Pi 4 Cool

The Pi 4 with the latest Foundation EEPROM firmware upgrade can be run Very cool with RC16 (and presumably 5.28 when it is released).

By cool, I mean hovering around 40’C when runnning at 2GHz (with CPUclock slow speed also at 2GHz).

I am using a HAT board which supplies GPIO power and also has a (silent) cooling fan on board. The unit looks very neat, with a couple of heatsinks hidden away under the fan.

With GPIO power sorted that leaves the USB-C connector free (via a small adapter) to connect a USB 2.0 keyboard with a built in USB Hub giving two more USB 2.0 ports for mouse and SSD drive. (No need for a seperate hub, but one can be added if more ports are needed).

Networking is, of course, using the Pi 4 built in GENET interface.

The Pi 4 USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectors are not powered up which also helps the Pi to run so cool.

The only improvement I would look for is a means to upgrade the Pi EEPROM firmware using RISCOS, not Raspbian). Otherwise, this will do nicely as a permanent solution). The Pi 4 really is fast – way beyond what would be expected judged on the raw CPU clock speed alone).

Can RISC OS poke the Pi 4 to see what version of the EEPROM it has (even if it can’t reprogramme it)?

The only improvement I would look for is a means to upgrade the Pi EEPROM firmware using RISCOS, not Raspbbian).

You can update the Pi 4 EEPROM using RISC OS by following these instructions.

https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/5/topics/14571?page=11#posts-100068

I am using a HAT board which supplies GPIO power and also has a (silent) cooling fan on board.

Would you care to share details?

Thanks Chris.

But it still sounds easier to use Raspian.

Can RISC OS poke the Pi 4 to see what version of the EEPROM it has

*vcgencmd bootloader_version
Apr 16 2020 18:11:26

Would you care to share details?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NLR49L1

and the USB-C adapter

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CVX3516

I’ve written a desktop app for the Pimoroni FanShim if anyone’s interested. I’ve not tried it on the Pi4 though. It lets you set the CPU temperature for the fan to come on and off, or turn it on/off manually with the button on the side. It’s not released yet, but if anyone wants to test it, give me a shout.

Cheaper than the Geekworm but does not have the GPIO power. The Geekworm fan seems to be completely automatic and has the advantage that somebody might write an app to shut it (and the pi) down.

Agreed, but it does leave all the GPIO pins exposed, so you could connect power to them with a lead anyway.
If it has an API then I’m sure someone who’s a better programmer than me (ie. anyone else!) can write something for it.

I guess this would also work with a WiFi Hat on top? Does somebody know a case you can fit the Pi4 in together with the HAT power and HAT WiFi board?

Does somebody know a case you can fit the Pi4 in together with the HAT power and HAT WiFi board?

Lots of our larger cases would comfortably hold that set up. The Pi-Llok, Deuce and BURP certainly would, but might need a slightly modified panel for the hub (given that built in USB doesn’t work).

It wouldn’t be too difficult to do extra slices for the Disq to make that work too.

See here

The Pi 4 with the latest Foundation EEPROM firmware upgrade can be run Very cool with RC16 (and presumably 5.28 when it is released).

Just done vcgencmd bootloader_version and got 10 May 2019 so it looks like I need to update it…

That’s better it now says Apr 16 2020 which is the latest. The Pi 4 should now run much cooler.

However after updating the firmware (bootcode, rom etc.) on my usual SD card on the Pi 4 (from the RC16 card) I find that the Elesar WiFi hat no longer starts up. Also the start up splash screen no longer appears.

If I run !Internet then it gives an error ‘Escape’ – try again – now I get the error File system:modules.network.aunmsgs not found.

Something odd is going on – any ideas please?

I seem to have overcome this by using the RC16 card and adding the stuff that was on the original card – seems the new pi4 rom needs an updated HD4 boot directory.

Now runs at 52°C / 53°C. However I’m only trying to run it at 1500MHz.