Question for Chewitt

  • I remember that you recommended ditching the Argone One case and since LibreElec is now getting to the point where I can use my TV remote (just need a few weird key presses - including the eHelp key! - to enable the FF, rewind & stop buttons) I need to start looking for a new case. Are there any you can recommend with a temperature controlled fan?

    TIA

  • Living in the Scottish Highlands we don't get many hot days but last year we did get some and my RPi3 did display its little thermometer icon (took me a while to figure out what it was). Its in an aluminium case with heatsinks fitted so I'm thinking give the RPi4 some extra cooling.

    Is there a reason for recommending against a fan or is it preference? I understand that most of the time it will run cool enough which is why I want a controlled rather than on all the time one.

  • I'm in Dubai which means despite it reaching 50ºC outside in mid-summer the RPi4 is used in an air-conditioned environment, albeit stuffed in a semi-open cupboard (five sides closed, one side open behind speaker-cloth) where temps are somewhat higher than the ambient 24-25ºC of the apartment. It's personal preference, but I don't want to hear the spin up/down of fans during a movie.

  • Our lounge normally runs 16ºC to 20ºC but with its south facing window and a good sunny day it can reach 28ºC. The latter doesn't happen very often I'm happy to say.

    I agree with you about not wanting to hear fans spinning up and down which is why I was thinking about temperature controlled just to stop the cpu boiling itself. I'll give the Flirc case a go and see what happens.

  • LybsterKodi personally i'm using a cheap armour case and on top of it i have a (expensive, i must admit) Noctua fan without any fan speed control (used to have such a control with the case's original, cinese fans) and it's deadly silent even during the night.

    And temperature went down by at least 12°C, sitting around 30°C when idle and around 37°C when using Kodi to watch a movie (1080p at max).

    Rpi4 runs at 1800MHz.

  • RPi4 was designed to run way hotter than most people are mentally prepared to run their devices. Remember when it first launched and the average temps were over 65ºC?

  • Chewitt

    I think you're right. My i7 laptop idles around 40ºC, my old core2 duo idled at around 25ºC. I didn't get worried until the RPi3 started showing a flickering icon in the corner which when I wandered over to the TV turned out to be a thermometer. I think it should have been accompanied by a message "please strap ice cube to case"

  • Nothing has ever beaten the 85ºC that one of my mk1 AppleTV boxes once reached :)

    Pah, that's nothing. The poor quadcore i7 in my laptop is usually around 100°C (at which point it throttles a bit) after a while when building LE.

    Critical CPU temp is 105° so although it's not optimal (thermal designs of laptops have their limits) it's also nothing to worry about.

    so long,

    Hias