The new Raspberry Pi 4 is here!!

Brunnis

@Ecks No, they didn’t run out of plastic bags. Of course not. It’s even been explained by the Raspberry Pi folks.

Bearwynn

Hi i'm new here, but I've been keeping track of this thread since the pi 4 came out.

I recieved mine yesterday (4GB version)and I've spent the whole day overclocking and stress testing it, I've discovered that with an over_voltage setting of 6:

GPU caps out at 750Mhz (a 50% increase from stock!) I tested this by loading a full version of minecraft java 1.12.2 and playing for intervals. Never had any graphical artifacts and generally the higher it got the less frame dips there were and the higher the average FPS, reaching aroun 55fps average at the 750Mhz cap. It also had optifine installed and was running at a render distance of 4 chunks.

CPU as high as 2Ghz (I decided to stop there because at no point will I ever need more than that on a raspberry pi) however it definitely does lose performance after 1.75Ghz. I have no idea why that is, as the cpu can definitely go higher than that.

of course there is the fact that some people are reporting that overclocking the GPU makes the CPU perform worse regardless of clocks, so more investigation needed there. As there are games that are more intense on one or the other, it may be that two overclocking settings will need to be used (one for CPU intensive games and one for GPU intensive games). I've also managed to keep temperatures at or around 55C at full load by using a RPi 3B+ compatable cooler (the double fan one from geekpi).

Also overclocks aren't all equal, so this is just an example of what I was able to achieve. I don't know what implications this all has for the Retropie community but I hope this information helps people's speculation and analysis.

quicksilver

@Bearwynn current firmware limits the CPU to 1750mhz. Ssh into your pi while the ARM frequency is set >1750mhz and from terminal run

vcgencmd measure_clock arm

Something tells me the performance loss you are seeing is because CPU frequencies above 1750mhz are actually underclocking your CPU.

retropi19

@Bearwynn im think of taking this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Latest-CNC-Aluminum-Alloy-Case-Enclosure-w-Cooling-Fan-for-Raspberry-Pi-4/254277987978?hash=item3b34262e8a:g:MMUAAOSwJQxdFQuL

do the fans make a lot of noise you know?

if you dont know does the double fan you used makes noise?

thanks

shavecat

@retropi19
i have it for the 3b+ (double fan)
no noise and really good.

Bearwynn

@quicksilver this is a good idea, I'll get on and try this out tonight then get back to you.

(Off topic but, I actually have to go to work today to teach children python on raspberry pi!)

Bearwynn

@retropi19 that's listed as a raspberry pi 4 case but the fact it has the heatsink part on the bottom side with the square on the middle means it's for older pi's that had the ram underneath.

It might be compatible but I wouldn't be able to confirm that.

The one I used was this: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F254219981743

I have one for my Raspberry Pi 3 which is relatively silent,
But this one which I have for my Raspberry Pi 4 is much louder. If silence is the name of the game you're definitely better off getting a small 5v noctua fan for around £10 and finding a way to attach that to a heat sink or a case.

retropi19

i dont have a raspberry pi 3b+
which one you have for the Rpi4?

Bearwynn

@retropi19 the one that I linked is the one that I have for the Raspberry Pi 4

Bearwynn

@quicksilver I have tested this now and you're correct, anything above 1750Mhz and the raspberry pi 4 will underclock itself to exactly 1Ghz.

Interestingly, it also underclocks the minimum clock speed to about 300Mhz, down from 600Mhz

quicksilver

@Bearwynn I think I read somewhere that there will be a firmware update to change that limit. Perhaps you could try updating to see if it's already available?

Brunnis

Spent an hour or so tonight and now have RetroArch (with the XMB interface) running on my Pi 4 on Raspbian Buster Lite (i.e. I'm not running it from the Raspbian desktop). I also built snes9x2010 as a test (this required modifying the makefile slightly) and ran SMW2: Yoshi's Island as a test. The spinning island scene runs at 148 FPS. No time to test anything else yet.

Ohh, I noticed one issue: There is major tearing and some stuttering in both the XMB GUI and during gameplay. Something's not working as it should when it comes to updating the display. Maybe a GPU driver issue?

Bearwynn

@quicksilver I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled. I can't see anything on the official forums about it though.

Jiryn

Is the Pi 4 4GB even out yet?
I can't seem to find it in stock anywhere

Also, do you recommend their power supply, or would any USB-C Work.
I see Canakit has a set that comes with an adapter, which is why I asked.

(Same question for the 3B, is the Official power supply any better than the other brands?)

mitu

@Jiryn said in The new Raspberry Pi 4 is here!!:

Is the Pi 4 4GB even out yet?
I can't seem to find it in stock anywhere

Yes, it was sold out first since probably the fraction of 4G produced was smaller than 2GB + 1GGB combined.

Also, do you recommend their power supply, or would any USB-C Work.
I see Canakit has a set that comes with an adapter, which is why I asked.

Can't say, but I've seen some tests on their forums with various power adapters with various degrees of success.

(Same question for the 3B, is the Official power supply any better than the other brands?)

It is better.

dankcushions

@Brunnis said in The new Raspberry Pi 4 is here!!:

Ohh, I noticed one issue: There is major tearing and some stuttering in both the XMB GUI and during gameplay. Something's not working as it should when it comes to updating the display. Maybe a GPU driver issue?

try updating the firmware? i have see a couple of similar sounding issues in the firmware repo over the last weeks

Brunnis

@dankcushions I thought I had done that on this image, but I'll double check. Thanks.

Barcrest

I see that there is new firmware in test that helps lower the temps without performance suffering. It will be nice when that gets released.

Brunnis

@dankcushions said in The new Raspberry Pi 4 is here!!:

try updating the firmware? i have see a couple of similar sounding issues in the firmware repo over the last weeks

Updated the firmware yesterday and it indeed seems to have solved that issue. However, setting video_max_swapchain_images=2 in order to reduce input lag makes the issue return. The performance also plummets (150 FPS -> 57 FPS in Yoshi's Island). This setting is performance intensive, but shouldn't cause such a severe degradation. Something's probably still not right with the GPU driver.

Barcrest

Here are some emulators being tested on the pi4

Saturn doesn't look good at the moment.