>From the information provided in this video
https://youtu.be/26OxCwEHoTk there appears to be about a 15 dB
reduction is WiFi signal strength with the FLIRC aluminum case
installed.
If WiFi signal strength is an issue, how difficult would it be to
install an external antenna (or two)?
This review provides information comparing the RPi 3b+ to the 4B:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/raspberry-pi-4-b,6193.html
It provides heat maps (attached) and CPU thermal throttling
information:
"While running a CPU-intensive workload for 10 minutes, the processor
hit 81 degrees and began throttling down from 1.5 to 1 GHz after 3
minutes. However, the system kept bringing itself back to the full 1.5
GHzas when it dipped down to around 80 degrees, but then it would get
warm again and go down to 1 GHz. If you want to have better sustained
performance under load, consider getting an active cooler for the
Raspberry Pi 4 or, at the very least, attach a passive heat sink."
Here's an alternative plastic case:
https://www.pishop.us/product/highpi-raspberry-pi-case-for-pi4/
HIGHPI CASE FEATURE LIST
High quality ABS plastic case, designed and made in Canada
Industry-leading ease of use, rapid tool-free assembly and disassembly
Large internal volume for HATs, break-out boards, or heat sinks
Vents on three sides double as fly-through cable ports
Two-section breakout on A/V side for HAT board I/O
Large vent opposite A/V side allows GPIO ribbon cable pass-through
Micro SD card access port
Mounting option 1: two M3.5/M3/#6 screws slide into wall mounts
for easy removal, horizontal orientation with A/V side down, 40mm
spacing
Mounting option 2: four M3.5/M3/#6 screws through feet from inside for
secure mounting in any orientation, 68.3 x 38.8mm spacing
Self-adhesive rubber feet included, set of 4
Matte finish hides fingerprints
DIMENSIONS
External dimensions: 97 x 66 x 41mm
Internal volume for breakout boards: 90 x 60 x 28.8mm
On Fri, 28 Jun 2019 20:54:39 -0400, Alan Corey <alan01346@gmail.com>
wrote:
>Unless you're going to overclock it (which I'm not sure is possible,
>probably) you don't need a heat sink. It will throttle (reduce speed)
>if it gets hot. A heat sink keeps it from overheating so soon so it
>can run at full speed longer. If you run cpuminer (to mine Litecoin
>or Bitcoin) it will overheat a Pi very quickly and slow down, even
>without overclocking, because it's so CPU-intensive. You can run less
>threads to run cooler.
>
>What I'd like to see is a massive heat sink that dwarfs the circuit
>board and becomes dominant, sort of like with Pentiums, could even
>have a fan. You'd mount the heat sink then bolt the Pi to it,
>probably with heat sink compound or a heat-conductive washer. The
>connectors and wires would go wherever they ended up. There could be
>such setups as aftermarket addons.
>
>I don't like that they continue to push the power connector to its
>limits instead of going to something else like a coaxial plug like the
>Rock64 uses. I'm not sure it it's still a microusb or not. But you
>can always power through the GPIO connector.
>
>And this uses _micro_ HDMI connectors, as opposed to the Zero which
>uses _mini_ or the earlier Pis which have just a regular HDMI. So if
>you have a slew of Pis and Zeros you need 2 adapters for video.
>
>GPIO pinout at https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-92640/l/raspberry-pi-4-model-b-gpio-pinout-with-poe-header?ICID=rpimain-smartpanel-pi4doc
>I'm not sure how different it is. The Pi GPIO has gotten to be a
>defacto standard that other manufacturers also use. I see there are
>still multiple 5 volt and ground pins so they can be paralleled for
>more current capability.
>
>I welcome the 4 GB of RAM the most, I use 2 swap files and get tired
>of waiting for swapping and unswapping. Hopefully the ethernet is no
>longer tied to the USB.
>
>There is a new case and power supply, at least partly for the 2
>micro-HDMIs. A Rock64 fits into a Pi case but the power connector is
>different so it needs some filing. The cases are sort of a nuisance
>because the wires dominate everything and are much heavier.
>
>
>
>On 6/28/19, Rick Thomas <rbthomas@pobox.com> wrote:
>> So when I buy one of these in a couple of months, do I need to buy the
>> heatsink too? Will the heatsink fit into the standard case? If not, is
>> there a case that will fit?
>>
>> And, finally, is there a version of Debian that will run on one of these?
>> Or should I just plan on running Raspbian?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Rick