In this guide, we will show you the steps to flash various custom kernels on your Pixel 8 Pro device. When it comes to custom development, then the devices from the Silicon Valley giant have time and again proven themselves to be quite an active player in this domain. It usually gets blessed with tons of custom ROMs, mods, and tweaks, not to mention the ability to easily obtain root which opens the floodgates to the plethora of mods and tweaks.
However, there’s another useful advanced tweak that doesn’t get the appreciation that it deserves, mostly because it’s reserved for advanced users. As you might have got an idea or two, we are talking about custom kernels. You’ll be able to extract the most out of your device, especially in terms of performance, but at the same time, your device won’t overheat or lead to additional battery drainage, all thanks to the efficient under-the-hood tweaks that these kernels behold.
CPU Governors
Some of the most noteworthy features of a custom kernel include the ability to overclock or underclock the device’s GPU and CPU depending on the need and requirement of a user and the current tasks being executed. Likewise, you could also choose from a set of CPU Governor Profiles.
For the unaware, the Governor Profiles controls how the CPU raises and lowers its frequency in response to the tasks being carried out on the device. Moreover, there exists over 100 different types of CPU Governor Profiles, namely [Credits: XDA Recognized Contributor Saber]:
- OnDemand
- OnDemandX
- Performance
- Powersave
- Conservative
- Userspace
- Min Max
- Interactive
- InteractiveX
- Smartass
- SmartassV2
- Scary
- Lagfree
- Smoothass
- Brazilianwax
- SavageZen
- Lazy
- Lionheart
- LionheartX
- Intellidemand
- Hotplug
- Badass
- Wheatley
- Lulzactive
- PegasusQ\PegasusD
- HotplugX
- Abyssplug
- MSM DCVS
- Intelliactive
- Adaptive
- Nightmare
- ZZmove
- Sleepy
- Hyper
- SmartassH3
- SLP
- NeoX
- ZZmanX
- OndemandPlus
- Dynamic Interactive (DynInteractive)
- Smartmax
- Ktoonservative\KtoonservativeQ
- Performance may cry (PMC)
- Dance Dance
- AbyssPlugv2
- IntelliMM
- InteractivePro
- Slim
- Ondemand EPS
- Smartmax EPS
- Uberdemand
- Yankactive
- Impulse
- Bacon
- Optimax
- Preservative
- Touchdemand
- ElementalX
- Bioshock
- Blu_active
- Umbrella_core
- ConservativeX
- Hyrdxq
- DevilQ
- Yankasusq
- Darkness
- Alucard
- Hellsactive
- Ragingmolasses
- Virtuous
- Sakuractive
- InteractiveX v2
- Alessa
- GallimaufryX
- AggressiveX
- Tripndroid
- Wrexy
- Xperience
- Stockdemand
- Zeneractive
- InteractiveB
- Aggressive
- IntellidemandV2
- Boostactive
- Wave
- Barry-Allen
- Arteractive
- Precognition (PrecoGOV)
- Mythx_plug
- PegasusQPlus
- Yankdemand
- HyperX
- Despair
- Electroactive
- Electrodemand
- Lionfish
- Interextrem
- Cafactive
- Lightning
- ThunderX
- sched-DVFS
- Intel
- Frankenstein
- Cyan
- TheSSJactive
- Chill
- sprdemand
- Kraken
- Ironactive
- Nebula
- Relaxed
- Crazyactive
- thenewbeginning
- Cultivation
- Schedutil
- pwrutilx
- blu_schedutil
I/O Schedulers
By default, many OEMs lock the I/O scheduler so that you cannot modify its value and improve the performance, however, you could easily remove this restriction by rooting your device. Once that is done, you could then change the Schedulers values to raise your device’s performance and even gain a slight increase in battery life. In this regard, there exists a total of 14 schedulers that you could choose from, namely [Credits: XDA Recognized Contributor Saber]::
- CFQ
- Deadline
- VR
- Noop
- BFQ
- FIOPS (Fair IOPS)
- SIO (Simple I/O)
- ROW
- ZEN
- SIOplus
- FIFO (First in First Out)
- Tripndroid
- Test
- Maple
So with this, you would have got a decent idea regarding kernels. Let’s now make you aware of the steps to flash custom kernels on the Pixel 8 Pro. Before starting, please take a backup of all the data on your device. Thedroidwin will not be held responsible if something happens to your device and data after performing the below steps.
Flash Sultan Custom Kernel on Pixel 8 Pro
Credit for this kernel goes to XDA Recognized Developer Sultanxda.
Features
- Works with dm-verity/verification enabled
- Capacity Aware Superset Scheduler (CASS), a custom CPU scheduler that improves battery life and performance
- Tensor AIO, a custom DEVFREQ driver that dynamically controls RAM and L3-cache speed for better battery life and latency
- Simple LMK, a custom low memory killer that improves memory management
- Improved thermals, so the device runs cooler
- Improved single-core and multi-core CPU performance, especially when the CPU is thermal throttled
- Improved idle battery drain when the device is in deep sleep
- Improved touch latency
- Improved gaming performance
- Improved stability: fixed dozens of random reboots, freezes, memory leaks, and performance bugs that exist in the stock kernel
- Compiled with GCC 13.2 and Link Time Optimization (LTO)
- Many other advanced improvements not listed here
How to Flash Sultan Custom Kernel
- To begin with, root your device via Magisk [compulsory]
- After that, download and install the Kernel Flasher app.
- Now launch the app and you’ll get a SuperUser Request.
- Make sure to tap Grant in the pop-up to give root access.
Credits: XDA Developers - Tap on View next to the Slot which is currently mounted.
- Then tap on Backup and take a backup of your stock kernel.
- Now tap Flash and select the custom kernel. It will be flashed.
- Once done, hit Reboot. Your device will reboot to the OS.
That’s it. These were the steps to download, install, and flash custom kernels on Pixel 8 Pro. We will regularly update this post as and when a new kernel goes live for your device. In the meantime, if you have any queries with regard to the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.
