Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?

Deltax5

@riverstorm said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

@deltax5 said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

should i put the tape on the bottom to?

Bottom? I'm not quite sure what you're asking.

THere is a black sqare underneeth the pie. SHould i put it there.
Also I posted a link help me pick one out from the canadian amazon.

Riverstorm

@deltax5 said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

THere is a black sqare underneeth the pie. SHould i put it there.
Also I posted a link help me pick one out from the canadian amazon.

I don't see the link. The large chip on top is the Broadcom chip. The one on the underside is the memory chip. If you're attaching a heatsink then I suppose it makes sense (make sure it still fits in the case) or possibly a case that comes in contact with the chip directly and the case is the heatsink so to speak. You might need to remove any paint or clear coat to make better thermal conductivity. It will work through paint and the tape will probably stick just fine but less resistance is better. It sound like you know what your doing. It's really pretty common sense stuff. You can always do some temp testing and make adjustments as the tape is fairly easy to remove.

caver01

Yesterday, I cracked open my arcade cabinet and checked my heat sink. It's on there good and solid. It is NOT sliding around. I have a very basic aluminum heat sink with tiny fingers/fin. Mine is one that I cut perfectly to size from an old Pentium heat sink to cover the Pi CPU. It is "attached" with Arctic Silver heatsink compound.

Initially, this stuff goes on smooth, like a thick paste. I wondered if my sink would slide around, but it hasn't. Applying the right amount results in good vacuum adhesion. It has been more than a year with the Pi mounted upside-down, and the sink has not moved at all. Today when I checked it, it is solid. I am sure I could pry it off, but touching it does not cause it to move. The heat sink compound has effectively hardened as expected through the hot/cold cycles.

I wanted to mention all of this to folks that are worried about using the right thermal conducting material. If you don't overdo it, good thermal compound does work without the need to strap anything down. A 2-part CPU adhesive might be more secure (and permanent), but at this point, I am convinced enough to use regular thermal compound again on my next project. Of course, your mileage may vary. A much larger heat sink may not stay put like mine does, but after a year of no overheat/throttling, this works well.

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

I cracked open my arcade cabinet and checked my heat sink. It's on there good and solid. It is NOT sliding around. I have a very basic aluminum heat sink with tiny fingers/fin.

Thanks for the update Caver my plan is try straight up thermal grease the next time I peel my heatsink off. The tape pulls up from the chip fine but from the heatsink itself it takes a bit of scraping with a soft-edged tool to avoid gouging the heatsink.

dojaruss

An Akasa alumnium case is the one I have been using over the last couple months. It comes with a thermal kit that turns the case into one big heat sink. I have not tried to overclock but have set the cpu governor to performance and have had no problems keeping the pi3 cool. The only place in the US I have been able to get the case from is Performance PC's online the model number is ARA03M1B and I think its around 26$

Deltax5

I ended up getting the first one

https://www.amazon.ca/Excellent-Cooling-System-Heatsink-Raspberry/dp/B072ZZ423F/ref=sr_1_41?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1505945213&sr=1-41&keywords=raspberry+pi+case
this is almost the same as the one you showed me. I think this one is better. COmes with better heatsinks with 3m tape pritty much perfect ilined. Just doesn't come with instructions. I may just put in a shoe box when not in use or something so no dust or filf gets to it.
I got a new 128 laxer sd card and loading it up as we speek. it's been on for like 6-7 hours now and it's at 41.c.
I had some truble taking off the old heatsinks and some of the tape was still there. I took most of it off just stuck the other heatsink on. Shouldn't be a issue. Wish this thing came with instuctions but with the images on amazon i figered it out. Also had to look at youtube where to put the wires for the fan.

Should I bother overclocking it for n64? I don't want to damage my pi if it's not worth it. that's the only emulater that im interested in that has issue's. Maybe satern with panzar dragoon 2.

dirthurts

@deltax5 said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

Should I bother overclocking it for n64? I don't want to damage my pi if it's not worth it. that's the only emulater that im interested in that has issue's. Maybe satern with panzar dragoon 2.

You can potentially get some small gains, but they'll be minimal. It's nothing that's going to take the game from unplayable to playable. I managed an extra 50 mhz out of mine...
But, the Flirc case does keep it mighty cool even under load. I cannot make it throttle, even running the CPU at 100%. Just make sure you get the gen 2 if you're looking for one.

Fatalblow

Just thought I'd add to this thread. I have used the Flirc case for my rpi2b for a long time and was never really bothered about temps. I just bought a rpi3 and Flirc gen2 case to use with retropie and decided to do some stress testing at stock clock. Temperature at stock with a room temp of 21c was around 35c but at full stress, 85c after 10 minutes and still climbing, it had also clocked itself down to 800mhz. I went to touch the case thinking that maybe the CPU wasn't making proper contact with the case and it was severely hot so I'm guessing that's not a problem! I've just sat a 120mm fan over the whole thing and temps have dropped to 65.5c and have been stable for 20 mins. So unfortunately, passive cooling alone is not good enough for my particular board :(.

caver01

@fatalblow Thanks for adding this. . . I am considering the NESPI case for my next project and I was getting a little worried about cooling. Passive with a heat sink is obviously the default, and the NESPI does have the option to add a small fan but after your description of the Flirc (which was a potential fallback idea) it seems prudent to assume I will need the fan, and possibly something more creative since the fan option for NESPI is only a 30mm and I have no idea about airflow in that thing (I guess it has vents). Also, most reviews of 30mm fans say they move very little air. Now, maybe because all of this is so small, a little air movement goes a long way, but I suspect more air movement is better! Still, I don't want a screaming loud fan either.

Are you using a Flirc gen 2 as @dirthurts suggested above?

I suppose I could just setup a nice little beer fridge next to the TV and build my project inside the ice section of that.

Fatalblow

@caver01 No problem... and yes, it's definitely a gen 2 model. I'm now looking at other cases with fans that I'll probably end up modding a bit to ensure proper airflow. I have to say, I never thought a pi3 would get this hot! :-).

Maybe a beer fridge isn't that bad an idea... lol

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Best case to keep raspberry pie 3 cool?:

I suppose I could just setup a nice little beer fridge next to the TV and build my project inside the ice section of that.

It sounds like a man cave in the making! ;)

I've never used anything bigger than 30MM which has always been sufficient. I think more important than bigger is managing air flow (if the Pi is completely enclosed) moving air over the components and exhausting it.

Basically seal the case, manage the air intake to keep negative pressure and it will move toward the fan. Like a PC pulling air from the front/side and venting back/top. I've never been a big proponent for positive pressure even though it will keep dust out better.

You could add a 2nd fan for intake but that just seems overkill unless you're a cooling enthusiast.

My case is completely open on all sides with the fan above the CPU pulling air straight up. I don't think much is going on there except it's pulling hot air straight up which pulls cool air from the sides but it runs very cool.

85c after 10 minutes and still climbing, it had also clocked itself down to 800mhz.

That sounds right as warnings (temp gauge upper right corner) start at 80C and auto-downclocking at 85C. I think optimal is 70C or below to cover all components as some of the miscellaneous chips are rated at lower max temps but I suppose that's harder to nail down the temp of some chip sitting off to the side of the CPU or memory.