Substitute heatsink?
#1
My RockPro64 finally arrived, and when I unpacked it, I realised that I forgot to include a CPU heatsink on my order.

I have read in a number of places that the RK3399 get very hot, so it would be foolish to run it without a heatsink, but as my last order took 6 weeks to arrive, I don't want to order just a heatsink from the PINE store and wait that long before I can start using my new RockPro64.

Can anyone suggest where I might get a substitute heatsink from? Does the heatsink spec match a well known standard from elsewhere in the electronics industry? Looking at the board it is clear that a CPU cooler from a desktop CPU would not fit, and the mounting would be totally different, but would a chipset heatsink likely fit?


Thanks.
#2
(02-24-2020, 07:28 AM)chrestomanci Wrote: My RockPro64 finally arrived, and when I unpacked it, I realised that I forgot to include a CPU heatsink on my order.

I have read in a number of places that the RK3399 get very hot, so it would be foolish to run it without a heatsink, but as my last order took 6 weeks to arrive, I don't want to order just a heatsink from the PINE store and wait that long before I can start using my new RockPro64.

Can anyone suggest where I might get a substitute heatsink from? Does the heatsink spec match a well known standard from elsewhere in the electronics industry? Looking at the board it is clear that a CPU cooler from a desktop CPU would not fit, and the mounting would be totally different, but would a chipset heatsink likely fit?


Thanks.

Maybe one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YR6M6F6/ref...uEbRV6TC7V

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W3MJ9Y2/ref...uEb6F0P2QB
#3
Hi,

You could purchase a heatsink of size 20 x 20 mm along with a thermal pad to attach it to the CPU.
#4
(02-24-2020, 08:13 AM)MIchael Wrote:
(02-24-2020, 07:28 AM)chrestomanci Wrote: My RockPro64 finally arrived, and when I unpacked it, I realised that I forgot to include a CPU heatsink on my order.

[...]
Maybe one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YR6M6F6/ref...uEbRV6TC7V

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W3MJ9Y2/ref...uEb6F0P2QB

Thanks, though that was not what I had in mind. I would rather not use glue if possible. I was hoping to find something with screws or pushpins that would fit on the existing mounting holes.

I have used the mechanical drawings on the Wiki, and found that the two mounting holes are 55.5 mm apart so a heatsink that is 40mm square would fit. It looks like that was a common size for Northbridge heatsinks back in the day, so I will look through my collection of old PC parts, to see if there is a motherboard I could cannibalize.
#5
(02-24-2020, 08:54 AM)chrestomanci Wrote: Thanks, though that was not what I had in mind. I would rather not use glue if possible. I was hoping to find something with screws or pushpins that would fit on the existing mounting holes.

I have used the mechanical drawings on the Wiki, and found that the two mounting holes are 55.5 mm apart so a heatsink that is 40mm square would fit. It looks like that was a common size for Northbridge heatsinks back in the day, so I will look through my collection of old PC parts, to see if there is a motherboard I could cannibalize.

Yup, a Northbridge hs fits fine - that is what I have. 

As long as you have a standard kernel/release (Ayufan, MrFixIT ...) it is no problem to boot without a heatsink as they include thermal throttling. Idle temps with ondemand (or similar) governor are pretty modest as well (browsing, email etc).
  • ROCKPro64 v2.1 2GB, 16Gb eMMC for rootfs, SX8200Pro 512GB NVMe for /home, HDMI video & sound, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse. Arch (6.12 kernel, Openbox desktop) for general purpose daily PC.
  • PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition, daily driver, rk2aw & U-boot on SPI, Arch/SXMO on eMMC
  • PinePhone BraveHeart now v1.2b 3/32Gb, Tow-boot with pmOS/SXMO on eMMC
#6
If you have old graphic card and no longer use, some of the old graphic card heatsink fits on RockPro64 SBC.
#7
(03-01-2020, 02:49 PM)tllim Wrote: If you have old graphic card and no longer use, some of the old graphic card  heatsink fits on RockPro64 SBC.

That is what I did, using the heatsink from an old AMD card, however the fan does not spin, presumably because the voltage is wrong. What voltage is supplied buy the fan header on the RockPro64 board? From the schematic it looks like it should be 5V, but I could be reading it wrong.
#8
(03-03-2020, 03:23 AM)chrestomanci Wrote: ..., however the fan does not spin, presumably because the voltage is wrong. What voltage is supplied buy the fan header on the RockPro64 board? From the schematic it looks like it should be 5V, but I could be reading it wrong.

I haven't used the fan header myself, but IIRC the "problem" is it is PWM with default setting at zero cycles. There was a really long thread somewhere with a user who developed a utility that I cant find on a quick glance, but check for example this thread.
  • ROCKPro64 v2.1 2GB, 16Gb eMMC for rootfs, SX8200Pro 512GB NVMe for /home, HDMI video & sound, Bluetooth keyboard & mouse. Arch (6.12 kernel, Openbox desktop) for general purpose daily PC.
  • PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition, daily driver, rk2aw & U-boot on SPI, Arch/SXMO on eMMC
  • PinePhone BraveHeart now v1.2b 3/32Gb, Tow-boot with pmOS/SXMO on eMMC
#9
(03-03-2020, 10:39 AM)dukla2000 Wrote: I haven't used the fan header myself, but IIRC the "problem" is it is PWM with default setting at zero cycles. There was a really long thread somewhere with a user who developed a utility that I cant find on a quick glance, but check for example this thread.
Thanks for that info.

As it is the CPU stays cool enough without the fan, and I have a large copper heatsink on order as a long term replacement.
#10
(03-03-2020, 03:23 AM)chrestomanci Wrote:
(03-01-2020, 02:49 PM)tllim Wrote: If you have old graphic card and no longer use, some of the old graphic card  heatsink fits on RockPro64 SBC.

That is what I did, using the heatsink from an old AMD card, however the fan does not spin, presumably because the voltage is wrong. What voltage is supplied buy the fan header on the RockPro64 board? From the schematic it looks like it should be 5V, but I could be reading it wrong.

12V


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