Pi3 Overheating Suggestions

Alturis

I was reading this thread about others experiencing the thermometer icon showing up. I have noticed this from time to time since I have had the setup working but it usually shows up when compiling sources or otherwise doing intensive tasks. Never really showed up while playing a game until recently while playing a SNES rom. Seems to be a common issue it sounds like.

I was going to try and switch to the zfast shader over the default crt one and see if that helps. But as this thread is about a year old I was wondering if there were any updated suggestions from the community.

grant2258

@alturis said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

ther

you sure its not the power issue icon ?

gamesfan

Can you tell us about your setup? Do you have any heatsinks installed? Which ones? Thermal paste ? Any fans? Placements?

Usually a decent heat sink and small fan does the trick.

BobHarris

@alturis Snes is quite demanding for the Pi 3. During SMW2 Yoshi's island I saw temperatures of upwards 70 C.
I installed a small heatsink, but that lowered the temperature only 5 C or less. Then I installed a small fan, powered by the Pi and afterwards temperatures never went any higher than 50 C.

Alturis

I have the default heatsink that came with Pi3 when I original set it up. The Pi itself is in the original default case as well. Had it sitting around for a couple years without RetroPie installed yet. So don't have any details about what kind of heatsink that is etc.

No other solutions in place like fans.

I guess my other thought is if its really not a big deal for it to run as hot as 81 or 82 'C then is there a way to tune it so the thermometer doesnt show up until it gets hotter?

Using vcgencmd measure_temp I am sitting at about 81.7 right now and the thermometer is visible.

Alturis

@bobharris said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

Then I installed a small fan, powered by the Pi and afterwards temperatures never went any higher than 50 C.

Any suggestions or links to a good fan?

Edit: Nevermind looks like Amazon has a ton of products that all look pretty much the same. Thanks guys will get a fan.
Actually, if there is any particular fan that is quietest I would be interested to know.

BobHarris

@alturis

Yes don't buy this one:

I have it and after only a couple of weeks it started making a lot of noise during boot up.

Get this one made by Adafruit:

BobHarris

These are small fans so they will make some noise. But I can only hear it faintly when there is total silence. (Which almost never happens as I have background music in emulationstation.)
A bigger fan is less noisy, but will need a separate power supply.

Darksavior

@alturis If you want a silent setup and don't care for a novelty case, get the flirc gen 2 case. The case acts like a giant heatsink and it can also handle overclocking.

I found the zfast shader to be too sharp for my tastes, so I don't like it. crt-pi is just right..well the default is too dark, but I can increase the shader's brightness and then it's fine.

Alturis

@darksavior said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

flirc gen 2 case

So you are saying with this case I wont need a fan? My setup has the Pi3 completely contained and hidden away inside a bartop arcade cabinet so I dont care what it looks like at all. Just want to make sure it wont have an annoying fan noise.

quicksilver

@alturis I use this heat sink and a small 30mm case fan in my nespi case. Even with overclocking I never get above 55c even after running N64 for over an hour.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3082

I should add that even without the fan, just using the heatsink I never got hot enough to get throttled

Alturis

I think I am going to give this a try first. Sounds like its supposed to be pretty amazing based on @Darksavior and other reviews on Amazon and requires no fans.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07349HT26

dankcushions

@alturis said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

Re: Pi 3 overheating with CRT Shader

I was reading this thread about others experiencing the thermometer icon showing up. I have noticed this from time to time since I have had the setup working but it usually shows up when compiling sources or otherwise doing intensive tasks. Never really showed up while playing a game until recently while playing a SNES rom. Seems to be a common issue it sounds like.

I was going to try and switch to the zfast shader over the default crt one and see if that helps. But as this thread is about a year old I was wondering if there were any updated suggestions from the community.

changing shaders is not going to affect your temps when compiling sources as your shader isn't running then.

i wouldn't do anything. compiling sources is uniquely taxing on the pi3's cpu (it uses multiple cores, for one - almost all emulators use just one), and the temperature warning is just telling you that it's downclocking your CPU to avoid it getting too hot... so who cares? the compile may take a little bit longer, that's all.

if that's not happening in games, there's no problem to solve.

that said, the zfast shader sounds like it will be full speed in situations where the crt-pi shader is not, so it may yet be a sensible switch.

Clyde

@alturis This case made the thermometer icon disappear for good on my Pi:

https://www.smraza.com/product/smraza-case-for-raspberry-pi-3-2-model-b-with-9-layers-computer-case1-pcs-cooling-fan-and-3-pcs-aluminum-heatsinksnot-include-raspberry-pi-board/

The fan is practically inaudible.

The standard heat sinks for the Pi are widely criticised, because most of them are said to use just normal glue, not special heat conducting glue. Normal glue might actually insulate the chips instead of cooling them. You might want to look into test reports of the different cooling methods for the Pi. I don't use any heat sinks, the fan seems to be enough for my non-overclocked Pi.

Alturis

changing shaders is not going to affect your temps when compiling sources as your shader isn't running then.

Right, I know. I was just referring to that as a case in the past where I had seen it previously. It is happening for me now when I run some SNES games. Awaiting my new heatsink case and hoping it resolves it.

PiBoy

@alturis said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

I have the default heatsink that came with Pi3 when I original set it up.

A lot of kits come with the wrong type of tape to apply the heatsink with. Check the back of the adhesive strip, if it says 9448 or something like that. It's tissue tape, an insulator, not a conductor. Meaning it traps heat in, preventing it from conducting to the heatsink and allowing the CPU to cool.

I have the proper stuff on mine, the 3M 8810. The highest temp I have seen is 72. That's just with a heatsink and well vented case I made. When I had no cooling, just the bare chip, I managed to overheat it by loading ROMs back and fourth. I think Chrono Trigger finally pushed it to throttle.

Shizzmoney

If you want to go extreme with cooling:

A) Get a usb hub, you'll divest some of the hub energy used from your pi to the hub. Also, more ports from controllers! This one from Pi Hut is the one I got: https://thepihut.com/products/7-port-usb-hub-for-the-raspberry-pi
B) If you want to go overdrive with your fan, I'd suggest something like this (a little noisy tho): https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Cooling-Pure-Copper-Heatsink/dp/B074P6K1NV

I range from 48-59 degrees, no more temp icons, and that's with playing dreamcast or upscaling PSX, with the above accessories.

Alturis

@alturis said in Pi3 Overheating Suggestions:

changing shaders is not going to affect your temps when compiling sources as your shader isn't running then.

Right, I know. I was just referring to that as a case in the past where I had seen it previously. It is happening for me now when I run some SNES games. Awaiting my new heatsink case and hoping it resolves it.

Got the Flirc Gen 2 case setup tonight. So far results are great. Was running at > 80 before playing SNES Secret of Mana consistently and quickly.

Been sitting with it running and playing it for a good half hour now and it has slowly crept from 55 to about 60 with periodic checks.

No overheating icon at all.

Edit: And of course, totally silent as it has no moving parts.

pjft

@alturis well, that's a glowing endorsement if I ever heard one. Now I'm tempted to get one!

strangeruk

I was having heating issues after overclocking for N64/Shader usage. Tried the cheap heatsink route, and as suggested, did very little (as you say, probably the glue used). I've also tried larger cases with fans but the way it was set up meant it was just pushing warm air around, it was cooler but nowhere near the results I got with my passive-cooling case.

I looked into Flirc cases and then stumbled across the BIQU case, it's about half the price and works fantastically. I've never had the thermal symbol show since using it and the case itself doesn't get too hot either (you can feel it is warm when being used, but no shocks or being too hot to touch as some have suggested with passive-cooling style cases).

I also added a little thermal paste on the points of contact - it may not be necessary but I had some lying around so thought it wouldn't hurt.