Does the Raspberry Pi 4 need a fan? It’s certainly a powerful computer for its size, but many people have reported that they feel it gets too hot for their liking. Well, with this handy guide, you’ll find out exactly whether you need to install a fan onto your Raspberry Pi 4!
The Pi 4 is an excellent device for people who want a computer without having to spend much time or money setting it up. The Pi 4 is a great educational tool. This is a great present idea for any child!
For some models, like the tiny Pi Zero and some A+ revisions, you won’t even need a fan because they’re so efficient at keeping their CPUs cool.
Thermal images or point measurements show that these SoCs put out more heat than other comparable devices. If there’s enough space for air movement, you can still use the Raspberry Pi without worrying about overheating.
The Pi 4 gets really hot! There are many components that generate heat. The CPU gets very warm. The CPU/System on a chip (SoC) is approximately 60 degrees Celsius. The metal casing helps distribute the heat evenly around the perimeter.
Throttling is not good because it makes your computer work slower. Throttling is something you should avoid as much as possible. The Pi overheats when stressed. It starts throttling the CPU after about 2 minutes.
Fitting A Fan
The Pi 4 case is a little oven, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You could try putting a heat sink on the board, but that won’t make much difference. There’s nothing wrong with the Pi 4, but it does get hot when running a lot of programs at once.
The good news is that you can get a fan to fit to your Pi4. They plug directly into the Pi’s gpio pins and need no modifications. The easiest method to make a hole for your fan is to use a drill bit that is 1 1/8″.
You should slow down when you’re using this kind of tool.
Put your hole saw on your drill and start slowly spinning it. Hold the trigger lightly and apply light pressure when drilling. Don’t spin it too fast or else you might damage your Pi case.
Drilling into the case should be done carefully. You need to make sure that you don’t damage anything inside. Make sure there isn’t any dust or debris in the hole you made. After drilling, use a file and/or a piece of sandpaper to smooth out the edges.
Place the fan on top of a hole lined up as close as possible, then use a mechanical pen to mark where the screw hole is around the fan’s perimeter, then use a 7/64″ bit to drill out the screw hole.
Sanding the inside of the case should be done before assembling the Pi. Use a drill or an electric sander to remove any burrs from the inside of the case. Then place the fan underneath the Pi and secure it using screws and nuts.
When you’re putting the Pi into the case, make sure to plug the red wire from the power supply into pin 4 (pin 5) and the black wire into pin 6 (Ground). Then, when you plug the Pi into the wall socket, the fan should spin right away.
If it does not, check to see if there is anything blocking the fan blades from rotating (see also ‘How To Install Heatsink On Raspberry Pi 3‘). Also, try plugging the fan into different GPIO pins to see if the fan works properly.
You can use a Dremel to make a hole in the plastic. But be careful because if you burn the plastic, it may ruin the whole thing. So use a slow speed when drilling. And use a round sanding tip to smooth out the edges of the hole.
Temperatures After Installing A Fan
After installing the fan, I boot the Pi and run stress –cpu 4 and leave it for an hour. The whole time, the CPU’s temp stays below 60 °C (140 °F) and never goes above 70 °C (160 °F). This means that the fan is working properly.
Raspberry Pi is a cheap computer made by Raspberry Pi Foundation. It is a single-board computer based on ARM architecture. It comes preloaded with the Debian Linux operating system (see also ‘What Is Proxmox?‘). It also has a number of accessories such as a USB hub, SD card reader, HDMI port, Ethernet port, power supply, etc.
A quiet fan is better than a loud one. The fan runs quietly and doesn’t draw much current.
Raspberry Pi 4 needs a fan. You should be careful about how many programs and services you run. If you run too many programs, your Raspberry Pi could get overheated. When that happens, your Raspberry Pi might slow down to reduce power consumption.
You should place it somewhere that is cool but not cold.
The best way to monitor the temperature of your Raspberry Pi is through its built-in sensors. These are called “thermal diodes”. They measure the temperature of the board itself.
There are two types of thermal diodes: analog and digital. Analog ones are cheaper, but they have less accuracy. Digital ones are more accurate, but they cost more.
You can monitor the output of these sensors using various pieces of software.
Rpi-Monitor
Rpi-Monitor is a great tool to see how much data your Raspberry Pi is using. You can view temperatures, cpu load, uptime, internet data transferred, etc. This tool is very helpful when trying to troubleshoot problems.
Temperature Monitor
Temperature Monitor is great because it’s easy to use for those who aren’t comfortable with the CLI. You can right-click on the top panel to access the temperature monitor.
Does Overclocking The Raspberry Pi 4 Create More Heat?
The answer to this question is yes. If you overclock the processor, then it will generate more heat. This is one good reason to upgrade the cooling on your Raspberry Pi 4!
Conclusion
In general, it’s probably a good idea to take steps to improve the cooling on your Raspberry Pi 4. It certainly won’t harm it – and will likely improve performance!
As a tech enthusiast from a young age, it was inevitable that I'd find my way to the humble, yet brilliant Raspberry Pi. With this site - I aim to build out a knowledge base that will give you everything you need for your own Raspberry Pi journey!
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