Raspberry Pi 3 - Idle/Load temperatures while running Retropie?
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@caver01 VLC or OMX Player?
VLC used to always lead me to the temperature icon after a while, which was one of the main drivers for me to push for alternatives, and so @fieldofcows put together a working prototype with OMX Player which solved that.
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@pjft I guess I don’t know. I am familiar with both, but this was a result of the theme I am using. I am standing on the shoulders of giants here, benefiting from all of the fantastic work of @TMNTturtlguy and others, as I am using the 4:3 version of the Comics theme.
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@caver01 Are you suggesting that you think the ComicBook Theme is causing your system to overheat? I do not think that that is possible! The theme and the video player are 2 separate things. Can you check what your video settings are set to in the start menu and report back.
Thanks
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@tmntturtlguy All I am saying is that I wasn’t playing a video, but looking at the Arcade ROM list using your awesome theme while a thumbnail video was looping. I haven’t see the overheat icon for a year. As I shut down, I noticed the icon, but I wasn’t even in an emulator. It was just on the Arcade list, playing a small emu movie. I have been singing the praises of how a properly attached heat sink has worked so well on my Pi3 and thought it was relevant to mention an observational change in behavior.
Perhaps I should verify a few things before we jump to conclusions (sorry for the potential false alarm). When I get home later, I will open up the cabinet and inspect the sink, first and foremost. Heck, maybe it slid off! Then, I’ll play some Joust and let it sit a while at the emulator list and see what happens.
Start menu. . . Is this the options that come up when I press Player1 Start? I guess that would make sense. I will check and report back.
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@caver01 Yes, the start menu is when you press player 1 start button. Depending on when you last updated ES, there is a video player option. Setting it to OMX player will increase the performance of the thumbnail video playback and reduce overheating. It is a well known and well documented issue that letting a video preview - your thumbnail video while in the game list view leads to overheating if the system is left to sit there looping the thumbnail while using the VLC player. OMX player fixes this issue. This issue occurs no matter what theme you use.
Another way to fix this is to be sure you have a screensaver set to either black or to random video. This will kill the thumbnail video looping and reduce temperatures. I would start with this before opening up your arcade cabinet. I am guessing haven't let your system just sit on a video thumbnail and let it loop very many times in the past, so this issue would not have been noticeable.
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@caver01 you're likely in VLC if that's what you were doing.
Press Start and then go to... Other settings, I believe.
Enable OMX Player. Then you can pretty much leave it on on any video without any fear of overheating. Hopefully. :)
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@tmntturtlguy @pjft Thanks! I am just starting to enjoy a few of the latest ES enhancements and obviously all of the gorgeous work on the updated themes. I know I haven’t touched any video settings at all, so I will take a look at that. It’s really an exciting time to be tinkering with RetroPie.
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Well, I turned on the OMX Player and now most of me preview thumbnails don’t play at all, just black. The only ones that work are those that I transcoded manually to fix aspect ratio issues on them. I think my movies are all from emumovies.
Sorry to hijack the thread, but I guess using one video player over another can have an effect on CPU and heat, even in ES. That kinda brings it back to the OP.
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@caver01 Just to finish the off topic then:
Yes, the video player you use will also influence the heat and performance. VLC is not hardware accelerated, so it will tax the CPU quite a bit. depending on the video resolution and frame rate, you may find that the videos don't quite run as well or as smooth as in other platforms. This will result in the CPU heating up quite a bit more than otherwise.
OMX Player is hardware accelerated, so it should run most videos - even at higher resolutions - quite smoothly and without taxing the CPU. This won't cause as much CPU heat.
That being said, it seems that it doesn't do well with some specific video encodings - I found that as well with some other videos.
My recommendation, if you'd have the patience and chance to, would be to run them all through Handbrake or something - even if using VLC, I'd recommend doing so and reducing them to a max resolution of 480x360@30fps for better performance with VLC.
Anyway, end of off topic.
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@hobnob Late reply (since I'm new to RetroPie), but "me too."
Here is my kit.
The base of the case is quite warm and the little rubber feet that come with this kit were not raising the case far enough above the surface I was using (as part of the problem). I'll look for other solutions, but given the amount of heat at the touch, I believe the case is at least part of the issue. Heat sink adhesive is probably part of the issue, though I'm noting the recommendations to ditch the heat sinks altogether.
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Going to try this case since the fan blows on the chips and allows exit below (though a side or back vent might be more efficient, but would dork with the case esthetics...).
https://www.etsy.com/listing/495376856/super-tinytendo-raspberry-pi-3-case?ref=related-1
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@monkeydisco don’t give up on heat sinks. They can help a lot (they do in my setup). But use a thermal compound instead of mystery tape.
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