimex-arm-usb-ocd, olimex-arm-usb-ocd-h, olimex-arm-usb-tiny-h, olimex-jtag-tiny)
Library Dependency Finder -> http://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
LDF MODES: FINDER(chain) COMPATIBILITY(soft)
Collected 24 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
No dependencies
xtensa-esp32-elf-g++ -o .pioenvs\esp32dev\src\main.cpp.o -c -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions -std=gnu++11 -Os
-Wall -nostdlib -Wpointer-arith -Wno-error=unused-but-set-variable -Wno-error=unused-variable -mlongcalls
 -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fstrict-volatile-bitfields -Wno-error=deprecated-declarations -Wno-
error=unused-function -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -fstack-protector -fexceptions
 -DPLATFORMIO=30602 -DARDUINO_ESP32_DEV -DESP32 -DESP_PLATFORM -DF_CPU=160000000L
 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DMBEDTLS_CONFIG_FILE=\"mbedtls/esp_config.h\" -DARDUINO=10805

This is Arduino historical macro. Could you ask a help in GitHub - espressif/arduino-esp32: Arduino core for the ESP32?

They said the same thing there. So where does that leave us at ?

I think is better to ask here GitHub - espressif/arduino-esp32: Arduino core for the ESP32 . You should have access to ESP-IDF API from Arduino core.