I have setup the RetroPie on my Raspberry Pi 4 and while playing games for few minutes or so, I was getting RED temperature icon blinking on right top side of screen, which was indication that my Pi 4 is running hot and system performance is being throttled.
I started reading article on websites and mostly suggesting to install heatsink but recommending to install the fan.
I thought let me try to install the heatsink first and see how my Pi 4 performs and if heatsink is not keeping it cool I will install the fan, I want to keep power usage minimum and was not huge fan of installing a fan.
I was not willing to spend money on buying the heatsink because I started Pi 4 for DIY projects and to save money :), so I started to search my old computer parts box for any spare heatsink and luckily I found an old heatsink hiding in the box.
Now I need to install it on Pi 4 processor, as I didn't had any spare thermal glue and on internet they were not cheap either and putting my saving money hat, I researched if I can use the common glue available in home with thermal paste I already have, and yes we can use multi-purpose glue (high heat resistance) with thermal compound, so I used thermal compound in middle surrounded by multi-purpose glue to stick the heatsink on the Pi 4 processor and it worked.
Here is the picture of my Pi 4 lying inside a small cardboard box with heatsink.
It did the trick, on Idle with emulationstation running along with CUPS and SAMBA service installed, I get 37 ~ 40 C compare to 58~61 early.
While playing MAME for around an hour or so I get max temperature reading between 50~60 C so far. Which is comparable to what other people are getting with fan installed along with small heatsink.
I started reading article on websites and mostly suggesting to install heatsink but recommending to install the fan.
I thought let me try to install the heatsink first and see how my Pi 4 performs and if heatsink is not keeping it cool I will install the fan, I want to keep power usage minimum and was not huge fan of installing a fan.
I was not willing to spend money on buying the heatsink because I started Pi 4 for DIY projects and to save money :), so I started to search my old computer parts box for any spare heatsink and luckily I found an old heatsink hiding in the box.
Now I need to install it on Pi 4 processor, as I didn't had any spare thermal glue and on internet they were not cheap either and putting my saving money hat, I researched if I can use the common glue available in home with thermal paste I already have, and yes we can use multi-purpose glue (high heat resistance) with thermal compound, so I used thermal compound in middle surrounded by multi-purpose glue to stick the heatsink on the Pi 4 processor and it worked.
Here is the picture of my Pi 4 lying inside a small cardboard box with heatsink.
It did the trick, on Idle with emulationstation running along with CUPS and SAMBA service installed, I get 37 ~ 40 C compare to 58~61 early.
While playing MAME for around an hour or so I get max temperature reading between 50~60 C so far. Which is comparable to what other people are getting with fan installed along with small heatsink.
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