Raspberry Pi 4 Cooling

Raspberry Pi 4B cooling solutions and sysbench stress tests, including running the Pi 4 in its official case, in a Pimoroni Coupe case with a heat sink, and with a 40mm Noctua fan in a custom, 3D printed mount.

The Pi 4 Pibow Coupe 4 case is here:

And the Pimoronic 40x30x5mm heat sink is here:

(affiliate links). But do shop around for the best alternatives. You will need a hacksaw to cut these to size.

The STL files for my 3D printable mount can be found on Thingiverse here:

To put everything together, you will need 4 x M2 25mm bolts an 4x M2 nuts to fix the Pi in the mount (or 20mm bolts if you just use the top portion), as well as 4 x M3 15mm (or longer) bolts and 4 x M3 nuts to position the fan (well, you could get away with just two nuts and bolts).

#RaspberryPi #Cooling #ExplainingComputers

[mdtaylor]

Pin me Chris! Fellow friends, let's all hit that like button and share the videos. I absolutely love this channel and it'll be excellent to see Chris get 1 million subscribers. Already half way there! 👍🏼

[JunafaniFIN]

Since many have asked in the comments what the results would be with official case open but without heatsink, I decided to test it. Installed newest Raspbian to SD card, put my Pi 4 4GB to official case but removed the top part and ran the same test script.


Here are the results:
temp=65.0'C
temp=81.0'C
temp=82.0'C
temp=81.0'C
temp=82.0'C
temp=81.0'C
temp=82.0'C
temp=81.0'C


Test took 12 minutes and 55 seconds to finish, so 2 minutes longer than with heatsink. Ambient temperature room tempeerature was about 26 degrees but Pi was on the floor where it was perhaps few degrees cooler.

[SirSmartyPants]

Next up liquid nitrogen. Nothing like a frozen raspberry pi.

[ravagingwolverine]

Very nice comparison of different cooling methods. The video clearly demonstrates the Pi's heating issues. It seems the official case is only useful to store the Pi 4 when not in use and disconnected.

[williamjames]

A clear and uncluttered video, goes straight to the point and gives a solution. If the Pi 4 gets that hot it might even make a cup of tea - a hitch hikers Brownian motion producer.

[RockyBMusic]

Thank you, just done the Test
temp=36.0'C
temp=49.0'C
temp=51.0'C
temp=50.0'C
temp=50.0'C
temp=50.0'C
temp=51.0'C
temp=50.0'C
with the normal Pi Cooler and a 5V Fan

[phildodd]

Great ! This is the video that is so important for users of this new SBC ! Going back to the Pi 3B and 3B+, at least a heatsink if not an active cooling solution IS needed for real-time activities such as SDR ( software-defined radio ), which I run on a 3B. Quite often without a heatsink, the SBC "stutters" ( cuts out for part of a second ), or "goes into the red" as regards overheating. So YES, your previous "active-cooling" work HAS been very valuable in those situations. Your final solution with the Pi 4 is obviously the one to go for, for anyone doing more than the most basic work - people dreaming of running two HDMI screens, and using the Pi for streaming video, or indeed SDR as I do, really need to opt for you final solution to "stay cool". Overheating reduces the life of any computer systems, and throughout me career over 30 years in the computer industry, cooling was a mandatory part of computer installations. It certainly needs to be with the Pi 4B. What worries me is the number of school classrooms who will be installing these SBCs over the school holidays. I just HOPE that the installers will install then with active cooling systems. Children have very sensitive hands as compared to adults, and we don't want children burned by the heat, especially when they take the lids off the SBCs, as children are prone to do. Thanks for this very valuable video, Chris, and please ALL educators take note of Chris's findings !

[rudikroch]

Very cool Chris, thanks! My only objection is: During the 2nd test (when you first added the heat sink), was the improved result due to the added heat sink or due to the increased ventilation? You changed two parameters at once, so it's difficult to say which had the biggest effect. Would it be possible to include results from running a bare Pi4 out of the case first, before adding the heat sink?

[Alexanderkermani]

That's awesome. This is the sort of stuff that I subscribed for. You, it turns out, are the cooling king.

[supersupermao]

I swear your channel and you look like you came straight out of the 80ties and i love that aesthetic

[neelstheron]

In South Africa, during the hot summer months, it is essential that you make use of a fan and decent heat sink. I must say that I love your Noctua fan fitting kit.

[jawuku]

I've done the test on a Pimoroni case with the fan shim.


Here are the results (ambient temp. 21'C):


temp=60.0'C
temp=64.0'C
temp=67.0'C
temp=63.0'C
temp=61.0'C
temp=65.0'C
temp=63.0'C
temp=66.0'C

[Bippy]

July 21, 2019 - Great COOL tech video, Chris. In electrical engineering classes, we spent a great deal of time about heat management of solid state devices (and nearby passive devices too, such as power resistors). I think today's tech does a near lousy job of moving hot air through earphone jack holes and speaker holes. When using a heat sink, it is also important to provide cool air across the heat sink fins. And then channel the heat flow out. Motorcycle engines do this very well. A coat of paint on the fins degrades a heat sink dramatically. Your new vid proves a basic yet overlooked point: Manage the pathway of semi-conductor produced heat. Details matter. Thank you, Chris!

[call_me_stan]

Quite a beefy cooler for such a miniscule device, I must admit. But the results - well they speak for themselves! Well done!

[technicaladministrator]

I purchased the raspberry Pi Devastator Robot and the wireless keyboard after watching one of your your videos. I had a few days off work and spent the time building the robot and connecting it to the Pi Zero and Pi 4. I had lots of fun. I had problems having the Pi boot up by itself and running the Python program but stuck at it and got it to work. Lot of great support on the internet when there are problems. I will follow your other video and connect it up to th camera when I get some more days off work. Thanks

[extremelydave]

What a difference the fan makes, eh? I did already question the Pi factory enclosure so this answered THAT question quite

[sumdude]

So many choice, so many variations you can do with the options you did. Plus there's always other custom jobs others can do too.

[williamrutter]

Great video, watched on my raspberry pi with noctua active cooling, ceramic heat sinks and an over clock to boot, all this inside a snespi case, it never over heats, look forward to your next video keep up the good work.

[GraphicalRanger]

I purchased the FanShim fan from pimoroni and that works well also, to keep temps on the Pi=4 in check.

[larrywilliams]

If fan noise is an issue, one could connect the fan to the 3.3v pin. It wouuld, of course, be less efficient at the same time, perhaps two fans at 3.3v would be quiet and efficient.


Thanks for another great video.