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Since the release of the Raspberry Pi 5 in 2023, maintaining the cooling of the Raspberry Pi has been a critical issue. However, the older Raspberry Pi 4 also requires good cooling to operate normally. Typically, we can choose to use high-power fans or the official active coolers. But what if we want silent cooling? This is where an excellent passive cooler becomes particularly important, and Shanghai Jinghang seems to provide a solution in this regard.
For less than $4, we can equip the Raspberry Pi 5 and the older Raspberry Pi 4 with a passive cooler. But how effective are these coolers in practice? Will an aluminum heat sink affect Wi-Fi connectivity? Will access to the ports be obstructed? We will test these two coolers on both the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 and the Raspberry Pi 5 running the latest Raspberry Pi operating system to reveal their performance.
Raspberry Pi 5 Passive Cooler
Does the Raspberry Pi 5 cooler look familiar? Indeed, it is the upper part of the ED-Pi5 Case that I reviewed last year. The difference is that the ED-Pi5 PCOOLER lacks the aluminum plate at the bottom, which originally helped dissipate heat from the Raspberry Pi 5. Instead, we now only have the top part of the case. However, due to its thicker and well-placed thermal pads, it can still make close contact with the SoC (System on Chip), Wi-Fi, and PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) of the Raspberry Pi 5.
This design is suitable for both Raspberry Pi 5 and Raspberry Pi 4, and performs excellently. The weight of the aluminum plate is sufficient to dissipate heat without being too heavy to hinder normal use. Access to common USB, Ethernet, Micro HDMI, and USB Type-C power ports is very convenient. However, access to other ports can be a bit tricky. You need to install any PCIe/camera/display expansion boards before securing the case, or the plastic lock for securing the cables will be blocked by the aluminum plate. The case is secured to the Raspberry Pi with four machine screws that utilize the M2.5 mounting points designed for securing HAT boards.
You can install any best HAT on the Raspberry Pi 4 or 5. Both coolers are designed with openings for easy access to the GPIO interface. The best practice is to use a GPIO header expansion board to minimize the risk of short-circuiting your favorite HAT with the cooler. If using a PCIe board (such as Pineboards HatDrive! Nang or the official Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT), extra caution is needed, and you may need to purchase slightly longer PCIe cables.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this design. It is straightforward, without unnecessary embellishments, yet very practical.
Passive Cooler Thermal Performance
Equipping the Raspberry Pi 4 with a passive cooler is quite common. While it does get warm, it is nowhere near as hot as the Raspberry Pi 5. So how do passive coolers handle the heat? More importantly, can they cope with an overclocked Raspberry Pi?
The short answer is: yes! I tested both the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 at their base frequencies of 1.8GHz and 2.4GHz, respectively, and then overclocked them to 2.1GHz and 3GHz. Both devices became quite hot after overclocking, but the passive cooling system was sufficient to handle a five-minute stress test.
Let’s first look at the cooler for the Raspberry Pi 4. At the default frequency, the idle temperature of the system is 27.2 degrees Celsius. Under stress testing, the maximum temperature reached 54.5 degrees Celsius, well below the 80 degrees Celsius thermal throttling point of the Raspberry Pi 4.
To further test, I overclocked the Raspberry Pi 4 to 2.1GHz and repeated the tests. After overclocking, the idle temperature was 34.5 degrees Celsius, while under stress testing, the temperature reached 66.7 degrees Celsius.
The Raspberry Pi 5 also performed excellently, but thermal throttling did occur under overclocking and stress testing. Let’s look at the specific temperature data. At the default frequency, the idle temperature of the system is 37.3 degrees Celsius, while under stress testing, the temperature reached 68.6 degrees Celsius. When the Raspberry Pi 5 is overclocked to 3GHz, the idle temperature rises to 42.2 degrees Celsius. However, under stress testing, to keep the CPU cool, thermal throttling reduced the CPU speed to 2746MHz. At this point, the temperature of the Raspberry Pi 5 reached 85.1 degrees Celsius, with thermal throttling starting at 81.8 degrees Celsius according to the logs.
For applications that benefit from overclocking, we believe the passive cooler for the Raspberry Pi 5 can handle the task. However, active cooling would provide greater benefits.
Will placing an aluminum plate directly above the Wi-Fi chip and antenna of the Raspberry Pi cause issues? In fact, it does not have a significant impact.
Test results show that the actual transmission speed of the Raspberry Pi 4 without a cooler was actually 3 Mbit/s faster. The Wi-Fi speed of the Raspberry Pi 5 improved by 0.9 Mbit/s. Considering the margin of error in testing, we can consider the speed differences between the two as negligible and essentially the same.
Who is the Passive Cooler Suitable For?
If you want your Raspberry Pi 4/5 to run quietly without the constant hum of a fan, then a passive cooler is your ideal choice. For those aiming to break world records in overclocking, a passive cooler may not be the best option, but for emulation and more complex Raspberry Pi projects, its role should not be underestimated. Additionally, passive coolers can provide extra physical protection for the Raspberry Pi, further extending the lifespan of the device.
Conclusion
Although the Raspberry Pi 4 may now seem a bit “old,” there are still products being developed for it, indicating that it remains a very capable platform. The heat sinks from Shanghai Jinghang, while not perfect, do indeed perform well in terms of cooling. However, these coolers will obstruct the camera/display ports, so planning ahead during installation is necessary, or be ready with a screwdriver for disassembly.
Overall, the passive coolers look very good and are worth the price, especially for the Raspberry Pi 4. If you plan to overclock the Pi, these coolers are definitely worth considering as they provide silent cooling. Personally, for the Raspberry Pi 5, I prefer to use the official active cooler, as its fan only turns on when needed, making it both energy-efficient and effective. But if I need a completely silent setup, then the passive cooler from Shanghai Jinghang is undoubtedly my first choice.
For more information:https://edatec.cn/ac/Pi5COOLER
For more information:https://edatec.cn/ac/Pi4COOLER
Original article link:https://www.tomshardware.com/raspberry-pi/edatec-passive-coolers-for-raspberry-pi-5-and-4-review
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