Afternoon, Well my pi 4 (4GB RAM) has been getting little attention seeing as Libreelec is not 100% stable for it but for work I was able to use it for a product that we sell (product needs a vm to run a java app to scan files and this is usually a VM)
I was using a hacked pi 3 case as I had plenty around but as everyone knows (unless you are in bunker planning on Nuking Mars) the new Raspberry Pi 4 runs *Very* Warm. I tried a little fan with the hacked base but i hate the noise from the fans 🙂
so thinking back to my boring afternoon when I run some tests on cooling my Pi 3 I decided to do the same with the Pi 4 with a passive case, results are below, in a nutshell, get the case and some good tape (3mm thick) and your sorted, the case on its own with supplied tape (1mm think) is rubbish as the pads are too thin and doesn’t make contact with metal.
Parts Needed
1x Raspberry Pi 4B Protective Box CNC Aluminum Alloy Case Cover Enclosure (£6.89 from eBay)
1x AAB Cooling Thermopad 20x130x3 – 6W/mK (£4.79 from Amazon)
Commands Run
- To check temp
vcgencmd measure_temp - To run stress test for 2 mins
stress –cpu 8 –io 4 –vm 2 –vm-bytes 128M –timeout 120s
Stuff I cannot control
Temp outside = 27.0c
The case was cool when installed
Brexit = what is the UK thinking
Results
Idel temp | 2 mins load temp | after 1 mins rest | |
Stock | 57.0c | 70.0c | 63.0c |
heatsink case | 48.0c | 57.0c | 53.0c |
heatsink case + better tape | 40.0c | 50.0c | 45.0c |
heatsink case + better tape + bottom | 39.0c | 47.0c | 44.0c |
heatsink case + better tape + bottom + power corner | 38.0c | 46.0c | 43.0c |
Set Ups
Stock
heatsink case
heatsink case + better tape
heatsink case + better tape + bottom
heatsink case + better tape + bottom + power corner
Comment below with your thoughts or similar experiences.