Re: Still needs cooling
The heat issue with the RPi4B is pretty shocking, aside from industrial use these are targetted towards getting kids into compute/robotics/etc and they could easily burn themselves if they touched the SoC.
I did some benchmarks using openbenchmarking with the RPi4B to compare it against the Odroid N2 in performance and thermals:
Stock : So hot it was thermal throttling all through the benchmarks - Min: 62C / Avg: 78.9C / Max: 85.2C
With XL heatsink: cooler than stock but not a great improvement - Min: 55.5C / Avg: 74.91C / Max: 84.2C
With a heatsink + Noctua 60mm PWM fan at 3.3v: Manageable - Min 35.1C / Avg: 43.92C / Max: 51.6C
As Above but at 5v, diminishing returns - Min: 33.6C / Avg: 40.82C / Max: 47.7C
Odroid N2 Stock (Comes mounted to a heatsink out of the box) - Min: 35.5C / Avg: 41.05C / Max: 48.7C
The N2 blew the RPi4 away in benchmarks, it's currently in my living room operating wirelessly via a dongle as a CoreELEC/Kodi system attached to the TV and video playback is flawless on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Twitch, plus I have the option to dual boot into Ubuntu should I feel the urge.
Comparatively the RPi4B is not the great video playback device that the RPi foundation tout it to be as it drops frames and buffers all of the time, even when wired into eth - my RPi4B is currently running node bots and n8n for IoT stuff, which they are perfectly siutable for.
Price wise the N2 is more expensive, but by the time you kit out a RPi4B with all the extra stuff you require just for it to run cooler then it is arguably more expensive than other SBC's like the N2.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation really do need to sort the thermal issues with their products out before i'll dip into my wallet for another one when competing products are better, run cooler and are much more capable.