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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Is it ok to leave EmuStation running 24/7? (overheat question)

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    • R
      rapidfire
      last edited by

      ive got a rpi3b running retropie 4.2
      no overclock
      heatsink on cpu. heatsink gets hot to the touch.

      i would like to know if its a good thing to leave emulation station running 24/7, so i can just pick up and play at a moments notice?

      i ask because the other day emustation started slowing down a lot (took a minute to quit emulation station back to terminal)
      and the text on the screen said both the cpu and gpu were 72% Celsius (thats about 150F isnt it??)

      i dont know why it would overheat (or if indeed that is classified as overheating) when all it was doing was displaying a theme onscreen and no games or anything else running.

      should i not be running it all the time? are there known bugs with emustation after its been on for an extended time?

      AlexMurphyA 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • AlexMurphyA
        AlexMurphy Banned @rapidfire
        last edited by

        @rapidfire I wouldn't to be honest. My Pi, official case and heat-sinks gets pretty hot just sitting in the Emulation Station menus. I drop out to the terminal using F4 or quit out through the menu and this will just let the Pi idle with no graphical UI running and it will run a lot cooler. To start again just type emulationstation and you'll be back in within seconds.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • AlexMurphyA
          AlexMurphy Banned @rapidfire
          last edited by

          @rapidfire As for running all the time, I just keep my 2 Pi 3s running constantly. They only get turned off briefly for a reboot or to be moved. They use such little power, pennies a week, that it makes no sense to turn them off. To me anyway.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • dankcushionsD
            dankcushions Global Moderator
            last edited by

            @rapidfire
            are you running videos in emulationstation? i understand that is pretty cpu heavy.

            i've let my pi3 run 24/7 with ES running for about a year. no overheat issues. it uses about 5-8% of one core when idling for me.

            AlexMurphyA R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • AlexMurphyA
              AlexMurphy Banned @dankcushions
              last edited by

              @dankcushions I must admit I do run background music. Probably should have mentioned that. No video snaps though.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • R
                rapidfire @dankcushions
                last edited by

                @dankcushions said in Is it ok to leave EmuStation running 24/7? (overheat question):

                @rapidfire
                are you running videos in emulationstation? i understand that is pretty cpu heavy.

                i've let my pi3 run 24/7 with ES running for about a year. no overheat issues. it uses about 5-8% of one core when idling for me.

                no i dont use videos

                i tried them briefly, but i found they were quite choppy and so removed them all, deleted the gamelists and rescraped with just basic images

                how do you monitor all these things like temp and core usage while emustation is running?
                is there some sort of onscreen display i can set, like fraps on a pc?

                D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  steptoe
                  last edited by

                  I bought a tiny fan that cost about £1 from Hong Kong but 3 weeks delivery, and superglued it to the top of the large heatsink I have on the RPI3 powered directly from the GPIO. It takes so little current and comes on only when the RPI3 is powered up. Running very heavy stress tests showed the rPI3 barely get over 40c no matter how long I left it running for

                  It wasn't an official heatsink though, large 25mmx25mmx30mm aluminium heatsink that was cut down so it overlaps the CPU and glued on using heatsink glue. Basically heatsink paste and epoxy. Cost about £2 a small tube of that and works great once you leave it to set overnight

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                  • D
                    dudleydes @rapidfire
                    last edited by

                    @rapidfire To measure temperature, you can run the command vcgencmd measure_temp via SSH, either from a PC or a mobile app such as ConnectBot.

                    Alternatively, you can install a monitoring app such the free Android app, RaspPi Check.

                    R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • XVOX
                      XVO
                      last edited by XVO

                      72°C is a bit to hot if you ask me. I have my pi built into a Nes case with a 80mm fan in the case, it doesn't even reach 60°C when leaving it on.
                      On Kodi it stays below 40°C.
                      And I leave my pi on all the time because of the power usage.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • R
                        rapidfire @dudleydes
                        last edited by

                        @dudleydes said in Is it ok to leave EmuStation running 24/7? (overheat question):

                        @rapidfire To measure temperature, you can run the command vcgencmd measure_temp via SSH, either from a PC or a mobile app such as ConnectBot.

                        Alternatively, you can install a monitoring app such the free Android app, RaspPi Check.

                        can that ssh command be run whilst emulationstation is running or do i need to quit out?

                        i havent got android, so is there a way to monitor emustation whilst it, or any emulators, are runnings?
                        (if that command doesnt actually do that)

                        D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • D
                          dudleydes @rapidfire
                          last edited by

                          @rapidfire You can run the command vcgencmd measure_temp via SSH regardless of what your Pi is doing, whether it's idle in EmulationStation or terminal or whether it's running an emulator.

                          There are probably SSH client and/or Pi monitoring apps available for the OS of any mobile devices you may have. For example, here is how to get started in iOS. You will need to enable SSH on your Pi first.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • P
                            packetm0n
                            last edited by

                            I just registered to say that it's fine. I leave my pi3 in a clear case (it's not the official one, but it's a popular one brand I forgot). No heat sink no fan. For about 95% of the day it sits idle waiting for a electronic coin to be deposited.

                            Sometimes I add extra packages on top. Right now it's doubling as an ad sinkhole with pi-hole ( https://pi-hole.net/ ) and it's happily sitting at about 59C.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • A
                              Arcuza
                              last edited by

                              I've had my PI 3 running for 93 days without ever shutting down. Emulation Station goes into a dimmed mode after a few minutes. What that does for power consumption, I don't know.

                              4 hours since last play system temperature is 42c. We have 21c in house. I don't have a heat sink, but I haven't attached the top lid either.

                              The nice thing about having it running 24x7 is that is gets out of dimmed mode nicely by pushing the X-button on the Xbox 360 controller and you're good to go...

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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