http://www.techradar.com/pro/linux December 2019 LXF257 57Cooling your Pi TUTORIALS
The Jun_Electronic Aluminium Heatsink and Fan offers a good general
level of cooling – this unit is sturdy and well-protected.Don’t be fooled by the size of the Pimoroni
Fan Shim – it will keep your Pi 4 cool and
retains access to the GPIO.(CSI) and Display (DSI), and Power over Ethernet (PoE)- plus their ease of assembly.
A stock Raspberry Pi 4 can quite happily run without
much issue if used as a generic computer, or in projects
that use the GPIO. If we push the Pi past 80°C then the
CPU will throttle the speed in order to cool itself. This
drop in speed is noticeable to users as it causes
applications and the operating system to slow down
or halt if pushed too far.
If you need to keep your Pi 4 running at top speed
for longer, cooling is required, and here are five cooling
solutions that we tested for you.
Pimoroni Aluminium Heatsink Case
For passive cooling – with no moving parts, just a large
heatsink – the current best solution is the Aluminium
(Al isn’t the best of heat conductor options–Ed)
Heatsink Case from Pimoroni. Coming as a two-part
metal kit with four hex screws, this case is super-simple
to assemble, requiring only that we apply the thermal
pad to the CPU, then close up the case.
This silent cooling solution claims to drop 15°C from
the stock CPU temperature, but in our tests it managed
a drop of just 2°C. The supplied thermal pad was the
issue – it only made partial contact with the case, as it
was so thin. If passive cooling is your top priority, invest
in a thicker thermal pad or use thermal paste to make
good contact between the case and Pi.
That said, this case is very usable and does provide
enough cooling to run a Pi 4 all day. It provides access
to the GPIO, but a HAT board will need to use a header
extension. Access to PoE, CSI and DSI connections are
possible, but must be made before securing the case.
The PoE connection is rather awkward to achieve, but
possible with extension headers.
All of the other ports are exposed and easily
accessible, including the microSD card port which is
easy to access even for large hands. Consider this case
if you need silent cooling and don’t plan to overclock.Jun_Electronic Aluminium Heatsink
At first glance this looks just like Pimoroni’s case, and
yes, it is very close. But this version has two 20mm fans
which are powered directly from the 5V and GND pins
of the GPIO. The case can be used passively, with
similar performance to Pimoroni’s version. But addingPassive cooling
relies on a large
surface area to
which heat is
transferred and
then released
into the air via
convection. This
means that the
heatsink will
often get very
hot, so take
precautions.the fans drops the idle temperature to 37°C, and under
load for four minutes the temperature was 47°C – a full
16°C less than Pimoroni’s. With great passive and active
cooling this case can keep your Pi cool under load for a
full day.
The case is made of two parts and they are secured
together using four hex screws. It offers the same
access to ports as the Pimoroni, including making
connections to the CSI and DSI before closing the case.
Fan noise is low, no louder than a typical laptop fan
running at idle. If you want a solid case with good
cooling, this is an ideal choice.Pimoroni Fan Shim
This is the smallest and cheapest active cooling
solution. A shim is a board which connects to the GPIO
while retaining access to the pins, thanks to a rather
snug fit to the topmost series of pins. The Fan Shim
offers excellent cooling when constantly turned on. At
idle we see 29°C, the lowest temperature in our test,
and under full load for four minutes the temperature
was 45°C. This tiny little fan blows cold air directly onto
the CPU and can be used all day.
You can use a Python script to detect the CPU
temperature via an onboard sensor. If the temperature
goes over 65°C (by default), it will trigger the fan to
come on, and if the temperature drops below 55°C the
fan turns off. Of course, these values can be altered to
suit your preferences.
The Fan Shim does not block access to any ports,
and it can be used with Pimoroni’s cases. It can be used
with the PoE board but the clearance between the two
is very tight. If you need a simple and effective cooling
solution, this is the one!GeeekPi Aluminium Case
This is a cheap case and that was evident in the build
quality, with sections of the aluminium case having
nasty burrs. The case is relatively easy to assemble,
coming as a series of aluminium sections held together
with screws. A little force is required to ensure that the
case is square, and in our build we had to move the
microSD panel a little to ensure that the case fitted
snugly around the Pi.5556Decmbr rb6c2019b21showu December 2019 LXF257 57
Cooling your Pi TUTORIALS
The Jun_Electronic Aluminium Heatsink and Fan offers a good general
level of cooling – this unit is sturdy and well-protected.Don’t be fooled by the size of the Pimoroni
Fan Shim – it will keep your Pi 4 cool and
retains access to the GPIO.(CSI) and Display (DSI), and Power over Ethernet (PoE)
- plus their ease of assembly.
A stock Raspberry Pi 4 can quite happily run without
much issue if used as a generic computer, or in projects
that use the GPIO. If we push the Pi past 80°C then the
CPU will throttle the speed in order to cool itself. This
drop in speed is noticeable to users as it causes
applications and the operating system to slow down
or halt if pushed too far.
If you need to keep your Pi 4 running at top speed
for longer, cooling is required, and here are five cooling
solutions that we tested for you.
Pimoroni Aluminium Heatsink Case
For passive cooling – with no moving parts, just a large
heatsink – the current best solution is the Aluminium
(Al isn’t the best of heat conductor options–Ed)
Heatsink Case from Pimoroni. Coming as a two-part
metal kit with four hex screws, this case is super-simple
to assemble, requiring only that we apply the thermal
pad to the CPU, then close up the case.
This silent cooling solution claims to drop 15°C from
the stock CPU temperature, but in our tests it managed
a drop of just 2°C. The supplied thermal pad was the
issue – it only made partial contact with the case, as it
was so thin. If passive cooling is your top priority, invest
in a thicker thermal pad or use thermal paste to make
good contact between the case and Pi.
That said, this case is very usable and does provide
enough cooling to run a Pi 4 all day. It provides access
to the GPIO, but a HAT board will need to use a header
extension. Access to PoE, CSI and DSI connections are
possible, but must be made before securing the case.
The PoE connection is rather awkward to achieve, but
possible with extension headers.
All of the other ports are exposed and easily
accessible, including the microSD card port which is
easy to access even for large hands. Consider this case
if you need silent cooling and don’t plan to overclock.
Jun_Electronic Aluminium Heatsink
At first glance this looks just like Pimoroni’s case, and
yes, it is very close. But this version has two 20mm fans
which are powered directly from the 5V and GND pins
of the GPIO. The case can be used passively, with
similar performance to Pimoroni’s version. But adding
Passivecooling
reliesona large
surfaceareato
whichheatis
transferredand
thenreleased
intotheairvia
convection.This
meansthatthe
heatsinkwill
oftengetvery
hot,sotake
precautions.the fans drops the idle temperature to 37°C, and under
load for four minutes the temperature was 47°C – a full
16°C less than Pimoroni’s. With great passive and active
cooling this case can keep your Pi cool under load for a
full day.
The case is made of two parts and they are secured
together using four hex screws. It offers the same
access to ports as the Pimoroni, including making
connections to the CSI and DSI before closing the case.
Fan noise is low, no louder than a typical laptop fan
running at idle. If you want a solid case with good
cooling, this is an ideal choice.Pimoroni Fan Shim
This is the smallest and cheapest active cooling
solution. A shim is a board which connects to the GPIO
while retaining access to the pins, thanks to a rather
snug fit to the topmost series of pins. The Fan Shim
offers excellent cooling when constantly turned on. At
idle we see 29°C, the lowest temperature in our test,
and under full load for four minutes the temperature
was 45°C. This tiny little fan blows cold air directly onto
the CPU and can be used all day.
You can use a Python script to detect the CPU
temperature via an onboard sensor. If the temperature
goes over 65°C (by default), it will trigger the fan to
come on, and if the temperature drops below 55°C the
fan turns off. Of course, these values can be altered to
suit your preferences.
The Fan Shim does not block access to any ports,
and it can be used with Pimoroni’s cases. It can be used
with the PoE board but the clearance between the two
is very tight. If you need a simple and effective cooling
solution, this is the one!GeeekPi Aluminium Case
This is a cheap case and that was evident in the build
quality, with sections of the aluminium case having
nasty burrs. The case is relatively easy to assemble,
coming as a series of aluminium sections held together
with screws. A little force is required to ensure that the
case is square, and in our build we had to move the
microSD panel a little to ensure that the case fitted
snugly around the Pi.