Pi 3 overheating with CRT Shader

Marinho

I was getting a constant undervoltage warning which I solved by changing the USB cable. Now I'm having an overheat problem everytime I launch a game with the CRT shader on. I've Googled for a while and I haven't seen people reporting the same problem.

Playing games without shaders seems fine. I'm using the adafruit official case and no heat sink. I've read here at the forum that copper heatsinks makes no difference at all, so I wonder what else I can do.

Already tried to disable wifi and take the Raspberry out of the case but didn't make any difference.

Pi Model: 3 B+
RetroPie Version Used: 4.1
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Xbox 360 Wireless receiver
Controller used: Xbox 360 Wireless controller

No overclock has been done.

Any suggestions?

Marinho

I found the solution. I'm leaving the message here to help anyone who's going through the same trouble.

I messed around with the emulators launch configs and the default output mode was 1920x1080 60HZ 16:9 148MHz progressive, I tried with different settings and found that using 1280x720 60Hz 16:9 74MHz progressive gives me the perfect balance for image and performance without overheating the Raspberry Pi 3 using CRT shaders.

So if you're having the same problem try changing the output mode and find the sweet spot for you.

josete2k

@Marinho said in Pi 3 overheating with CRT Shader:

I found the solution. I'm leaving the message here to help anyone who's going through the same trouble.

I messed around with the emulators launch configs and the default output mode was 1920x1080 60HZ 16:9 148MHz progressive, I tried with different settings and found that using 1280x720 60Hz 16:9 74MHz progressive gives me the perfect balance for image and performance without overheating the Raspberry Pi 3 using CRT shaders.

So if you're having the same problem try changing the output mode and find the sweet spot for you.

Do I have to set the output in all emulators or can I set it in the global retroarch config file?

Thanks in advance.

josete2k

I usually change the output in PSX emulator because if not, some games are cutted down.

PSX to 720:

sudo nano /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

look for " psx" line

<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS psx %ROM%</command>

and change it with this:

<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 4 SYS psx %ROM%</command>

Just place a 4 in the 0.

Is this corect?

Marinho

I was facing this problem with the SNES and Genesis emulators, so those were the only ones I changed.

Curiously enough I never had problems with the PSX so right now it's running with the default settings.

I prefer to treat emulators independently, so I wouldn't change the global settings. But I think it's up to you.

josete2k

Well, you can test Crash Team Racing in two players mode...

davej

You could try underclocking the GPU. The Pi3 runs the 3D bits at 300Mhz instead of the 250Mhz of the Pi1/2. Look up setting the value of v3d_freq in config.txt. You won't be able to run the curved versions of the shader at full speed with that setting but the normal ones will be OK.

I suspect the main generator of extra temperature is the CPU. Running a Pi1 with the 3D bits at 300Mhz doesn't increase the temperature much.

Marinho

@davej Thanks! I'll try this as soon as I get home from work.

But won't underclock give me trouble when running more complex stuff like Nintendo 64 or PSX?

davej

@Marinho said in Pi 3 overheating with CRT Shader:

@davej Thanks! I'll try this as soon as I get home from work.

But won't underclock give me trouble when running more complex stuff like Nintendo 64 or PSX?

Assuming you're using the hardware accelerated emulators:- Possibly, although crt shaders tend to be more complex than those needed to emulate early 3D GPUs. You'll have to try it and see.

Marinho

@davej I tried to set the v3d_freq to 250 but it made no difference. I'm setting it back to default and keeping the resolution at 720p. So sad... =(

Werewolf

@Marinho Great thread, thanks for the info. I've been noticing the same thing here. Playing with shaders causes the system to run really hot. I thought it was just cause I was playing PSX games. But when the thermometer started showing up with SNES games I knew something was up.