4 ms·
4W is TDP for some of Pi-style mini computers. Lots of them have fans.
by numpad0 4mo ago
4W is TDP for some of Pi-style mini computers. Lots of them have fans.
- timschmidt 4mo agoPi 4 and 5 both idle around 3W. But a Pi 5 can pull up to 16W with a USB peripheral, full CPU load, and decoding 4k video. The Pi 4 / 5 will run OKish without a heatsink at idle wattages, but thermal throttle quickly if you attempt to do something intensive. These realtek 10gbe chips are more in the range of the Pi Zero class machines (0.5W idle, 2W loaded) which don't often come with heatsinks though they might benefit from them. If it has a good thermal connection to a good thick ground plane on the PCB, that's worth almost as much as a passive heatsink on the top of the chip. usb-c < card edge < motherboard integrated in terms of how much heat can be transfered through the connection. Where the motherboard would have the largest ground plane to soak up heat from such an IC and dissipate it passively. The usb-c module is worst case by being a small enclosed box with very little thermal connection through the plastic insulating housing. An aluminum enclosure might dissipate enough heat passively to make it pleasant to use.
- devmor 4mo ago> The Pi 4 / 5 will run OKish without a heatsink at idle wattages, but thermal throttle quickly if you attempt to do something intensive. Even with a heatsink and fan, I had to upgrade to a higher quality set to keep Jellyfin from thermal throttling a Pi5 while transcoding 4K video.
- rowanG077 4mo ago4k video transcoding is anything but an idle load.
- geerlingguy 4mo agoEspecially on the Pi 5, which has no hardware encoder to save on power consumption for that task. It's entirely in the CPU. (Technically the Pi 4's hw encoder doesn't go up to 4K either, though, so I guess moot point).
- devmor 4mo agoYes, that is “something intensive”, as was said in the few words of the sentence I quoted that came after the words “idle load”.
- merpkz 4mo agoRaspberry Pi 4 doesn't need a fan. People just like to put them on because because micromanaging CPU temperature is part of the hobby for some. Yes it might throttle its CPU speed when going full tilt for some time, but lets be real how many workloads require poor Raspberry Pi to be loaded 100% for prolonged periods of time?
- rjzzleep 4mo agoIf it throttles CPU it means by definition means that a fan helps. Also constant heat increases failure rate.
- parineum 4mo agoCycles of heating and cooling are what increases failure rates. The thermal expansion and contraction causes issues.
- ssl-3 4mo agoThat's one way to put it. Another way is that my great grandchildren won't care about inheriting my collection of hobbyist SBCs, and therefore nor should I.
- rjzzleep 4mo agoPermanent heat doesn't?
- magicalhippo 4mo agoFrom what I've gathered, heat absolutely does[1] affect[2] it[3]: Subsequently, in 1967, Black of Motorola experimentally derived a median time to failure (MTTF, i.e., operational lifetime) model for EM in Al interconnects, showing that the time to failure due to EM is inversely proportional to both the current density and the absolute temperature of the interconnect. [1]: https://infinitalab.com/blog/ic-failure-analysis-defect-types/#Common_IC_Failure_Mechanisms https://infinitalab.com/blog/ic-failure-analysis-defect-type... [2]: https://resources.system-analysis.cadence.com/blog/msa2020-blacks-equation-for-mttf-due-to-electromigration https://resources.system-analysis.cadence.com/blog/msa2020-b... [3]: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/14/15/3151#sec3-electronics-14-03151 https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/14/15/3151#sec3-electronics-1...