Press Release by btarunrDiscuss (22 Comments)
  1. Raspberry Pi 4 Case With Cooling Fan
  2. Raspberry Pi 4 Water Cooling
Tech innovator GELID Solutions unveils the latest cooling kit featuring convenient housing and enhanced cooling for Raspberry Pi 4 Microcomputer. The ICEBERRY is a product of GELID Solutions GAMER product line. The ICEBERRY is designed to prevent Raspberry Pi 4 from overheating, boost its performance and eliminate thermal throttling issues. It is well acknowledged that Raspberry Pi TM 4 tends to overheating under high load in case no additional cooling is applied. Temperatures may climb up to 80 °C and higher, which in turn triggers the activation of thermal throttling and leads to considerably degraded performance. The ICEBERRY helps solve that problem.
It comes with an optimized Heatsink-Fan Module boasting the high-airflow 50 mm fan and the slim aluminium heatsink with enlarged footprint that spreads across the surface area of the Raspberry Pi 4 PCB to improve heat dissipation. The specially crafted aluminium case goes to reducing temperatures and accommodates convenient housing for Raspberry Pi 4. The pre-cut GP-Extreme thermal pads cover the heat-generating components - SoC and RAM Memory IC - and tailor a highly efficient thermal interface to transfer heat to the Heatsink-Fan Module. The aluminium case also carries side vents to enhance airflow. All the I/O ports and slots such as USB-C power port, micro-HDMI ports, audio port, USB ports, display slot, and others are easily accessible. Additionally, microSD card access and camera cable passthrough are also provided.The ICEBERRY is RoHS and WEEE conform and carries a 2 year warranty.
'ICEBERRY brings an ultimate cooling solution to the table. It is crafted to fit the Raspberry Pi 4 microcomputer perfectly and helps maintain temperatures within the normal range under any workload or use-case scenario. You can even overclock and raise performance of your Raspberry Pi 4 higher!', said Gebhard Scherrer, Sales Director of GELID Solutions Ltd.
The ICEBERRY is available now and has a MSRP of USD 21.99 or Euro 19.99.

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22 Commentson GELID Announces Iceberry Cooling+Case Kit for Raspberry Pi 4

#1
Shoddy quality for 25 USD. At that price point the competition in RPi housings is extremely tough.

Whilst we await Software/Firmware updates from the Raspberry Pi team to reduce power usage and thus reduce temperatures, I’ve continued to investigate options for managing the Hot Raspberry Pi 4.

Cooling

Argon ONE V2 is a Raspberry Pi 4 compatible case that is made with aluminum alloy and polished with a modern Space Grey finish for stunning aesthetics and functionality. It offers one of the best cooling solutions for Raspberry Pi 4. The case has an extension that connects to the processor with a thermal cooling pad so that heat from the. Armor Case Passive Cooling for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B - Black Rating Required Select Rating 1 star (worst) 2 stars 3 stars (average) 4 stars 5 stars (best) Name.

  • The Passive Cooling Heatsink Case for the Raspberry Pi 4 is our own design manufactured right here in our warehouse! Designed to keep your Raspberry Pi 4 cool with zero noise, the case features a HUGE 23mm x 18mm aluminium heatsink which passes through the top glass-look lid of the case!
  • Raspberry Pi 4 VESA Mount Case & Cooling Kit inc. Fan Etsy Custom designed Raspberry Pi Case for the new Pi 4, 3D printed out of black PLA+ Designed to work with 100 x 100mm and 75 x 75mm VESA mounting hole patterns.
  • Complete Stackable Clear Acrylic Case Kit for Up To Four Layers Compatible With Current Raspberry Pi's including Pi 3 B+, Pi 3 B, Pi 2 B, Pi B+ Our Raspberry Pi Case is open on all sides with each acrylic layer.

Since the release of the Raspberry Pi 4, we’ve seen a rise in 3rd party enclosures, some of which clearly aim to tackle the issue with heat management. I’m a proponent of silent, fanless, passive cooling solutions. I think that’s a big plus for previous Raspberry Pi generations, it would be a shame to lose this ability with the Raspberry Pi 4. Time to investigate and see if silence is still possible.

In a follow-up post, I have examined the impact on WiFi signal strength when the Raspberry Pi 4 is housed in different enclosures. Will metal cases or electrical noise from fans have an impact?

Update 4 September 2019: A further round of testing has been performed with various enclosures under load/stress. See this new post to look at both temperatures and CPU thermal throttling.

The Contenders

Whilst there are new cases appearing regularly, I don’t have the time and means to evaluate them all. So I’ve aimed for a fairly representative set of enclosures available (as of Aug 2019), many of which are generic and sold under various names:

Pi 4 Case Cooling

Passively Cooled Enclosures

These passive enclosures provide varying degrees of protection and access to the key features of the Raspberry Pi 4.

The Armour radiator and Pibow Coupé cases leave a lot of the board exposed. The Pibow is a little bit more flexible as you can continue to use HATs, whereas the Armour is more restrictive, though with some header extensions you probably could still accommodate some HATs if needed.

The Generic Aluminium case, secures the board within a full metal frame, providing ventilation holes on top, and a slot on the side to feed out a ribbon cable that might connect to the GPIO header. It was supplied with a set of 4 vaned heatsinks of varying sizes and a copper(?) plate for on top of the wireless module (according to the instructions). These heatsinks were fitted during the testing with and without the fan installed. The metal case would benefit from a set of rubber feet, to keep the metal chassis off delicate surfaces. Unfortunately, you can’t use it with the Pimoroni Fan Shim to be installed, as the edge of the case presses against the button/switch on the Fan Shim

Actively Cooled Enclosures

I’ve touched previously on some active cooling options for the new Raspberry Pi 4, but there are now more options available.

The Armour twin fan radiator enclosure is very similar to the passive version, but with some of the fins removed to provide space to house two small (25mm) fans which connect to 5V on the GPIO header for power. Like the fanless version, most HATs won’t fit and other parts of the board are still exposed. Due to the fans being mounted flush against the metal of the enclosure, these fans will struggle to create any real airflow.

The generic aluminium case with its ventilation holes allows bolts to be used to secure the 30mm fan to the case. Like the Armour case, the fan is powered via the 5V supply on the GPIO header. The fan was tested with it sucking air in from the top and with it blowing it out.

The Fan Shim sits snugly within a space carved out of the Pibow Coupé 4 case. This 30mm fan is connected via the GPIO header and from this can be temperature controlled, so that it doesn’t run all the time unlike those just wired to the 5V power rail. However, as before using HATs are going to be a problem, perhaps more so given the shim is utilising more than just the header for power. Pimoroni explains this: “Because Fan SHIM uses pin BCM18 to control the fan, and this pin is also used by I2S audio devices, you won’t be able to use I2S DACs like pHAT DAC, pHAT BEAT, and the IQAudio boards at the same time as Fan SHIM“. You can, of course, use the Fan Shim with other enclosures, but not all of them will fit.

The Results

The measurements are taken with the Pi idle at GUI Desktop, both WiFi and ethernet are connected, though mostly idle. The Pi is fully updated with public updates as of 18 Aug 2019 (Raspbian Kernel version: 4.19.58-v7l+). Temperature measurements are taken using:

  • CPU Temperature – /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp and RPI Monitor
  • Case Temperature – Infra-red thermometer
  • Ambient Temperature – 433Mhz wireless room temperature and humidity sensor, connected to my HomeAssisstant.

Results: Passively Cooled Enclosures

Summary

In terms of temperature management, the Official Raspberry Pi 4 enclosure stands out from the crowd, but only in a bad way, with the CPU temperature getting close to thermal throttle limits.

The FLIRC case which combines an aluminium chassis which interfaces with the CPU (via a small thermal pad) to transfer the heat to the metal part of the case. The base is made of plastic and the metal top part of the case is also covered in black plastic. However it’s constructed, it shows some clear benefits over the other solutions. Keep in mind, these tests are with the Raspberry Pi 4 sitting idle.

The Armour/Radiator design provides the best cooling, with the enclosure reaching temperature equilibrium with the CPU, and keeping the CPU at just 21°C above ambient.

Results: Actively Cooled Enclosures

Summary

With any form of active cooling, the Raspberry Pi 4 runs at just 17 °C above ambient. To test the real capabilities of active cooling solutions we’d need to look at stress/load testing the Raspberry Pi. Sitting at idle the fans can help dissipate the heat easily.

Additional Notes

  • The 30mm fan supplied with the Generic aluminium case was very loud, worse, well higher pitched when blowing inwards. But neither configured was really tolerable. A different fan, or running at a lower voltage might resolve the issue.
  • The Fan Shim was set to be always on and didn’t utilise the additional software available to provide temperature-controlled activation, this was purely for testing purposes. This is a feature of the fan should be taken advantage of, if you can accommodate the Fan Shim on your header.

Raspberry Pi 4 Case With Cooling Fan

Parts Tested

Note, Amazon UK links are affiliate links, meaning I may make a small amount of money in return from you following the link and buying the product

Raspberry Pi 4 Water Cooling

  • Passively cooled enclosures:
    • Armour aluminium radiator (Amazon) (ebay)
    • FLIRC Raspberry Pi 4 Case (Amazon) (The Pi Hut)
    • Generic aluminium case with heatsinks (Amazon-UK)
    • Pimorni Pibow Coupé 4 (Pimorni)
  • Actively cooled enclosures:
    • Armour twin fan aluminium radiator (Amazon) (ebay)
    • Generic aluminium case with heatsinks and fan (Amazon-UK)
    • Pimorni Pibow Coupé 4 with Pimorni Fan Shim (Pimorni)